Population Policies and Programmes in Singapore

1. Background

By: ROS Size: 6" x 9" J/No: 05-10631 Fonts: Eras, GarthGraphic 1 Background The Republic of Singapore comprises the main island of Singapore and some 54 small islets within its territorial waters and jurisdiction. The country has a total land area of only 697.1 square kilometres, 550 of which are taken up by the diamond-shaped main island which is 41.8 kilometres in length and 22.5 kilometres in breadth. Singapore is situated at the southern extremity of Peninsular Malaysia to which it is linked by the 1,056-metre rail-and-road causeway spanning the Straits of Johore. In its wider context, the Republic occupies a strategic position of the principal sea, air and trade routes between Europe and the Far East and Oceania. Singapore, being only 136.8 kilometres north of the Equator, has an equatorial climate with uniform and high temperatures of about 28°C, high humidity of about 70 per cent, and fairly abundant rainfall of some 2,400 millimetres per year. There is an absence of marked seasonal changes though December is often the wettest and coolest month. The topography of Singapore is one lacking in contrast as the whole country is of very low elevation with a few small hills no higher than 166 metres. There are many rivers, with the larger ones such as the Kranji and Seletar rivers used as catchment areas for reservoirs and of course the Singapore River which is the traditional busy waterway for small boats in the very heart of the city. The lowland forests that used to cover the island in the early days have retreated with the advance of roads, houses, factories and cultivated vegetation. What remain are some small pockets of protected reserves, such as the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve and the Kranji Nature Reserve, totalling some 2,797 hectares. The built-up area is dominated by public housing high-rise apartments and factories which are concentrated mainly in the industrial town of Jurong on the western side of the main island. 3 01 PP&P Pt 1/Ch 1 16/5/05, 3:05 PM 3 4 POPULATION POLICIES AND PROGRAMMES IN SINGAPORE The early history of Singapore prior to the nineteenth century remains largely uncharted, being interwoven with that of the various Buddhist, Hindu and Islamic empires that existed in the Southeast Asian region. The British led by Stamford Raffles landed on the island on 29 January 1819 and soon signed a treaty with the Malay ruler, Sultan Hussein Mohamed Shah of Johor, and established a trading post. In 1826 Singapore joined the two other British settlements of Penang and Malacca in the Malay Peninsula to form the Colony of the Straits Settlements. This arrangement continued until after World War II in 1946 when Penang and Malacca became part of the Malayan Union and Singapore was governed as a separate colony. Singapore attained full internal selfgovernment with a completely elected Legislative Assembly of 51 members in 1959 when the People’s Action Party secured a majority in the May election. Four years later, Singapore joined Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak to form the Federation of Malaysia, but this political union proved to be shortlived as Singapore separated from Malaysia on 9 August 1965 and became an independent and sovereign state within the Commonwealth. With full powers to manage the affairs of the state, the PAP government led by Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew proceeded to embark on a series of measures designed to expedite the social and economic development. Since then, the PAP has remained in government, with Lee Kuan Yew continuing as Prime Minister until November 1990 when Goh Chok Tong took over. The latest leadership changeover occurred in August 2004 when Lee Hsien Loong became the third Prime Minister of Singapore. After World War II, the population of Singapore was quickly enlarged from 938,144 in 1947 to 1,449,929 in 1957, an increase of 507,785 or an annual growth rate of 4.5 per cent. This rapid rate of population increase recorded in the early post-war years may be attributed to an accelerated decline in mortality and a persistently high level of fertility. Another factor was the net movement of people from the hinterland of Peninsular Malaysia to the island of Singapore. As mortality declined less slowly, fertility commenced to fall, and Malaysia-Singapore movement of people diminished, the rate of population increase began to slacken to 2.8 per cent during 1957–70 and to 1...