Information on Singapore

New Singapore

The People’ Action Party (PAP) won the general elections in the year 1959 and it is still in power managing the government even after winning the election in the year 1963. The economic base of Singapore was made strong and high degree of cultural and social homogeneity was attained under the policies of Lee Kuan Yew, the Prime Minister of Singapore. The country joined United Nations in 1965 and it has continued to be a commonwealth nation. Singapore is one among the founding countries of ASEAN or Association of Southeast Asian Nations in the year 1967. Previous chairman of PAP, Ong Teng Cheong became the first directly elected President of Singapore in 1993.

Land

Situated in between the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean, Singapore lies just on the north of the equator. It is located at the meeting points of some major sea lanes of the world.

General Public

Singapore is a city state with 12000 people per square meter approximately. It is among the densely populated nations in the world. The 1960s saw the commencement of an enormous development program that replaced the slums in Singapore with the most recent housing properties. A severe immigration policy and family planning, results in the growth of population with just 1% which has reduced from 4.5% in the 1950s. The people in Singapore are about 75% Chinese. The remaining percentages of the people are Malays and Indians. The religions followed by people in Singapore are, Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism and Islam. The official languages of Singapore are English, Mandarin, Malay and Tamil. Singapore has one of the highest literacy rates in the world which resulted from good education system carried out in all the official languages.

Economy

Considered as one among the world’s biggest commercial centers, Singapore has a big modern port. The main source of income has been commerce from ancient times. Singapore is the biggest importer in South-East Asia. It is a free port and entrepot that re-export more than 50% of what it imports from other countries like textiles, rubber, tin, timber and petroleum. Singapore exports goods manufactured locally like petroleum goods, beverages, processed food, telecommunication and computer equipments, rubber products, plastics, oil drilling equipment, etc. The main trading partners of Singapore are USA, Japan, Malaysia and Indonesia. The Jurong Industrial estate is the biggest industrial complex in south-east Asia with 300 factories and deep water quays. Changi International Airport and Jurong Industrial estate are constructed mainly on infill of marsh and shallow water of straits. Singapore has many big petroleum storing and refine facilities. The world’s biggest container handling facilities is Keppel Harbor.