SINGAPORE: THE MERLION CITY-A CITY WITHOUT LIONS BUT MANY WONDERS

Singapore is a 50 year old lady, and yet is one of the world’s major economic superpower. At 50 she boasts of such laurels as being recognized as one of the least corrupt nations at one hand, and the World Bank acknowledgement as being the easiest place to do business in the world. Geographical advantages along with policies which are investment friendly like tax structures and corruption free environment attract a lot of investment to harness the skilled workforce and advanced infrastructure available. But this 718.3 square meter island nation is one of only 3 city nations in the world along with Monaco and the Vatican City.

History: Singapore derives her name from the word Singapura a Malay word, as christened by her founder Sang Nila Utama, and is hence often referred to as the Lion city. The Merlion which has come to be an iconic structure to represent Singapore brings in aspects of this name along with the importance of Singapore being historically a sea trading outpost by the lion and the fish respectively. Temasek meaning sea town in Malaya is the first known settlement of the region and dates back to the second century. Part of the Johor sultanate, Singapore started her next phase of reinvention in 1819.

Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles concluded a treaty on behalf of the East India Company to develop a British trading post here. Subsequently it became a British possession by 1824, and became the regional capital of the straights settlements under the British India jurisdiction. Her next reincarnation comes after the ravages of the World War II. From being an internally self governing state within the commonwealth, Singapore merged with Malaysia in 1962 and was subsequently expelled from the federation,

On 9^th    August 1965, she emerges on her tryst with destiny as a new nation – The Republic of Singapore, chaperoned by Lee Kuan Yew as the prime minister. Lee Kuan Yew or LKY as he is popularly known has guided Singapore on a path of rapid growth with focus on rapid economic growth, support for business entrepreneurship and limitations of internal democracy. He has led Singapore to be one of the founders of ASEAN, and established Singapore along with Hongkong, Taiwan and South Korea as one of the 4 Asian tigers.

Economy: This tiny nation is proud to boast the highest number of millionaires. It is estimated that one in six households in Singapore have a disposable wealth of US 1 million dollars. This is disposable wealth and hence doesn’t take in consideration property, business or luxury goods. While 90.3% of resident households live own their houses, most of these are actually Housing and Development Board constructions, though 75% of these are equivalents of 3BHK units. The government promotes competitiveness, with no minimum fixed wages and a very limited welfare system is functional within the nation. Starting as a trading post and rubber plantation based economy; today education, tourism and manufacturing all play significant roles in making this one of the most developed economies.

People: The demography of Singapore has various ethnic groups mixed. About 5.5 million people comprising of citizens, permanent residents and foreign workers make up the population of Singapore. With more than 40% of the population being of foreign born origin, the major ethnicity of the residents are Chinese Singaporeans and Malay, And Minorities are Indians and others Community. Buddhism is the most prevalent religion followed by Christianity, Islam, Taoism and Hinduism. Among languages English mandarin Chinese, Tamil and Malay form the official languages. While mandarin is the most common language, Malay is the national language, with the national anthem being in that language. Less than 2% of the population is found to be unemployed and all able bodied males above 18 must compulsorily serve in the army for 2 and half years. It is interesting to know that the major inventory the Singapore air force is not based in Singapore but in Australia, US and France. Cost of licenses and duties cover more than 150% of the vehicle value, thus limit the number of vehicles and hence pollution.

Interesting facts: Singapore as nation has some incredulous facts about it. While boasting of being one of the highest population density nations, Singapore also boasts of the highest Macdonald restaurant densities. Along with the highest rate of lighting activity Singapore unfortunately also boasts of one of the highest percentage of myopics, with 73% population suffering. The nation with fastest walkers has a 1000$ banknote has the national anthem lyrics inscribed on it. The country with one of the highest number of death penalties has minimum police feet on street, but one of the lowest crime incidents. The first night safari and the only night race in F1 vie for tourist attraction along with the world’s largest fountain. A high cost of living in this nation is also matched with a high standard of living, with green, healthy living.

From the time you land at Changi till you return back, Singapore offers you a melting point of culture language and cuisine, with distinct elements of Malay, Chinese, Indian and Eurasia in it. The only city where you can find a dispenser which dispenses a coke on hugging is also a city where public canings happen. All in all a swampy island nation of 63 islands is today a nation which is at the zenith of its development riding on economic development, making it one of the preferred living destinations of the world to which even the likes of Australian retail magnet Brett Blundy and Facebook cofounder Eduardo Saverin are relocating to. Merlion city indeed can’t boast of a single lion but boasts of many modern day wonders to take your breath away.