SINGAPORE ----- THE LION CITY ---ISLAND REPUBLIC --LITTLE RED DOT ON MAP

SINGAPORE took its name from "Singa Pura" or Lion City. Located at the southern-most tip of the Malayan Mainland, the diamond-shaped island has a land area of about 710.3 sq.km and now supports a population exceeding 5 million people including new immigrants and foreign workers. The independent Island Republic has no hinterland nor any natural resources. What it has are its people of diverse races and ethnic groups with differing cultures and backrounds with their brawns and brain power, and their early realisation that the World does not owe them a living.

Singapore is not visible on any map of the World. It is just a speck or dot or nothing at all on world maps or atlases. The above Map postcards depicting only Asia, Oceania clearly illustrate this point. Someone once remarked that the Island Republic can easily fit into Lake Taupo in the North Island of New Zealand with room to spare!

TRIBUTE TO RAFFLES

Indian Sepoy Troop Parading Before Raffles Statue At the Padang (Circa 1909)

Singapore was literally born a British Settlement on 6 February 1819. Stamford Raffles acting for the East India Company had concluded a treaty with Tengku Long (Sultan Husain Muhammad Shah), and the Temenggong of Johore, for the establishment of a trading post on the island of Singapore. For his vision in planting the seed of growth, Raffles is well remembered today in modern Singapore through the commemorative Raffles Statue sited alongside the Singapore River to mark his landing place, the commercial financial centre Raffles Place, the landmark Raffles Hotel, the premier school Raffles Institution, and many other buildings/places named after him.

Raffles foresaw the need to sow the seed of "education (which according to him ) must keep pace with commerce in order that its benefits may be ensured and its evils avoided". The Foundation Stone to the original Raffles College, now Raffles Instituition, was laid by Raffles himself on 5 June 1823.