The Singapore Story Singapore National Day 2012

On the tip of the Malay Peninsula in South East Asia lies a diamond shaped island,which is known as Singapore. Singapore is 137 km north of the equator.

One day there was a prince called Sang Nila Utama, who came across an island. The prince asked his men “ What island is that?”. “That is Temasek ”.When Sang Nila Utama landed on the island he saw a strange animal. “What animal is that?”,he asked. “That animal is called a lion", replied his men. Sang Nila Utama decided to build a city at Temasek and called it Singapura (Singapore) which means ‘Lion City’.

Singapore continued to be ruled by the local kings, until 1819 when the British set up a trading settlement in Singapore under Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles. Raffles began to make plans for a new town. He believed that one day Singapore would grow into a great city.

Singapore became a busy port and people from China, India and other parts of the world flocked to Singapore to trade or settle down.

During World War II, Singapore was taken over by the Japanese. After the war the Japanese surrendered and Singapore became a colony of the British Empire again. The people of Singapore wanted to have their own government and finally they achieved self government in In 1963 Singapore became part of Malaysia for a period of two years.

On 9 th August 1965, Lee Kuan Yew the first Prime Minister of Singapore announced that Singapore would become an independent nation. Singapore became a republic with Yusof Bin Ishak as the first President. Lee Kuan Yew Yusof Bin Ishak

Interesting Facts Singapore today is a Parliamentary Republic. The current president of Singapore is Dr Tony Tan. The current Prime Minister of Singapore is Lee Hsien Loong. Avondale is in Tanglin and it is under the group representative constituency of Tanjong Pagar. Singapore Parliament House

This year, Singapore celebrates 47 years of independence. Singapore has gone through so many hard times over the years. Today, Singapore has become a thriving centre for commerce and industry.

Singapore is a major tourism industry. The Orchard road district is filled with large shopping centres and tourist attractions. Other popular attractions are Sentosa, Universal Studios Singapore, Singapore Zoo, Night Safari, Jurong Bird Park and Marina Bay Sands.

Today Singapore’s population is 5.2 million. Most Singaporeans are of Chinese, Malay, Indian and Eurasian descent. The official languages are English, Mandarin, Malay and Tamil.

Majulah Singapura (Onward Singapore) is the national anthem of Singapore. It was composed by Zubir Said in 1958.

THE SINGAPORE NATIONAL FLAG

The national flag was first used in It equals of two horizontal sections in red above white. The upper left section contains a crescent moon and five white stars. Red- universal brotherhood and the equality of man White- everlasting purity and virtue Crescent moon- rising young nation 5 stars- Democracy, Peace, Progress, Justice, Equality