SINGAPORE - SINGAPURA - 新加坡

Have a look on the interesting article published on 22 May 2009, by ZDNet Asia : "S'pore govt needs holistic Web approach". http://www.zdnetasia.com:80/news/internet/0,39044908,62054304,00.htm?scid=nl_z_ntnd

According to this paper, the Governement :

- Needs "to be in sync with an increasingly tech-savvy population". Which means it is not today.

- Should consider the experience of President Obama' s campaign, which used the web to attract electors. But what does that mean in Singapore? Probably that the government must use the new Web 2.0 as a new capability to communicate its message. The one who is able to dominate the web has the capability to govern.

- "The government will need to be mindful of the fact that new media is more about participation than it is about managing or controlling". Let's wait and see what will the Government in Singapore do with such hypothesis.

Singapore is a safe place to live, really. Never feel insecure while staying at Spore.

• Rats in Orchard: "Oh rats! This is Orchard Road". January 2009. http://www.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Singapore/Story/A1Story20090127-117413.html
• Dengue Pandemic in Malaysia, just a few miles away. 2008-2009. http://www.thenutgraph.com/dengue-in-msia-worse-than-swine-flu 
• Terrorism: from the MacDonald House bombing in 1965 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacDonald_House_bombing) to the arrest of militants of Jemaah Islamiyah in 2001 and 2002, and the fight against islamic militants (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counter-terrorism_in_Singapore)
• Pirates (piracy at sea): http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1479280,00.html
• cyber attacks, cybercrime: which is a challenge in Asia.  
• H1N1 virus. Even if there is no victim in Singapore (may 2009), the spread of the virus in the world could catch the country
• Pandemics : http://www.annals.edu.sg/pdf/37VolNo6Jun2008/V37N6p470.pdf 
• Economic Crisis : 2008, 2009... http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2009/01/05/riding-the-global-economic-crisis-in-singapore/
• Communism : from the late 1940s to the 1980s (according to the Internal Security Department). http://www.mha.gov.sg/isd/ct.htm
• Racial Riots : in the 1950s and in 1964. http://www.mha.gov.sg/isd/ct.htm
• Espionage : http://www.mha.gov.sg/isd/ct.htm (arrests in 1982, 1998)
• Dirty bombs (radiological threats): 2009. http://www.asiansecurity.org/articles/2009/mar/19/singapore-dirty-bomb-poses-major-threat/
• Tsunami? according to a recent study, Spore should be safe from such a threa (16 dec. 2008)http://www.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Singapore/Story/A1Story20081216-108275.html even if "some of Singapore's beach areas are still potentially vulnerable to tsunami inundation in the scenario of a magnitude 9.0 earthquake at the Manila Trench"
• Tigers : the "killer white tiger" is in the Singapore Zoo. Do not try to touch the animal! Novembre 2008. http://www.blogtactic.com/2008/11/killer-white-tigers-at-singapore-zoo.html
• Marine fishes of Singapore : stinging fishes, biting fishes, poisonous and electric fishes. http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/guidebooks/marinefish/text/108.htm
• Crisis and conflicts with neigbouring countries. Because "for decades, Singapore has relied on importation from Malaysia to supply half of the water consumption in Singapore" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_resources_of_Singapore

Singapore - the last 10 years. Published in 2001. http://www.gov.sg/ndr/p2&3.htm

Statistics Singapore: http://www.singstat.gov.sg/

http://www.miscmag.com/fr/index.php?2006/05/09/14-misc-25-mai-juin-2006-en-kiosque-le-12-mai  This article is available only in French language: "Information systems and Security in Singapore". MISC Revue n°25, May 2006. Author : Daniel Ventre.

Report (in French) on "Singapore and Information Technologies". Published on January 2002. Bulletin de l'ADIT. 49 pages. The report may be downloaded at http://www.bulletins-electroniques.com/rapports/smm02_054.htm

The BBC News website publishes on April 14th, 2009 an article titled "SINGAPORE ECONOMY IN RECORD FALL".

"Singapore's economy shrank by 19.7% in the first quarter of 2009 compared with the previous three months"...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7997581.stm

According to the official statistics of the singaporean government (SingStat : http://www.singstat.gov.sg/): compared to same period of the previous year, total trade down 24.3% in March 2009, Index of industrial production down 33.9% in march 2009, advance GDP down 11.5% in 1Q2009 (data seen on 29 april 2009).