ABSTRACT
The island-state of Singapore, with a land area of just over 600 square kilometres, is located at the southern tip of peninsular Malaysia. It is separated from Malaysia by the Strait of Johor but is joined to the mainland by a causeway carrying road and rail traffic as well as by a road bridge that was opened in 1998. The Singapore Strait to the south separates the republic from the Riau Islands of Indonesia. It has a population of around five million people, of whom over three million are citizens. Three-quarters of the citizen population are ethnic Chinese of migrant origin. Some fifteen per cent are ethnic Malay, many with links across the Strait of Johor from whose sultan the British pro-consul Sir Stamford Raffles acquired the island in 1819.
