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This article was copy edited by Onel5969, a member of the Guild of Copy Editors, on 23:56, 19 April 2014.Guild of Copy EditorsWikipedia:WikiProject Guild of Copy EditorsTemplate:WikiProject Guild of Copy EditorsGuild of Copy Editors articles
Demographics: Fix typing error in the link to "2009 global financial criss[sic]."
History: include more events from 1965 to 1990
Economy: mention labor relations, employment conditions, unemployment statistics, class or gender distinctions, CPF as retirement pension
Education: include information on tertiary education, MOE policies(broad-based education, MTL policy), rankings on PISA(Programme for International Student Assessment) and TIMSS(Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study)
Expand section on health and medicine
Incomplete / needed citations, especially in History sections (in post-war to independence).
Mention urban planning and its significance and how land use and density is distributed and tie in with rest of content
To include a section on Singapore Science & Technology
More detail on to South Indian Hindu empires (e.g. the Majpahit) that preceded the Malay Sultanates and influenced the course of history and culture for Malaya and Singapore.
Expand and improve Government of Singapore (moving less prominent material from Politics of Singapore)which tends to come across as personal and subjective, and create a section to be integrated into the Singapore article and tied in with rest of content
More balanced "treatment" (or coverage) of all races and religions rather than a centrism which focuses on one more than the others.
More insight into colonial era British defence forces, including the Singapore Volunteer Corps, the Scottish regiment, the British Navy presence, the various batteries posted all over the island.
Review & Revision, FAC Process
Bring over references from subpages.
Cutting down irrelevant information, especially if a material is repeated in a subsequent section. Aim to cut Singapore article to below 200kB.
Others as appropriate.
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Welcome! This talk page is for discussing the article "Singapore". To discuss other Singapore-related articles, please visit the talk page of the SGpedians' notice board. Enjoy! =)
This article is written in Singaporean English, which has its own spelling conventions (colour, realise, centre, analyse) and some terms that are used in it may be different or absent from other varieties of English. According to the relevant style guide, this should not be changed without broad consensus.
"Multi-racialism is enshrined in the constitution and continues to shape national policies in education, housing, and politics." Is a personal opinion with no sources
Various aspects of this are covered, with sourced, in the body. CMD (talk) 09:51, 8 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Proportions of ethnic groups are calculated based only on the resident population, which comprises Singapore Citizens (SC) and Permanent Residents (PR).[edit]
This is listed against the ethnic groups by percentage. Does any other Wikipedia article of a country allow this? It is placing arbitrary conditions on counting ethnicity of the residents to push a narrative. 30% of the population is being excluded because of their classification as second-class citizens who may never be granted citizenship or permanent-residency visas despite living and working in the country for decades. 103.30.92.64 (talk) 15:26, 5 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]
It says on this article that Singapore is a Parliamentary Republic but how so? Ever since the amendment that allowed for the direct election of the President, I thought that Singapore should be considered as a Semi-Presidential System. 161.142.11.225 (talk) 05:10, 14 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Semi-protected edit request on 28 April 2024[edit]
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This article states that Singapore is ranked 6th by the WHO for healthcare, but the source is 24 years old. I think that should be made clear, or a more modern source found. Fredfsr (talk) 08:46, 28 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Question: Do you have a source you'd like to update with? '''[[User:CanonNi]]''' (talk|contribs) 08:53, 28 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Lead mention of human rights / freedom of speech[edit]
Have rewritten last portion of the lead. I would argue the lead needs to summarise Singapore's political framework and its illiberal democratic system. This article's lead at current leaves that out. Saying the PAP "wields dominance" without explaining to some extent why or what that means isnt useful. It's also necessary to explain how Singapore differs from othwr developed Western countries in its framework ("Asian values" versus democracy, etc). Here is what i propose the lead be changed to.
singapore is a unitary parliamentary republic with a Westminster system of unicameral parliamentary government, and its legal system is based on common law. It retains both corporal punishment for minor offences and capital punishment for serious ones. While the country is de jure a multi-party democracy, the government under the People's Action Party (PAP) wields widespread control over politics and society without serious electoral competition. In 2023, Singapore was ranked 129th out of 180 nations on the global Press Freedom Index due to government restrictions on freedom of speech and freedom of the press. For these reasons, Singapore has been described by scholars as a soft authoritarian state or an illiberal democracy. The PAP has governed the country continuously since full internal self-government was achieved in 1959, and currently holds a supermajority with 79 out of 93 elected seats in Parliament. One of the five founding members of ASEAN, Singapore is also the headquarters of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Secretariat, the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council Secretariat, and is the host city of many international conferences and events. Singapore is also a member of the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the East Asia Summit, the Non-Aligned Movement, and the Commonwealth of Nations.Dhantegge (talk) 14:58, 28 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Hello @Dhantegge! I see that you are suggesting restoring an earlier mention of capital and corporal punishment into this paragraph. I don't think it belongs here: the rest of the paragraph is about the system and style of government, not the existence of specific laws or penalties. In fact I wonder if it significant enough to go in the lead at all. The articles on the United States and Japan (both full democracies) don't mention that they have capital punishment. -- Alarics (talk) 12:37, 29 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Also, to say that corporal punishment is for "minor offences" is very misleading. Trivial crimes such as jaywalking, littering, or importing chewing gum do not attract caning. Many canings are awarded (always combined with imprisonment) for quite serious offences like rape, gang violence, drugs, robbery, rioting, etc. True, there are also a lot of canings for illegal immigration, arguably a "minor offence" in western eyes but the Singapore authorities plainly don't regard it as such. -- Alarics (talk) 13:29, 29 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Okay, well argued. But you only addressed one sentence? The main issue here that should be in the lead isn't corporal / capital punishment, it's Singapore's illiberal democratic framework. A nation that restricts political dissent to such a degree (forcing protestors to apply for permits and limit their numbers unless they situate their protest within a single park, for example) that it is listed as "partly free" should have that pointed out somehow, regardless if it is a de jure democracy.
The article at present only hints at Singapore being a dominant party state, but does so in a way that could confuse the reader into thinking it is like South Africa, a true (if weak) democracy which the ANC has governed for 30 years despite freedom of speech / dissent being tolerated (ranked as "free" by Freedom House). There's also a vast difference between weaknesses in South Africa's democracy and the deliberately constrictive nature of Singapore's profoundly illiberal and partially authoritarian "democracy".
Therefore, I suggest the lead include the following:
Singapore is a unitary parliamentary republic with a Westminster system of unicameral parliamentary government, and its legal system is based on common law. While the country is de jure a multi-party democracy, Singapore has been governed by the People's Action Party (PAP) continuously since full internal self-government was achieved in 1959, currently holding a supermajority in the Parliament. The government wields widespread control over politics and society without serious electoral competition, and imposes restrictions on freedom of speech and freedom of the press. For these reasons, Singapore has been described by some scholars as a soft authoritarian state or an illiberal democracy.In 2023, Singapore was ranked 129th out of 180 nations on the global Press Freedom Index. One of the five founding members of ASEAN, Singapore is also the headquarters of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Secretariat, the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council Secretariat, and is the host city of many international conferences and events. Singapore is also a member of the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the East Asia Summit, the Non-Aligned Movement, and the Commonwealth of Nations
Please note I am not criticising Singaporean politics or being biased. It's just useful in political science articles to adequately explain regime types in the leads of articles, whether a democratic regime or an authoritarian one. Dhantegge (talk) 06:44, 30 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]
There are also numerous sources by academics describing Singapore in those terms. Dhantegge (talk) 06:48, 30 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I don't think a reader will naturally compare to South Africa, nor that the lead currently only "hints" at anything. It states outright that "While the country is de jure a multi-party democracy with free elections"..."the People's Action Party (PAP) wields widespread control and dominance over politics and society without much electoral competition" (emphasis partly mine). This explicitly covers the broad strokes, and going into "some scholars" and similar equivocating is too detailed for a lead. (I would say in general the lead should be pared back a bit. For example, I don't think the current supermajority status is lead-relevant given how it pales in importance to the already mentioned continuous rule.) CMD (talk) 06:57, 30 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]
level-3 vital article is rated GA-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.
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Question: Do you have a source you'd like to update with? 