Flag of Singapore

How to read it

The flag is two equal horizontal parts, red at the top and white at the bottom, with a white crescent and five white five-pointed stars set in a half circle around it, as Store norske leksikon describes it. A committee under the Deputy Prime Minister, Toh Chin Chye, designed it in 1959, the year Singapore achieved internal self-government, to replace the British Union Jack. It was first shown on the steps of City Hall on 3 December 1959, at the installation of Yusof bin Ishak as Yang di-Pertuan Negara (head of state), and adopted officially as the national flag at independence in 1965, the government’s SG101 site records. Since 1 August 2023 its use has been governed by the National Symbols Act 2022 and its regulations, which replaced the Singapore Arms and Flag and National Anthem Act of 1959.

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Telling it from Indonesia’s flag

Indonesia’s flag is also a red stripe over a white one, the two of equal size, with nothing on them. The Norwegian encyclopedia Store norske leksikon notes that Indonesia’s flag has the same colours as Monaco’s, Poland’s and Singapore’s. On Singapore’s flag the crescent and five stars in the red, next to the pole, tell it apart.

What the 2023 rules changed

The National Symbols Act and Regulations eased the rules on the flag, the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth announced. During the National Day period, 1 July to 30 September, people and businesses no longer need the Minister’s approval to use the flag or its image for commercial or decorative purposes, and anyone may put it on clothing for non-commercial use all year round, as long as it is used respectfully. The Minister may now allow the flag to be displayed outside the National Day period without a flagpole or lighting at night, as on blocks of flats; the ministry said people had asked to fly it for occasions such as the Olympics. Flags with a modified or distorted design are banned. The maximum penalty under the Act is a fine of S$30,000, six months in prison or both; under the 1959 Act it was a fine of S$1,000.