what are the things that came to your mind when u tink of singapore!!!?

Question

please list down as many points as possible!!!

Answer 1

Fine city - Every thing have a penalty.
Kiasu - Everybody is so kiasu
High rise building - There are too much high rise building in S'pore
Crabs - People love the chilli crabs in S'pore
Singlish - Since we can't speak proper English, we speak Singlish.
Rush - Everybody rushing for a seat when MRT/Bus arrived at the destinated stop.
Complaint - Most of them never say about the good things thay encountered but everybody said about the unhappy things they encountered.

Answer 2

Asia

Answer 3

kiasu la me. i wanna win e "best answer chosen by asker, and voted by voters" status for answerin this one.

well, this is wad came to my mind when i thought of singapore :)

Source:
moi's a Singaporean!

Answer 4

Chili Crabs - the best in the world!

Answer 5

greenary all around there.nice and cool weather specially pollution free.

Answer 6

Small island, big ambitions

Answer 7

clean, no jaywalking, no gum, clean sidewalks, shopping, "no lah", safety, auntie....

Answer 8

communism...

Answer 9

Singapore, formally the Republic of Singapore (Malay: Republik Singapura; Chinese: 新加坡共和国, Pinyin: Xīnjiāpō Gònghéguó; Tamil: சிங்கப்பூர் குடியரசு, Ciŋkappūr Kudiyarasu), is an island city-state and the smallest country in Southeast Asia. It is located on the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, south of the Malaysian state of Johor, and north of the Indonesian Riau Islands. It lies just 137 kilometres (85 miles) north of the Equator.

The site of several ancient port cities and a possession of several empires in its history, Singapore was a Malay fishing village when it was colonised by the United Kingdom in the 19th century. It was further occupied by the Japanese Empire in World War II, and was later part of the merger which established the Federation of Malaysia. When Singapore acquired independence, having few natural resources, it was sociopolitically volatile and economically undeveloped. Foreign investment and rapid government-led industrialisation has since created an economy which relies on exports of electronics and manufacturing primarily from its port. Singapore has the best quality of life in Asia, and is ranked 11th in the World.[1]

More than 90% of Singapore's population lives in housing estates constructed by the Housing Development Board and nearly half uses the public transport system daily [2]. As a result of public transport and environmental initiatives by government ministries, Singapore's pollution is mostly confined within the heavy industry area on Jurong Island. The Constitution of the Republic of Singapore established the city-state as a representative democracy. Singapore initially undertook a democratic socialist policy shortly after its independence, adopting a welfare system. However, the government has since become more conservative than it was at the founding of the republic. Singapore faces criticism for being a reduced democracy because of its dominant-party system and has attracted controversy for some of its policies.

The name Singapore is derived from the Malay words singa (lion) and pura (city), which were themselves derived from the Sanskrit words सिंह siMha and पुर pura.[3] Hence, Singapore is also known as the Lion City. The naming is attributed to a prince named Sang Nila Utama, who according to folklore, saw a lion as the first living creature on the island and decided to name it Singapura as a result.[4]

The first records of Singapore's existence are in Chinese texts from the 3rd century AD. The island was an outpost of the Sumatran Srivijaya empire and originally bore the Javanese name Temasek (which means sea town). Temasek rose to become a significant trading city, but subsequently declined. There are few remnants of old Temasek in Singapore, but archaeologists in Singapore have uncovered evidence of the civilization, as well as other settlements. Between the 16th and early 19th centuries, Singapore was a part of the Sultanate of Johore. During the Malay-Portugal wars in 1617, Singapore was set ablaze by Portuguese troops.
Statue of Thomas Stamford Raffles by Thomas Woolner, erected at the spot where he first landed at Singapore. He is recognised as the founder of modern Singapore.
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Statue of Thomas Stamford Raffles by Thomas Woolner, erected at the spot where he first landed at Singapore. He is recognised as the founder of modern Singapore.

In 1819, Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, an official with the British East India Company, signed a treaty with the Sultan of Johore. He also established Singapore as a trading post and settlement, which saw instant growth and immigration from various ethnic groups. Singapore was later made a crown colony by Britain in 1867. After a series of colonial territorial expansions, the British Empire soon raised Singapore's status to that of an entrepot town, due to its strategic location along the busy shipping routes connecting Europe to China.[5]

During World War II, the Imperial Japanese Army invaded Malaya and the surrounding region in the Battle of Malaya, which culminated in the Battle of Singapore. The British were unprepared and swiftly defeated, despite having more troops. They surrendered to the Japanese on 15 February 1942. The Japanese renamed Singapore as Syonan-to, Japanese for "Light of the South", and occupied it until the British arrived to repossess the island a month after the Japanese surrender in September 1945.[6]

Singapore became a self-governing state in 1959 with Yusof bin Ishak as its first head of state and Lee Kuan Yew from the People's Action Party (PAP) as its first Prime Minister, after the 1959 elections. The Merger Referendum passed in 1962 and led to Singapore joining the Federation of Malaysia along with Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak as a state with autonomous powers in September 1963. Singapore was expelled from the federation on 7 August 1965 after heated ideological conflict developed between the state government formed by PAP and the Federal government in Kuala Lumpur. It gained official sovereignty two days later on 9 August 1965, which later became Singapore's National Day. Malaysia was the first country to recognise it as an independent nation.[7]

The fledgling nation had to become self-sufficient, and faced problems including mass unemployment, housing shortages and lack of land and natural resources such as petroleum. During Lee Kuan Yew's term as prime minister from 1959 to 1990, his administration immediately curbed unemployment, raised the standard of living and implemented a large-scale public housing programme. The country economic infrastructure was developed, the threat of racial tension was eliminated and an independent national defence system was created. Singapore evolved from a developing nation to first world status towards the end of the 20th century.[8]

In 1990, Goh Chok Tong succeeded Lee as Prime Minister. During his tenure, the country tackled the economic impacts of the 1997 Asian financial crisis and the 2003 SARS outbreak, as well as terrorist threats posed by the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) post-September 11 and the Bali bombings. In 2004 Lee Hsien Loong, the eldest son of Lee Kuan Yew, became the third prime minister.[9]

Politics and government

Main article: Politics of Singapore

Singapore is a republic with a Westminster system of a unicameral parliamentary government representing different constituencies of Singapore. The bulk of the executive powers rests in the hands of the Cabinet of Singapore, which consists of ministers led by the Prime Minister of Singapore. The office of the President of Singapore was, historically, a ceremonial one as head of state, but the Constitution of Singapore was amended in 1991 to create the position of a popularly elected President and also to grant the President veto powers in a few key decisions such as the use of the national reserves and the appointment of key judiciary positions.[10] The legislative branch of government is the Parliament. Parliamentary elections in Singapore are plurality-based for group representation constituencies since the Parliamentary Elections Act was modified in 1991. [11]

Singaporean politics have been dominated by the People's Action Party (PAP) since the country's independence in 1965.[12] Foreign political analysts and several opposition parties including the Workers' Party of Singapore and the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) have argued that Singapore is a de facto one-party state. Many consider the form of government in Singapore to be closer to authoritarianism such as illiberal democracy or procedural democracy rather than true democracy. Reporters Without Borders ranked Singapore 140th out of 167 countries in its 2005 Worldwide Press Freedom Index. It has also been alleged that the PAP employs censorship, gerrymandering by the Elections Department and the filing of civil suits against the opposition for libel or slander to impede their success. Several former and present members of the opposition, including Francis Seow, J.B. Jeyaretnam and Chee Soon Juan perceive the Singaporean courts as favourable towards the government and the PAP due to a lack of separation of powers. [13] Although no PAP member has ever lost a defamation case in court, there are three cases in which opposition leader Chiam See Tong sued PAP members for defamation and successfully obtained an out-of-court settlement. [14]

Singapore has what its government considers to be a highly successful and transparent market economy. The PAP's policies contain some aspects of socialism. The Housing Development Board oversees a large-scale public housing programme and education in Singapore is a rigorous compulsory public education system, and the dominance of government-controlled companies in the local economy. Although dominant in its activities, the government has a clean, corruption-free image. Singapore has consistently been rated as the least-corrupt country in Asia and amongst the top ten cleanest from corruption in the world by Transparency International.[15]

Although Singapore's laws are inherited from British and British Indian laws, including many elements of English common law, the PAP has also consistently rejected liberal democratic values, which it typifies as Western and states that there should not be a 'one-size-fits-all' solution to a democracy. Laws restricting the freedom of speech are justified by claims that they are intended to prohibit speech that may breed ill will or cause disharmony within Singapore's multiracial, multi-religious society. For example, in September 2005, three bloggers were convicted of sedition for posting racist remarks targeting minorities.[16] Some offences can lead to heavy fines or caning and there are laws which allow capital punishment in Singapore for first-degree murder and drug trafficking. Amnesty International has criticised Singapore for having "possibly the highest execution rate in the world" per capita.[17] The Singapore government argued that there is no international consensus on the appropriateness of the death penalty and that Singapore has the sovereign right to determine its own judicial system and impose capital punishment for the most serious crimes. [18] However, more recently the PAP has relaxed some of its socially conservative policies. Also, the government has introduced a "Cutting Red Tape" program, which allows citizens to share their views on law, punishment, social issues and world issues, without being prosecuted by the government. This program has reduced criticism, and has opened the doors of freedom to many Singaporeans, but does not fully solve the human rights issue.

Singapore has a highly developed market-based economy, and is often considered to be a developed nation. It ranks 25th on the Human Development Index[22] which measures standard of living, and second in the Index of Economic Freedom, just behind Hong Kong, which doesn't have national sovereignty. Although Singapore has one of the highest per capita gross domestic products (GDP) in the world, domestic demand is relatively low due to the small population.

The economy depends heavily on exports produced from refining imported goods in a form of extended entrepot trade, especially in manufacturing. Manufacturing contributes around 28% to GDP in 2005. The manufacturing industry is today well-diversified with electronics, chemicals, mechanical engineering and biomedical sciences manufacturing. Along with Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan, Singapore's fast-paced industrialization earned it a place as one of the four original 'East Asian Tigers'.

In 2001, a global recession and slump in the technology sector caused the GDP to contract by 2.2%. The Economic Review Committee (ERC), set up in December 2001, recommended several policy changes with a view to revitalising the economy. Singapore has since recovered from the recession, largely due to improvements in the world economy; the Singaporean economy itself grew by 8.3% in 2004 and 6.4% in 2005.[23] In the long term, the government hopes to establish a new growth path which will be less vulnerable to the external business cycle, as compared to the current export-led model. However, the government is unlikely to abandon efforts to establish Singapore as Southeast Asia's financial and high-tech hub. The per capita GDP in 2005 was US$26,833[1] and the unemployment rate was 2.9% in June 2006, up from 2.5% in January the same year.[24] 81,500 new jobs were created from January-July 2006, the highest number in a decade within a 6 month period. The economy is expected to grow by 6.5% to 7.5% in the year 2006, after a 9.4% growth in the first half of Year 2006 (Jan-Jul 2006).

The average monthly household income for Singaporeans is SGD $4,870 in 2003. In March 2006, the government gave all citizens a progress package due to the expanding economy. The progress package is worth a total of SGD $2.6 billion.

Singapore introduced a Goods and Services Tax (GST) with an initial rate of 3% on 1 April 1994. This has substantially increased government revenue by $1.6 billion, stabilising the government's finances.[25] The government has used revenue from the GST to reorient the economy around services and value added-goods to reduce dependence on electronics manufacturing. The taxable GST was increased to 4% in 2003 and to 5% in 2004.[26]

Singapore is a popular travel destination, making tourism one of its largest industries. In 2005, a total of 9.05 million tourists visited Singapore. Much of its attraction can be attributed to its cultural diversity that reflects almost 200 years of colonial history with immigrant cultures originating from Chinese, Malay, Indian, Eurasian and Arab ethnicities. The Orchard Road district, which is dominated by multi-storey shopping centres and hotels, is the centre of tourism in Singapore. Other popular tourist attractions include the Singapore Zoo and its Night Safari along with the tourist island of Sentosa. To attract more tourists, the government decided in 2005 to legalise gambling and to allow two Integrated Resorts to be developed at Marina South and Sentosa.[27]

The military of Singapore serves primarily as a deterrent to potential invaders of the island. Singapore has mutual defence pacts with several allies that it militarily cooperates with, such as those in the Five Power Defence Arrangements. Singapore uses the concept of Total Defence, which classifies defence into five aspects. Besides the military, the other four aspects of Total Defence are civil defence, which is carried out by the Singapore Civil Defence Force, and concepts of 'economic defence', 'psychological defence', and 'social defence'.

The military of Singapore comprises various armed forces collectively known as the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF). Various agencies of the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) and some private companies also play a supporting role. The military of Singapore is one of the most modernised in Asia, with its current standing reflecting the continued emphasis of the government on military defence — military expenditures dominate the annual government budget.

The recent uses of unconventional warfare and terrorism have elevated the other aspects of Total Defence. The Gurkha Contingent, which is part of the Singapore Police Force, is also a counter-terrorist force. Singapore's defence resources have been used for international humanitarian aid missions. These missions included United Nations peacekeeping abroad in areas such as Kosovo, Kuwait and East Timor,[28] and participating in the multinational force in Iraq.[29] Before independence, Singapore suffered bomb attack during the Konfrantasi campaign sponsored by Indonesia under President Sukarno. More recent threat comes from the militant organisation Jemaah Islamiyah, which plotted the foiled Singapore embassies attack in 2001.

Singapore is a small and relatively modern amalgam of an indigenous Malay population with a third generation Chinese majority, as well as Indian and Arab immigrants with some intermarriages. There also exist Eurasian and Peranakan (known also as 'Straits Chinese') communities. Singapore has also achieved a significant degree of cultural diffusion with its unique combination of these ethnic groups, and this has given Singapore a rich mixture of diversity for its young age. One of the prime examples is in Singaporean cuisine, often a cultural attraction for tourists.

The English used is primarily British English, with some American English influences. The local colloquial dialect of English is Singlish, which has many creole-like characteristics, having incorporated vocabulary and grammar from various Chinese dialects, Malay, and Indian languages. Singlish is spoken commonly on the streets, but the government frowns upon its use in official contexts. English became widespread in Singapore after it was implemented as a first language medium in the education system, and English is the most common language in Singaporean literature.

Singapore has several ethnic neighbourhoods, including Little India and Chinatown. These were formed under the Raffles Plan to originally segregate the immigrants, but now have a diverse patronage whose main intentions are to either eat or buy something specific to that culture. Many places of worship were also constructed during the colonial era, a practice encouraged by the British to promote religious tolerance. Sri Mariamman Temple, the Masjid Jamae Mosque and the Church of Gregory the Illuminator are among those that were built during the colonial period. Work is now underway to preserve these religious sites as National Monuments of Singapore. The policy for the primarily commercial ethnic neighbourhoods stands in contrast to the housing policies of the Housing and Development Board (HDB). HDB policies attempt to promote a mix of all races within each housing district in order to foster social cohesion and national loyalty.[35]

Since the 1990s, the government has been striving to promote Singapore as a centre for arts and culture, including theatre and music, and to transform the country into a cosmopolitan and diverse community at the 'gateway between the East and West'.[36] The highlight of these efforts was the construction of Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay, a centre for performing arts that opened in 2003. [37]