Portal:Singapore

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Welcome to the Singapore Portal

Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It is about one degree of latitude (137 kilometres or 85 miles) north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bordering the Strait of Malacca to the west, the Singapore Strait to the south along with the Riau Islands in Indonesia, the South China Sea to the east, and the Straits of Johor along with the State of Johor in Malaysia to the north.

The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet; the combined area of these has increased by approximately 25% since the country's independence as a result of extensive land reclamation projects. It has the third highest population density of any country in the world, although there are numerous green and recreational spaces as a result of urban planning. With a multicultural population and in recognition of the cultural identities of the major ethnic groups within the nation, Singapore has four official languages: English, Malay, Mandarin, and Tamil. English is the common language, with exclusive use in numerous public services. Multi-racialism is enshrined in the constitution and continues to shape national policies in education, housing, and politics.

Singapore's history dates back at least eight hundred years, having been a maritime emporium known as Temasek and subsequently a major constituent part of several successive thalassocratic empires. Its contemporary era began in 1819, when Stamford Raffles established Singapore as an entrepôt trading post of the British Empire. In 1867, Singapore came under the direct control of Britain as part of the Straits Settlements. During World War II, Singapore was occupied by Japan in 1942 and returned to British control as a separate Crown colony following Japan's surrender in 1945. Singapore gained self-governance in 1959 and, in 1963, became part of the new federation of Malaysia, alongside Malaya, North Borneo, and Sarawak. Ideological differences led to Singapore's expulsion from the federation two years later; Singapore became an independent sovereign country in 1965.

After early years of turbulence and despite lacking natural resources and a hinterland, the nation rapidly developed to become one of the Four Asian Tigers. With its growth based on international trade and economic globalisation, it integrated itself with the world economy through free trade with minimal trade barriers and tariffs, export-oriented industrialisation, and the large accumulation of received foreign direct investments, foreign exchange reserves, and assets held by sovereign wealth funds. As a highly developed country, it has one of the highest GDP per capita (PPP) in the world. It is also identified as a tax haven. Singapore is the only country in Asia with a AAA sovereign credit rating from all major rating agencies. It is a major aviation, financial, and maritime shipping hub and has consistently been ranked as one of the most expensive cities to live in for expatriates and foreign workers. Singapore ranks highly in key social indicators: education, healthcare, quality of life, personal safety, infrastructure, and housing, with a home-ownership rate of 88 percent. Singaporeans enjoy one of the longest life expectancies, fastest Internet connection speeds, lowest infant mortality rates, and lowest levels of corruption in the world.

Singapore is a parliamentary republic in the Westminster tradition of unicameral parliamentary government, and its legal system is based on common law. While the country is de jure a multi-party democracy with free elections, the government under the People's Action Party (PAP) wields widespread control and political dominance. The PAP has governed the country continuously since full internal self-government was achieved in 1959, and holds a supermajority in Parliament. One of the five founding members of ASEAN, Singapore is also the headquarters of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Secretariat, the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council Secretariat, and is the host city of many international conferences and events. Singapore is also a member of the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the East Asia Summit, the Non-Aligned Movement, and the Commonwealth of Nations. (Full article...)

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The North–South Line (NSL) is a high-capacity Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line in Singapore, operated by SMRT Corporation. Coloured red on the Singapore rail map, the line is 45 kilometres (28 mi) long and serves 27 stations, 11 of which, between the Bishan and Marina South Pier stations, are underground. It runs from Jurong East station, located in Western Singapore, to Marina South Pier station in the Central Area, via Woodlands station in northern Singapore. The line operates for almost 20 hours a day (from the first departure 5:07 am to approximately 1 am the next day), with headways of up to 1 to 2 minutes during peak hours and 5 to 8 minutes during off-peak hours. All the trains on the North–South Line run with a six-car formation.

It was the first MRT line to be built in Singapore, with the first section from Yio Chu Kang station to Toa Payoh station beginning service on 7 November 1987, followed by an extension southwards to Raffles Place station on 12 December the same year and northwards to Yishun station on 20 December 1988. After the southern extension to Marina Bay station opened on 4 November 1989, the North–South Line was formed and split from the East–West Line. In the 1990s, the line extended to the north and west connecting to the Branch line via Woodlands through the Woodlands line extension. (Full article...)

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Selected picture

Credit: Someformofhuman (28 March 2010)

Saint Joseph's Church on Victoria Street during a Good Friday evening procession. Read more...

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General images

The following are images from various Singapore-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1A fragment of the Singapore Stone, inscribed with an Indic script, c. 10th to 13th century. (from History of Singapore)
Image 2The Thian Hock Keng, completed in 1842, served as a place of worship for early immigrants. (from History of Singapore)
Image 3Old Supreme Court of Singapore (from Culture of Singapore)
Image 4A busy Victoria Dock, Tanjong Pagar, in the 1890s. (from History of Singapore)
Image 5Top view of Bukit Batok West. Large scale public housing development has created high housing ownership among the population. (from History of Singapore)
Image 6Hainanese chicken rice (from Singaporeans)
Image 7The Marina Bay Sands integrated resort. Opened in 2010, it has become a key feature of Singapore's modern skyline. (from History of Singapore)
Image 81888 German map of Singapore (from History of Singapore)
Image 9The Mao Kun map from Wubei Zhi which is based on the early 15th century maps of Zheng He showing Temasek (淡馬錫) at the top left, and Long Ya Men (龍牙門) on the right panel. (from History of Singapore)
Image 10Enlargeable, detailed map of Singapore (from Geography of Singapore)
Image 11The Plan of the Town of Singapore, or more commonly known as the Jackson Plan or Raffles Town Plan. (from History of Singapore)
Image 12Quadrilingual sign (from Singaporeans)
Image 13Lieutenant-General Arthur Percival, led by a Japanese officer, marches under a flag of truce to negotiate the capitulation of Allied forces in Singapore, on 15 February 1942. It was the largest surrender of British-led forces in history. (from History of Singapore)
Image 14The Sultan Mosque, built in 1826 in the Kampong Glam district, is the oldest and one of the largest mosque in Singapore. (from Singaporeans)
Image 15Centre square of Raffles Place (from Culture of Singapore)
Image 16Sign board with warnings in Singapore's four main languages: English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil (from Culture of Singapore)
Image 17Jurong Industrial Estate, Singapore, with Jurong Island in the background (from Geography of Singapore)
Image 18Traffic in Singapore, 1981. Prior to the introduction of the Certificate of Entitlement (COE) in 1990, vehicles per capita in Singapore was the highest in ASEAN. (from History of Singapore)
Image 19Baedeker map of the city and environs, c. 1914
Image 20Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum (from Culture of Singapore)
Image 21Shophouses in Singapore (from Singaporeans)
Image 22Singapore's urban geography is often characterised by extensive use of HDB flats, which the majority of citizens reside in. (from Geography of Singapore)
Image 23Upper Seletar Reservoir (from Geography of Singapore)
Image 24Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum (from Singaporeans)
Image 25Chinese community in Singapore carrying the Flag of the Republic of China (written Long live the motherland) to celebrate the victory, also reflected the Chinese identity issues at that time. (from History of Singapore)
Image 26The country celebrates its National Day on 9 August each year. (from History of Singapore)
Image 271955 stamp with the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II (from History of Singapore)
Image 28Men of various ethnicities - Chinese, Malay, and Indian gather at a street corner in Singapore, circa 1900. (from Singaporeans)
Image 29Restored shophouses running along a street in Chinatown, which reflects the Victorian architecture of buildings built in Singapore during the earlier colonial period, with styles such as the painted ladies. (from History of Singapore)
Image 30Engraving of Sir Stamford Raffles by James Thomson
Image 31The old and the new Singapore as seen from an alley behind Boat Quay (2023) (from History of Singapore)
Image 32A statue of Raffles by Thomas Woolner now stands in Singapore, near Raffles's landing site in 1819. (from History of Singapore)
Image 33A hawker centre in Lavender, Singapore (from Culture of Singapore)
Image 34The Jurong Industrial Estate was developed in the 1960s to industrialise the economy. (from History of Singapore)
Image 35Japanese POWs are taken to work where they were made to clear up the city during the British reoccupation in September 1945
Image 36Afternoon thunderstorms are a frequent occurrence in Singapore, which has an equatorial climate. (from Geography of Singapore)
Image 37The Supertree Grove at Gardens by the Bay (from Culture of Singapore)
Image 38Mass Rapid Transit (from History of Singapore)
Image 39Fireworks over the Marina Bay skyline following the conclusion of the 2015 National Day Parade on 9 August 2015. (from History of Singapore)
Image 40St Andrew's Cathedral (from Singaporeans)
Image 41Deepavali decorations in Singapore. (from Culture of Singapore)

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Xiaxue at the National Library in September 2005

Cheng Yan Yan Wendy (born Cheng Yan Yan; 28 April 1984), better known by her pseudonym Xiaxue, is a Singaporean blogger and online television personality who writes about her life, fashion and local issues in a provocative style. Her main blog, which attracts about 50,000 readers daily, has won prestigious blog awards and earned her sponsorship deals, as well as stints as a columnist and TV show host, but some of her posts have sparked national controversies. (Full article...)

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Ho Yuen Hoe Gan Eng Seng Hugh Hickling Zubir Said Tang Da Wu Edwin Thumboo Teresa Hsu Fandi Ahmad Denise Phua Li Jiawei Glenn Knight Laurentia Tan Tao Li Yip Pin Xiu Neila Sathyalingam Walter Woon Han Sai Por Rex Shelley Feng Tianwei Lee Choon Seng Balaji Sadasivan Choor Singh Kelvin Tan

Did you know (auto-generated)

... that an artwork in Singapore's Outram Park MRT station represents the state of mind of commuters through 69 engravings of surreal human forms?
... that COVID-19 lockdown restrictions caused a 37-percent increase in infections of dengue fever in Singapore's 2020 outbreak?
... that artwork at Shenton Way MRT station depicts everyday people running after an old banknote?
... that Alan Choe was tasked with developing Queenstown, Singapore's first satellite town, after its British architects left the country in the mid-1950s?
... that Chinese missionary Tan See Boo moved to Singapore to work for the Presbyterian Church, but later returned to China to persuade Christians to leave the Presbyterian Church?
... that gynaecologist Oon Chiew Seng, who was diagnosed with dementia in 2013, was the founding chairperson of the first dementia home in Singapore?

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In this month

1 September 1993: Ong Teng Cheong becomes the first directly-elected President in Singapore.
1 September 2000: The Speakers's Corner is launched at Hong Lim Park.
3 September 1988: Group representation constituencies, a type of political division unique to Singapore, are introduced at the 1988 General Elections.
21 September 1965: Singapore is admitted into the United Nations as its 117th member.
27 September 1943: Operation Jaywick, a sabotage attempt by Special Operations Australia, was launched. 7 Japanese ships in Singapore Harbour were sunk.

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... that the Golden Mile Complex (pictured), which was designed as an avant-garde building with a stepped terrace structure, was once described as a "vertical slum" by a Singapore Nominated Member of Parliament?

... that Singapore's Ee Hoe Hean Club, a century-old millionaires' club for Chinese businessmen, became a headquarters of an anti-Japanese movement in Southeast Asia from 1937-1942?

... that in her début at the 2008 Summer Olympics, Tao Li broke the Asian record for the 100m butterfly twice and became the first Singaporean swimmer to enter an Olympic final?

... that Farrer Park is where Singapore's first racecourse was built and the island's aviation history began?

... that at the age of 10, Megan Zheng became the first Singaporean to win a Golden Horse Award?

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Selected panorama

Credit: Sengkang (December 2005)

The Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM, Chinese: 亚洲文明博物馆) is an institution which forms a part of the three museums of the National Museums of Singapore. It is one of the pioneering museums in the region to specialise in pan-Asian cultures and civilisations.

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Check for latest announcements and updates at the WikiProject Singapore
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