Mario Lee Blog

🇩🇪 Diesen Beitrag auf Deutsch lesen

In Singapore you see the national flag everywhere, displayed with great pride. Its colours and symbols are not just decoration – they reflect the deep values of society.

The colours and their meaning:

• Red: stands for universal brotherhood and the equality of all people.

• White: symbolises pervading and everlasting purity and virtue.

The emblem – crescent moon and stars:

The white crescent moon in the upper left corner stands for a young nation on the rise. The five stars forming a circle next to it represent Singapore’s five central ideals:

• Democracy

• Peace

• Progress

• Justice

• Equality

This combination of tradition and forward-looking values makes the flag one of the most important symbols of unity in the city-state.

The birth of a symbol

Singapore’s national flag was not simply designed – it was the result of a careful process to unite the diversity of the young nation.

• Introduction: it was officially introduced on 3 December 1959, when Singapore gained self-government within the British Commonwealth.

• The creator: the design was produced by a committee led by Dr Toh Chin Chye, then Deputy Prime Minister.

• A compromise between cultures: the design had to take different wishes into account. The Chinese population often wanted five stars (similar to China’s flag), while the Malay population preferred the crescent moon as a symbol of Islam. The government combined both symbols but gave them the new, secular meanings of progress and ideals described above, so that they represent all citizens.

• Confirmation: when Singapore became fully independent on 9 August 1965, the flag was officially confirmed as the national flag of the Republic of Singapore.

It is impressive that the flag I saw at the Fullerton Hotel has stood for this continuity for more than 65 years.