Singapore

The Republic of Singapore (Simplified Chinese: ??????; Pinyin: X?nji?p? Gònghéguó, Malay: Republik Singapura; Tamil: ??????????? ????????), is an island city-state in Southeast Asia, situated 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 {{coor dm|1|17.583|N|103|51.333|E|region:SG_type:city(4425720)}}, just 137 km north of the Equator. The name Singapore was derived from Malay word singa (lion), which itself is derived from the Sanskrit word ???? siMha of the same meaning, and the Sanskrit word ??? pura (city) {{ref|sanskrit}}.

Politics and government

:{{main2|Politics of Singapore|Laws of Singapore}}

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Singapore is a republic with a Westminster system of a bicameral parliamentary government, with the bulk of the executive powers resting in the hands of a cabinet of ministers led by a prime minister. The office of the president was, historically, a ceremonial one as head of state, but the Constitution 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. The legislative branch of government is the Parliament.

Related Topics:
Republic - Westminster system - Parliamentary government - Cabinet - Prime minister - President - Head of state - 1991 - Judiciary - Legislative - Parliament

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Politics of Singapore have been dominated by the People's Action Party (PAP) since its independence in 1965. Critics have called Singapore a de facto one party state and have accused the PAP of taking harsh actions against opposition parties to impede their success, including gerrymandering and the filing of civil suits against the opposition for libel or slander.

Related Topics:
People's Action Party - 1965 - One party state - Gerrymander - Libel - Slander

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Critics claim that Singaporean courts have been favouring the government and the PAP in these lawsuits, although there were a few cases in which the opposition won. They consider the form of government in Singapore to be closer to authoritarianism rather than true democracy, and could be considered an illiberal democracy or procedural democracy.

Related Topics:
Authoritarianism - Democracy - Illiberal democracy - Procedural democracy

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Despite this, or perhaps because of it, Singapore has what many consider to be a highly successful and transparent market economy. PAP's policies contain certain aspects of socialism, which includes large scale public housing programme, public education system and the dominance of government controlled companies in the local economy.

Related Topics:
Market economy - Socialism

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Although Singapore's laws are inherited from British and British Indian laws, the PAP has also consistently rejected wholesale Western democratic values, with former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew citing incompatibilities with "Asian values". Singapore's position is that there should not be a "one-size-fits-all" solution to a democracy. Most recently, the PAP has relaxed some of its socially conservative policies and encouraged entrepreneurship.

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Singapore enjoys one of the lowest crime rates in the world, and this has often been cited by foreign companies as one of the reasons for investing in Singapore. Laws in Singapore are generally strict with harsh punishments such as caning and execution and a stringent censorship of the media including magazines, newspapers, movies and TV programmes. Pornography, oral sex, anal sex and homosexual intercourse are illegal in Singapore. Material that may cause race or religious disharmony are not tolerated in Singapore, even on the Internet. On September 2005, three bloggers have been charged with sedition for posting racist remarks, including two who were later sentenced to imprisonment. Some offences can lead to heavy fines or caning while murder and drug trafficking are punishable by death by hanging. According to an Amnesty International report, 400 people were hanged between 1991 and 2004, which the report claimed is "possibly the highest execution rate in the world" per capita, although the Government reports this figure to be false and exaggerated.

Related Topics:
Caning - Execution - Censorship - Pornography - Oral sex - Anal sex - Homosexual intercourse - Internet - September 2005 - Blogger - Sedition - Racist - Imprisonment - Murder - Drug trafficking - Punishable by death - Hanging - Amnesty International - Per capita

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