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Singapore Information: Inside Singapore, formally the Republic of Singapore, 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. Its coordinates are 1°17.583′N 103°51.333′E, just 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 formed 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. 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. 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. Under the Constitution, Singapore is a representative democracy. Singapore initially undertook a democratic socialist policy during independence, adopting a welfare system. However, the government has since shifted to the right. Singapore faces criticism for being a reduced democracy because of its dominant-party system and has attracted controversy for some of its policies |
