Showing posts with label Singapore. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Singapore. Show all posts

September 16 – Malaysia Day

Posted on September 16, 2019

Singapore! 

North Borneo! 

Sarawak! 

Malaya!

These four already-existing countries were set to unite into a single federation on June 1, 1963.

But then people rethought the date and realized that it would better to have the unification occur a couple of months later: on August 31, the date of Malaya's 1957 independence. 

Aaaaaand then it was postponed again! Neighboring nations Indonesia and the Philippines had some objections to the merger. Also, a United Nations team was sent to North Borneo and Sarawak to learn what the locals thought about joining the federation.

Finally, on this date in 1963, the federation was formally created, and Malaysia was born.

All that thought, all those delays - and still, unification was a bit of a problem! The people of Singapore had so many differences with the other citizens of Malaysia, including the new nation's leaders, that there were race riots just a year after the federation began, and before the second year was over, Singapore had been ejected! 




Singapore is now an amazing island city-state, its own independent nation. It has a good trade relationship with Malaysia despite the troubled past.



Here are some photos of Malaysia today:

Kuala Lampur is Malaysia's capital
(above and below).



Sarawak
North Borneo is now Sabah,
above and below.



And now for the natural wonders of the nation:







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December 3 – Don't Call It Singapore's Flag Day!

Posted on December 3, 2017


The term "Flag Day," in Singapore, means the day that a particular charity goes out in full force to ask for donations.

Of course, people can donate to a charity any day of the year - especially now that we have the internet! But each charity's Flag Day is a day when that charity urges volunteers to set up booths or even go door-to-door, raising awareness of a particular need, informing people of their past achievements, and urging people to donate money.

 
So...even though today is the anniversary of Singapore's adoption of its flag, we cannot call it "Flag Day."

Singapore became self-governing within the British Empire in 1959, and this city-state / island nation needed a flag. This national symbol had to combine ideas from the diverse population - about three-quarters of Chinese descent, and minorities of Malay, Indian, and European heritage.

The past flag of Singapore looked pretty much all British:



In designing the new flag, Singapore residents who had Chinese heritage wanted to echo the five stars and red color of the Chinese flag...



Muslim activists requested the use of a crescent moon, which is common in Muslim countries but very rare in non-Muslim countries. I read that Islam is the religion of only about 14% of Singapore residents, but nearby Malaysia is majority Muslim. From 1962 to 1965, Singapore merged with Malaysia - and the seeds of this merger were no doubt very apparent during the 1969 flag design.

Singapore is located on the tip of the peninsula that is Malaysia.


 
The Singapore flag combines the color red, five stars, and a crescent moon:


The symbolism is said to be:

Red for universal brotherhood, equality of all people.
White for everlasting purity and virtue.

Crescent moon for a young nation rising in importance.
Five stars to represent the national values of democracy, peace, progress, justice, and equality.

By the way...

I think it is interesting that crescent moons are so often illustrated with stars or suns inside the arms of the crescent...



...when our actual crescent Moon is just the small sunlit portion of the moon, which is also a rocky sphere in space. So we could never see stars or anything else within the arms of the crescent - unless of course it was nearer to the Earth than the Moon!


Sometimes Earthshine on the part of the Moon that is not lit by the Sun shows us the entire sphere, but the sphere is always there...



In a flag, of course, as opposed to an illustration, including a star or sun within the arms of a crescent is just a part of good layout design.




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September 21 – Joining the U.N. Day


Posted on September 21, 2015


I thought it was interesting that eight different nations were admitted to the United Nations on a September 21...but in different years!

  • On this date in 1965, Gambia, Maldives, and Singapore were admitted.
  • On this date in 1971, Bahrain, Bhutan, and Qatar were admitted.
  • On this date in 1976, Seychelles was admitted.
  • And on this date in 1984, Brunei was admitted.

Why are 8 out of the 192 Member States of the U.N. admitted on September 21? 

(If you think about it, more than 4% of the Member States joined on just 0.27% of the possible days.)

I couldn't discover the answer to that question, but there are many other admission dates for the various nations, as you can see on the United Nations' official list. I did notice that the various dates aren't evenly spread out over the entire year. Most of the member states, it seems, have been admitted into the U.N. during the months of September, October, November, or December – over the course of 70 years.


Which nation is which?

The eight nations celebrating their U.N.-iversary today include African and Asian nations. Can you figure out which is the correct answer to each item below?

LOCATION
  1. Which of the nations' locations is marked with a red dot? 

2. Which of the nations is located within the orange square?

3. Which of the nations is located within the green circle?


4. Which of the nations is located in the Middle East, marked on this map in red?

5. Which of the nations is located within the orange dotted shape?


6. Which of the nations is located within the pink circle?


7. Which of the nations is colored green on this map?


8. Which of the nations is this island group located in the Persian Gulf?



FLAG

9. 

10.


11.


12.


13.


14.


15.


16.


DESCRIPTION

17. An island city-state and global financial center
18. A nation made up of 30 islands in the Persian Gulf – a perfect location to be a major trade center
19. A nation located on a peninsula that sticks out into the Persian Gulf; it enjoys a high standard of living because of its petroleum reserves
20. An island nation found in the Indian Ocean, made up of hundreds of islets and coral atolls
21. A group of more than 100 islands off the coast of East Africa
22. A Buddhist kingdom perched high in the Himalaya mountains
23. A tiny Southeast Asian country famous for beaches and rainforest
24. A small nation in Africa that is essentially the two banks of the river for which it is named 

LANDSCAPE

25.


26.


27.


28.


29. 


30. 


31. 


32.



ANSWERS:
    1.Singapore – 2. Brunei - 3. Gambia – 4. Qatar – 5. Seychelles - 6. Maldives – 7. Bhutan - 8. Bahrain –
    9. Bahrain – 10. Bhutan – 11. Qatar – 12. Brunei – 13. Singapore – 14. Gambia – 15. Maldives –
    16. Seychelles – 17. Singapore – 18. Bahrain - 19. Qatar - 20. Maldives - 21. Seychelles - 22. Bhutan –
    23. Brunei – 24. Gambia – 25. Seychelles – 26. Gambia – 27. Maldives – 28. Bhutan – 29. Qatar – 30. Brunei – 31. Bahrain - 32. Singapore

Also on this date:






Independence Day in Armenia


















Plan ahead:

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