Background

The little red dot. The tiny island state was founded as a British
trading colony in 1819. It joined the Malaysian Federation in 1963 but
separated two years later and became independent.

Singapore subsequently became one of the world's most prosperous
countries with strong international trading links (its port is one of the
world's busiest in terms of tonnage handled) and with per capita GDP
equal to that of the leading nations of Western Europe.

The island boosts a population of over 4.5 million of various ethnic groups.
The current resident population consists of 76% Chinese, 14% Malays, 8%
indians and 2% others. The official language is English.Singaporeans
learn their mother-tongue as a second language (ie Mandarin, Malay, Tamil)
and as such find themselves positioned between asian and western worlds.

Education

Singapore has few natural resources and human talent remains our most valuable resource. As such, great emphasis is placed on our education system. Over the years, we have developed a world-class education system that produces students with aspirations for high-level achievements.

The Ministry of Education (MOE) administers education in Singapore. In recent years, MOE has been gearing towards a more flexible and diversified education system to provide students with more opportunities towards meeting their varied interests and aptitudes.

Singapore has 3 state universities of which 2 are placed as top universities in the world. A fourth university is being built to cather the ever growing population of intelligent students in asia.

Culture & Religion

There are 4 main religions in Singapore, Chinese religions, Christianity, Islam and Hinduism. Beside the four main religions there are also a other small regions. Singapore provides freedom of Religion. National Holidays are set for major racial and religion holidays such as the chinese new year, Vesak Day, Deepavali, Hari Raya Haji and Christmas.

Singapore is quite a culturally-open and sensitive society. The "open-house" concept - where a family welcomes friends, relatives and any visitors who may wish to drop by to its home - is a common practice during the major festivals like Hari Raya Puasa, Deepavali and Chinese New Year. Singapore's cultural celebrations are open to everybody and anybody, with just a few things to bare in mind - remember to dress appropriately for the occasion and leave your shoes at the entrance of mosques and temples.

Food

Singapore's Top National Pastime is eating good food. Not suprisingly it's easy to find local delights almost everywhere. Singapore created signature dishes includes Bak Kut Teh (literally pork rib tea) that consists of pork ribs brewed for long hours on low fire with herbs, garlic, cloves and pepper and the Char Kway Teow (fried flat noodles), Nasi lemak, which means "coconut rice". The dish comes as a platter with cucumber slices, small dried anchovies (ikan bilis), roasted peanuts, stir fried water convolvulus (kangkong), hard boiled egg, pickled vegetables (achar) and hot spicy sauce (sambal)..

Not forgetting our muslim friends. Our supermakets stock Halal food seperately packed and placed from non-halal food. Singapore's Halal products are highly regulated by authorities to ensure strict muslim laws are followed. Halal food are sticked with the follow logo and stalls have to be certified halal if they sell halal food.

Crime and safety

Singapore is considered one of the safest cities to live in and is relatively crime-free. It has one of the lowest crime rate not only in the region but also when compared to most developed western countries. The Singapore Police Force does a great job in ensuring public safety and you can be assured of their presence when the occasion requires it.

Finance & Currency

The economy of Singapore is a highly developed capitalist mixed economy. It has an open business environment, corruption-free and transparent, stable prices, and one of the highest per capita gross domestic products (GDP) in the world. Singapore has taken a pragmatic and carefully-planned approach to economic development--building on its traditional strengths in entrepot trade and shipping, while gradually diversifying into banking and financial services and other high-value-added sectors.The Singapore currency is one of the most stable currencies in the world. The local currency is the Singapore dollar, SGD or S$ for short. The exchange rate ranges from 1.3 to 1.5 per US dollar (2001-2009).

Singapore is now expanding into the tourism industry the intergrated resorts (picture on the right) is currently being built. Projected to be finished in 2010 the intergrated resorts will become the main tourist attraction with theme parks, hotels and casinos.