SINGAPORE

city, capital of the Republic of Singapore. It occupies the southern part of Singapore Island. Its strategic position on the strait between the Indian Ocean and South China Sea, complemented by its deepwater harbour, has made it the largest port in Southeast Asia and one of the world's greatest commercial centres. The city, a free port, so dominates Singapore Island that the Republic of Singapore is often referred to as a city-state. Singapore (known variously as the Lion City, or Garden City, the latter for its many parks and tree-lined streets) has been called instant Asia because it offers the tourist an expeditious glimpse into the cultures brought to it by immigrants from all parts of Asia. While predominantly Chinese, it has substantial minorities of Malays and Indians. According to Malay tradition the island was visited by a prince who came from the Sumatran empire of Srivijaya, who founded and named the city of Singapura. Portuguese records also have it that the city was founded by a Srivijayan prince from Palembang. Sacked by the Majapahit Javanese during the 14th century, it was supplanted by Malacca (Melaka) but remained a port of call. Its modern history began with the arrival of Sir Stamford Raffles of the British East India Company, who, in searching for a trading site, landed there on Jan. 29, 1819. The port's growth was steady, and opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 and the advent of steamships increased its importance as a bunkering station. Its growth was assured by the demand for the tin and rubber of the Malay Peninsula, for which the port was a natural shipping outlet. Created a city by royal charter in 1951, Singapore was administered as a municipality by an elected mayor-council government from 1957 until 1959, when the colony became self-governing. After 1963 the administration of the city and rural areas was handled by the central government. Singapore's port area, one of the world's largest, covers 36 square miles (93 square km). The Port of Singapore Authority operates six gateways (Jurong port, Container Terminal, Keppel, Telok Ayer, Sembawang, and Pasir Panjang wharves) that provide facilities for vessels ranging from oceangoing liners to lighters. The Keppel wharves, which lie protected between the islands of Brani and Sentosa, are deepwater and contain major docks and warehouses. Keppel is Southeast Asia's major transshipment point for exports of oil, rubber, plywood, lumber, and spices. The port's main imports include machinery, textiles, and rice. The Malayan rail system from Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur terminates at Singapore. The city proper, which stretches north and east of the port area, is characterized by low (140150-foot [4050-metre]) hills. Within the city run the Singapore and Rochor rivers, which are tidal inlets crowded with native craft. The original settlement north of the Singapore River remains the heart of the city; it is the locale of the principal commercial, government, and public buildings and the Anglican St. Andrew's Cathedral (1862). Modern housing estates have cut into some of the city's traditional cultural enclaves, particularly the Chinese quarter. Skyscraper hotels and office buildings now blend with the British colonial architecture, Chinese shophouses, and Malay kampongs (villages once thatch-roofed, now tin-roofed). In addition to its port activities, Singapore has tin-smelting works, pineapple canneries, rubber factories, oil refineries, and sawmills. The east lagoon is the regional centre for container transshipments. Jurong is a large industrial estate and port west of the city. Singapore's thriving banking, insurance, and brokerage firms and its excellent transport, communications, and storage facilities have helped make it the chief trading and financial centre of Southeast Asia. The city-state's post-World War II economic activities have been so successful that Singapore is now virtually a developed country. Singapore's notable buildings include the Victoria Theatre and Memorial Hall, the Raffles Hotel, the High Court, the City Hall, the House of Jade, the Sri Mariamman Temple, and the Singapore Polytechnic. The government maintains a national museum, library, and theatre and the Van Kleef Aquarium. The international airport at Changi (opened in 1981) was developed on reclaimed land to the northeast. The Singapore Botanic Gardens are to the northwest. The National University of Singapore was founded in 1980 by the merger of the University of Singapore and Nanyang University. The Nanyang Technological Institute was established in the former Nanyang University in 1981. Tiger Balm Gardens is a collection of statuary depicting Chinese myths and legends. Other attractions include the Jurong Bird Park (opened 1971), some 50 acres (20 hectares) in area, perhaps the largest of its kind in the world. Sentosa Island in Singapore Harbour has been developed as a major recreational area; it is connected by cable car with Mount Faber and is also accessible by ferry, providing visitors with beaches, a golf course, and an amusement park. Pop. (1985 est.) central city, 157,000; (1992 est.) metropolitan area, 2,792,000. officially Republic of Singapore, Malay Republik Singapura, Mandarin Chinese Hsin-chia-p'o Kung-ho-kuo, Tamil Singapore Kudiyarasu city-state located at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, about 85 miles (137 kilometres) north of the Equator. It consists of the diamond-shaped Singapore Island and some 60 small islets, for a combined area of about 240 square miles (622 square kilometres); the main island occupies all but about 18 square miles of this territory. The main island is separated from Peninsular Malaysia to the north by Johor Strait, a narrow channel crossed by a road and rail causeway that is more than half a mile long. The southern limits of the state run through Singapore Strait, where outliers of the Riau-Lingga Archipelagowhich forms a part of Indonesiaextend to within 10 miles of the main island. Singapore is the largest port in Southeast Asia and one of the busiest in the world. It owes its growth and prosperity to its focal position at the southern extremity of the Malay Peninsula, where it dominates the Strait of Malacca, which connects the Indian Ocean to the South China Sea. Once a British colony and now a member of the Commonwealth, Singapore first joined the Federation of Malaysia on its formation in 1963 but seceded to become an independent state on Aug. 9, 1965. officially Republic of Singapore, Malay Republik Singapura, Mandarin Chinese Hsin-chia-p'o Kung-ho-kuo, Tamil Singapore Kudiyarasu island city-state situated at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, about 85 miles (137 km) north of the Equator. A road and rail causeway across the Johor Strait to the north connects it with Peninsular (West) Malaysia; the Strait of Malacca to the southwest separates Singapore from the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The capital city, Singapore, is administratively equivalent to the Republic of Singapore, which comprises Singapore Island and 60 other islets. Area 240 square miles (622 square km). Pop. (1993 est.) 2,876,000. Additional reading Overviews are provided by Philippe Regnier, Singapore: A City-State in South East Asia (1991); and R.S. Milne and Diane K. Mauzy, Singapore: The Legacy of Lee Kuan Yew (1990). Tania Li, Malays in Singapore (1989), is a thorough study. Economic development and government policies are surveyed in Peter S.J. Chen, Singapore Development Policies and Trends (1983); Lim Chong-Yah and Peter J. Lloyd (eds.), Singapore: Resources and Growth (1986); Linda Lim and Pang Eng Fong, Trade, Employment, and Industrialisation in Singapore (1986), an excellent analysis; Tilak Doshi, Houston of Asia: The Singapore Petroleum Industry (1989); Garry Rodan, The Political Economy of Singapore's Industrialization (1989), a discussion of the role of the government in engineering development; Frederick Deyo, Singapore: Developmental Paternalism, in Steven M. Goldstein (ed.), Minidragons: Fragile Economic Miracles in the Pacific (1991), pp. 4887, a candid article on the impact of state policies; and Kernial Singh Sandhu and Paul Wheatley (eds.), Management of Success: The Moulding of Modern Singapore (1989), a collection of essays.C.M. Turnbull, A History of Singapore, 18191988, 2nd ed. (1989), is the key historical study on the nation, with an excellent bibliography. Donald Moore and Joanna Moore, The First 150 Years of Singapore (1969), is an older but still useful work. A more recent survey is Ernest C.T. Chew and Edwin Lee (eds.), A History of Singapore (1991). Yen Ching-Hwang, A Social History of the Chinese in Singapore and Malaya, 18001911 (1986), is written from Chinese records and accounts. L.K. Wong, Singapore: Its Growth as an Entrepot Port, 18191941, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 9(1):5084 (March 1978), is the best treatment of economic history up to World War II. Alex Josey, Singapore (1979), stresses the contemporary period from a pro-People's Action Party stance. Thomas R. Leinbach Administration and social conditions Government Singapore is a parliamentary democracy based on the Westminster model. The government consists of a president who is head of state and a unicameral Parliament of 81 members who are elected to terms of up to five years. The parliamentary majority selects the prime minister and cabinet from its own ranks, and they in turn form the government. Until 1991 the largely ceremonial post of president was filled by parliamentary election; in that year the constitution was amended to allow for the direct popular election of the president and for presidential powers to be expanded. In each constituency there is a Citizens' Consultative Committee, designed to link local communities to the ruling party. Close liaison is maintained between the political and administrative arms of government. The administrative structure consists of the various ministries and statutory boards. These are staffed by civil servants who are monitored by an independent Public Service Commission. The political process Singapore's electorate includes every adult citizen who is a registered voter, and voting is compulsory. A number of parties contest elections, but since 1959 Singaporean politics have been dominated by the People's Action Party (PAP). The PAP's ability to maintain its control largely has been attributable to Singapore's rapid economic growth and improved social welfare. In addition, the PAP often has suppressed and co-opted domestic oppositionnotably through internal-security laws that allow political dissidents to be held indefinitely without trialand it has promoted a national paternalistic ideology through a variety of laws and corporate institutions. The emphasis of this ideology has been a rigid public morality focused on personal appearance and cleanliness, political loyalty, and family planning.