The Transformation of a Tropical Island

Shaped like a diamond, this tropical island is a city, as well as a nation. It is situated just off the tip of peninsular Malaysia, about 137 kilometers (85 miles) north of the equator, eight hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time. This multi-lingual city-state speaks four languages: Malay, English, Chinese, and Tamil. Singapore, in Malay it is called 'Singa Pura', derived from Sanskrit 'simhah puram' for lion fort.

The Republic of Singapore did not exist until 1965, its creation was a sad event. Singapore was expelled from the mother-land, the Federation of Malaysian States. Now this unwanted child was alone to fend for itself. The prime minister of Singapore, then Mr. Lee Kuan Yew, wept when he announced the nation's separation.

This tiny island of poverty was left with two options: swim or sink.

With determination, discipline, and diligence, Singapore sprung up from slums to skyscrapers in a surprisingly short period of time. The third world Singapore and the modern Singapore was just two decades apart.

Now a developed nation, its citizens enjoy high standard of living. Virtually every corner of the country is clean and environmentally pleasant, reflecting a well-planned urban design; even its highways are decorated with manicured shrubs and flowers. The air of confidence can be felt from its streets to its architecture. The majority of Singaporeans are home-owners with middle income. Hospitals are well equipped with modern facilities and staffed by highly qualified medical personnel. One of the world's highest standard of education is in Singapore. Amazingly, the same generation has experienced a very different Singapore within their life time.

(Image Source: http://www.country-data.com)

This lion fort has no natural resources other than one 'kampong nelayan' or fishing village at the mouth of the Singapore River. However, its strategic geographic position between the Pacific and the Indian Ocean makes it a maritime hub that connects East and West. In 1819 this island became a seaport and simultaneously a British colony. It served as a military and administration base for the British colonial operation in Southeast Asia.

There were other settlers in Singapore. Unlike the British, these settlers were less informed and less organized. They came mainly in search of better live, many came from southern China, southern India, and Ceylon---the present day Sri Lanka. Unfortunately, things were not any better here. Probably tired of the journey, many decided to roll up their sleeves and start from scratch. Without much prospect on this island of nothing, many had to endure hard labour, from pulling rickshaws to street hawkers, often barely making enough to support their crowded families that slept on straw mats. Out of desperation, some mothers were left without much alternative other than to allow exploitation of their flesh for additional income, a profession that would break their hearts if they were to tell their young ones.

Opium dens thrived like mushrooms under such social disparity. Misery and competition to survive had compounded the differences between people of different ethnic backgrounds. The British rulers who employed local laborers to construct their projects recognized the potential problem and decided to segregate the people into ethnic ghettos as a measure to maintain social harmony. On the other hand, the elite class was able to work with---instead of for---the masters and had a better standard of living.

Besides being orderly, clean, and safe, Singapore is known for its efficiency, from its punctual public transport to its very busy harbour to its high volume 24-hour international hub airport. Singapore has been a shopping Mecca for many years, due to competitions from nearby cities, there has been effort to make Singapore more than just a tourist shopping centre. New theme park and casino have been added to its list of development including the 2008 Formula One. Increasing number of foreigners are also coming to Singapore for medical treatments. One thing hasn't changed in Singapore, the food remain delicious: laksa, murtabak, cendol, char kway teow, nasi lemak ... so come eat lah!

Singlish is an English-based Creole invented by Singaporean. There are three noticeable characteristics in Singlish, the inclusion of non-English words, the altered form of grammatical structure from the standard English, and last but not least, the accent.

Singlish is syllabic-timed in which every syllable takes up roughly the same amount of time when pronounced, this is due to the influence of the intonations of the local languages such as Malay, Chinese, and Tamil, thus yields a staccato-like tempo rather than a rhythmic one produced by the stress-timed "standard" English.

During the process of creolization where vocabularies from different languages intermingle and sentence structure altered, a new form of language emerges; over time it becomes a common mode of colloquial form of speech.

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How come you so late you still playing music, ah? You looking for trouble, izzit?
Alamak, I try so hard oso cannot do.
Aiyah, cannot wait any more, must go oreddy.
I woke up at 10. Den boss saw me coming late. So suay!
You go ting ting first, maybe den you get answer lor.
I was at a park, den hor, I was attacked by dinosaur leh!
Dis boy ah, always so naughty one!

Singlish Vocabularies:
Ah is an emphasis on the subject.
Aiyah is a Chinese exclamation for "Oh my goodness!"
Alamak is the Malay version of "Oh my goodness!"
Den means then.
Dis is from the word "this".
Hor is often used when the speaker seeks approval or sympathy.
Izzit is Singlish for "is it".
Leh, almost or close to implying something inevitable or based on facts.
Lor, implying consequence or result leading to what was implied.
Oreddy, a good example of syllabic-timed pronunciation for "already".
Oso comes from "also".
Suay is Hokkien or Taechew Chinese dialects for bad luck.
Ting is think, (ting ting means to consider or contemplate).

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To some outsiders this is charming. To proponents of Singlish, it reflects Singaporean vernacular identity. On the other hand, many regard the rhythmic stressed-timed pronunciation as more prestigious. The government of Singapore is advocating the use of the standard English. Singlish, although not standard, comedy shows in Singlish have scored higher viewer ratings in Singapore and other southeast Asian countries than BBC comedies. Interestingly, however, many westerners, including British expatriates have learned the Creole and enjoy conversing in Singlish, with a bad accent.

Most Singaporeans are bilingual at a very young age, through exposure or schooling many become proficient in other languages as well. For example, a good number of Tamil speakers can also converse fluently in Malay, Chinese, and English. Singaporeans have no problem in switching between Singlish and the standard English. Does that make him/her penta-lingual?

Because of limited land area in the face of increasing population Singapore has been building the country, literally. Earth from inland, sea floor, as well as imported earth from other countries are being added to its existing perimeter. As a result of this land reclamation activity, Singapore has physically expanded 125 km2 (80 sq mi) of land area in the past forty years to its current size of 704 km2 (272 sq mi), and continues to expand.

The geographical coordinates has also changed. The original reference point for Singapore was 1°17'15.528"N and 103°51'10.808"E at the Flagstaff at Empress Place Building. Since 2005 the latitude and longitude has been moved to the position of 103° 50' 00" E and 1° 22' 00 N in Pierce Reservoir.

Singapore has tropical climate with temperatures ranging from 22 °C (72 °F) to 34 °C (93 °F). The cooler months are during the Monsoon season in November and December, while June and July are the hottest. On average, the relative humidity is 75%. At night when temperature drops, air moisture condensates on the ground and on vegetation. Humidity in the morning tends to be higher than in the afternoon due to surface moisture evaporation into the atmosphere caused by the heat of the sun. It is not uncommon for the relative humidity to reach 100% during prolonged heavy rain.

Singapore does not observe daylight saving time. Due to its proximity to the equator, day and night have about the same number of hours year round.

Despite being the world's 2nd most densely populated country after Monaco, Singapore does not have traffic jam as in many other big cities.

Eating spicy food will help body to cool off through perspiration.

Durian is not for everyone but once hooked there is no turning back.