Singapore: An Overview of Its Geography, History, and Society

This report provides a comprehensive overview of Singapore, encompassing its geographical features, historical development, cultural diversity, economic growth, and political structure. The introduction highlights Singapore's strategic location, diverse population, and linguistic landscape. The geographical section details the country's islands and land reclamation efforts. The history section traces Singapore's origins, from its early inhabitants to its colonial past and eventual independence. The cultural analysis explores the country's diverse dialects, religions, and media landscape. The economy section discusses Singapore's industrial and financial sectors, government policies, and labor market. Finally, the politics section outlines the nation's legal framework, political parties, and governance model. The report concludes by emphasizing Singapore's strong economic base, good governance, and societal harmony, which have contributed to its success as a nation. The report is a useful resource for students seeking to understand the multifaceted aspects of Singapore.

Singapore
Name:
Institution:

Introduction
 Situated at the Malay Peninsula end
 Singapore is about 85 miles north of the equator
 Singapore populace is diverse
 Chinese is predominant
 Malays are the other biggest ethical group and Indians is the third
 Linguistic diversity is less evident among the Malays
 Indian are most varied groups (Andaya & Andaya, 2016).

Geographical
 Country comprises of 63 islands (Frost & Balasingamchow, 2013)
 Tekong, Jurong Island, Pulau Tekong, Sentosa and Pulau Ubin are
smaller islands.
 Cocos and Christmas Islands were part of Singapore
 But, were later moved over to Australia

Continuation
 Country’s land mass is721.5 km2 in 2018 (Vickers, 2013)
 Projected to develop to 766 km2 by 2030 (International Monetary
Fund, Singapore, 2017)
 In 2010, country imported about 15 million tons of sand
 Vietnam and Indonesia block the export of sand
 Singapore use Polders from Netherlands (Andaya & Andaya, 2016)

History
 Initially, Singapore Island was occupied by pirates and fisherman
 Javanese king Kertanagara is alleged to have invaded Temasek
 Rajendra may have called the town Singapura
 Sejarah Melavu, the city was established by the Srīvijayan
 Anglo-Dutch accord in 1824
 Singapore Island was surrendered to the British
 Malaka, Penang, and Singapore joined as Straits Settlements (Andaya
& Andaya, 2016)

Continuation
 In 1946, made constitutional development (Vickers, 2013)
 In 1955, legislative assembly assumed the government responsibility
 In 1959, the nominated and official elements were eradicated
 In 1959, PAP refused to create a regime (Frost & Balasingamchow,
2013)
 In 1964, PAP party encountered new threats
 The conflict ended in 1966

.
Continuation
 British military presence came to an end in October 1971
 In 1970s, State followed an aggressive plan of economic develop
 Singapore was caught in the global slump of 2008 and 2009
 In 2010, significant recovery (Chiu, 2018)
 Treaty was reached with Malaysia on boundary disputes
 In 2010, agreement was signed between China and six ASEAN
nations (Frost & Balasingamchow, 2013)

Cultural
 Country has a diversity of dialects, cultures, and religions
 English speaking incline towards the western beliefs (Bravo-Bhasin,
2017)
 Malay-speaking inclines towards Malay
 Cultural communities perform Indian music, traditional Chinese
(Kong, 2017)

Continuation
 Malay song has embraced the western orchestra’s beats
 Favorite music films are Tamil and Hindi songs (Bravo-Bhasin, 2017)
 English, Malay, Chinese and Indian media serve educated populace
 Publications printed in Hong Kong, Japan and west
 Authority regulates the press
 Singapore Broadcasting Corporation regulates all media (Bravo-
Bhasin, 2017)

Economy
 Singapore faced economic growth since 1960 (Chiu, 2018)
 Grown active in industrial and financial sectors
 Country has the most improved economy in South Asia
 Economy never relied on manufacture and export (World Economic
Forum, 2017)
 Singaporean regime has controlled economic growth

continuation
 Regime has tried to improve the value and the labor output
 Robust assurance to health and education
 Rising wages and shortage of labor (McKay, 2013)
 Formal plan depends on enterprise sale, market forces, and local
private trades (Singapore Economic Development Board 2017)

Politics
 Nation is a lawmaking state (Hill & Lian, 2013)
 Executive power rests with the Cabinet of Singapore
 Head of state is voted through a popular vote
 He has veto authority over a particular set of executive decision
 Members of parliament- non-constituency, elected and nominated
participants (Singh, 2017)
 Self-governance was held in 1959

Continuation
 PAP party has won the influence of parliament
 Multiracialism, an essential reason for its split-up from Malaysia
 Legal structure grounded on English common law (Hill & Lian, 2013)
 Abolishment of trial by jury in 1970 (Tremewan, 2016)
 Country penalties comprise legal corporal punishment
 Capital punishment: firearms offense and aggravated drug-trafficking
 Country's legal structure is most reliable in Asia (Hill & Lian, 2013)

Conclusion
 Singapore has a strong production base
 Consistently ranked among the least corrupt nations globally
 Robust and almost authoritarian regime
 Good governance and meritocracy well-known as Singapore model
 Model behind the nation's economic development, political stability,
and harmonious society

References
Andaya, B. W., & Andaya, L. Y. (2016). A history of Malaysia.
Macmillan International Higher Education. Retrieved from: https
://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&
id=XSOHDQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=history+of+singapore&ot
s=GEDNMiY2pm&sig=QKONLL188yoDHmPLiYuQkzQve2s
Bravo-Bhasin, M. (2017). Culture shock! A survival guide to customs
and etiquette, Singapore. Retrieved from:
https://myrrh.library.moore.edu.au/bitstream/handle/10248/10034/bravo-
bhasin_culture_shock!_singapore_p_i_11.pdf?sequence
Chiu, S. W. K. (2018). City states in the global economy: Industrial
restructuring in Hong Kong and Singapore. Routledge. Retrieved from:
https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9780429970153