Singapore – General Information
Area
647.8 sq km
Population
4.017.733 (2000)
Population density
6101 per sq km
Capital
Singapore. Population: 3,163,500 (1998)
Geography
The island state of Singapore is located off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula and is connected to it by two navigable dams. The island is separated from the mainland by the approximately 1 km wide Strait of Johor, and another 57 islets are also part of the territory. Singapore is mostly flat, the 166 m high Bukit Timah is the highest elevation. In the northeast of the island, large areas have been reclaimed from the sea, the jungle and the swamps in the lowlands have been largely cleared or drained.
Form of government
Republic (in the Commonwealth) since 1959. Constitution of 1959, last amended in 1996. Head of state: Sellapan Ramanathan, since 1999, head of government: Goh Chok Tong, since 1990. Independent since 1965 (former British Crown Colony), part of the Federation of Malaysia from 1963-65.
Languages
The official language is English. Malay is the national language, but Chinese (Mandarin and some dialects, including Hokkien) and Tamil are also spoken.
Religions
Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Sikh religion and Taoism.
Local time
CET+7 (UTC+8).
Mains voltage
220/240 V, 50 Hz; Adapter recommended.
Phone
Self-dialing long-distance service.
Country code
65
Fax
Fax machines are available at many hotels and the telecom offices in Robinson Road and Exeter Road.
Internet/E-Mail
Numerous internet cafes in Singapore offer access to the internet and e-mail. The main Internet providers are Cyberway (Internet: www1.starhub.net.sg) and Singnet (Internet: www.my.singnet.com.sg)
Singapore – Country & People
Just as Asian and Western, modern and backward alternate at every turn in Singapore, the different ethnic groups living in the port city also form a colorful ethnic mosaic.
More than three-quarters of all Singaporeans are of Chinese descent, around 14% are Malays and about 7% are of Indian-Tamil origin. All three ethnic groups cultivate their cultural customs and their languages, with English being the unifying lingua franca.
Singapore’s state television is in four languages, the evening radio and television news is broadcast in all four languages at different times and on different channels, and the kiosks offer local press products in the four languages.
Gone are the colonial times when Singapore’s three most important tribes lived separately in individual urban areas: the Chinese in and around Chinatown, the Malays in their “kampongs”, the traditional stilt dwelling settlements, and the immigrants from the Indian subcontinent in their quarter on Serangoon Road, which is still called “Little India” today.
In an effort to make the local Malays, along with the immigrant Chinese, Indians and Tamils and their descendants, Singaporean citizens, the government tore down the ethnic barriers in both a literal and figurative sense.
A large-scale social housing program, with massive apartment blocks scattered far across the island nation, brought all ethnicities together and made almost 80% of the population owners. This is because the cheap apartments built by the state cannot be rented, but only purchased, whereby a sophisticated system of social security contributions ensures that almost every working Singaporean can come into possession of such an apartment. The government is speculating that everyone who owns an apartment feels committed to the young nation and is prepared to defend it in the event of a crisis or war.
In general, the government is making enormous efforts to awaken a national consciousness in the population, which consists of 90% immigrants or their descendants.
On the one hand, it conducts large-scale popular education campaigns in good Chinese tradition, which draconically punish any misconduct. For example, anyone who throws a cigarette butt on public ground several times or puts his feet on the bench in the ultra-modern subway faces a fine of up to 250 US dollars.
On the other hand, she hires international public relations firms, for example, which compose shallow songs and beautiful sounds on the subject of national consciousness, thanks to which the government’s concerns then penetrate very directly into the subconscious of the Singaporeans.
Heroic compositions such as “Stand up for Singapore”, “Singapore my Lady” or “We are Singapore” ingratiate themselves with their catchy melodies in the ears of the still very young Singaporean population – over 30% of the inhabitants of the island state are under twenty years old – and are deliberately made local hits by the government.