Why Singapore is Called the Lion City
Singapore is by far one of my favorite countries. That’s not only due to my love of bright lights and technology. I’m also inspired by the way Singaporeans have faced the challenges of the modern world. This is a tiny island nation we’re talking about, one sorely lacking in exportable resources. Yet there Singapore sits, near the apex of the international economy.
This country does not possess a world-class military that allows them to go around and take others’ resources. Nor, upon achieving independence, did they have the benefit of being allowed to merge with their more endowed neighbor, Malaysia. But the Singaporeans still managed, within the timespan of a couple of generations, to become one of the richest nations in the world. Of all Southeast Asian countries, Singapore is the tiniest. Yet through economic strategy, Singaporeans have achieved the highest GDP in the region.
A TINY COUNTRY
Aerial view of Singapore taken from an airplane window just before landing, showing how compact the country really is.
In fact Singapore is so small that it’s commonly referred to as a city-state. London is significantly larger than the entirety of Singapore. So calling it a country would be sorta misleading to readers who don’t know the geographical facts.
Given Singaporeans’ recent achievements, you would think that the “Lion City” designation is a recent phenomenon, alluding to their success as a nation. But interestingly, that moniker came about many centuries ago. It’s one of those situations where a name originally had a more literal meaning but into the future took on somewhat of a different context.
A NAME GOING BACK TO THE DAYS OF LORE
The man credited with setting the foundation for what became Singapore was a 13th century prince named Sang Nila Utama. And it was actually he who, way back then, gave the locality the name of “Lion City”.
The word Singapore is derived from Singapura, which was not the original name of the island but rather a particular section of it. The island itself was previously known as Temasek. And originally, Singapura represented a particular part of it, where Sang Nila Utama opted to build a city.
And he decided to call his new urban area “Lion City”. Well actually, Lion City is how we would say it in English, which of course Nila Utama and co. didn’t speak. The translation of that phrase in his native tongue, i.e. Malay is “Singa Pura”. So that’s how the name Singapore came to be. All history considered, “Lion City” is not a nickname, as many of us believe. Rather, it is the anglicized rendering of the literal name of the country.
WHY “LION CITY”?
Sang Nila Utama is the son of a semi-mythical ruler named Sri Nila Pahlawan. Both were historical figures alright, but the latter’s legend is firmly shrouded in folklore and stuff like that. The point being made is that the origin of the term “Lion City” dates back to a time when records weren’t as accurate and when people were more inclined to believe things that would now be considered fantastical.
So while doing his thing in Temasek, Sang Nila Utama “saw a strange animal with a red body, black head and a white breast”. As these stories tend to go, the beast disappeared too quickly for him to get any actual evidence of its existence. But remember that this was also back in the days before we had modern encyclopedias. So it’s possible that the creature wasn’t fantastical at all but rather an animal he never saw before.
That’s obviously what one of Sang’s high-ranking officials concluded, when he explained to his boss that what he saw was likely an Asiatic lion. But by then the damage had already been done, so to speak. Nila Utama interpreted coming across that majestic beast as a positive sign – so much so that he named his new city after it. And he further understood the significance of identifying with the lion, a prestigious animal within his culture. And just in case you’re wondering, no, lions are not native to the Malaysian peninsula.
PRESENT-DAY APPLICABILITY OF “LION CITY”
Singapore has achieved what no other nation has – transitioning from Third World to First World in a single generation. That miraculous economic transformation doesn’t seem like a fluke or stroke of good luck, as the Singaporeans continue to maintain a high standard that has made their country into one of the world’s top business centers.
Remember that this is a small island country lacking natural resources. Singapore doesn’t have advantages such as size, a large population or robust mineral deposits. Back in the old days, the island stood as a Pacific trading post, helping to facilitate sea trade amongst surrounding nations. But now, it is known across the globe as being a beacon of modern excellence.
This is largely, if not primarily attributable to Singapore’s human resources. Singaporeans visionaries, like Lee Kuan Yew and his cohorts, understood that the country could not thrive independently in the traditional sense. But what they could do is develop a world-class infrastructure and workforce.
THE LIONS
So the people of Singapore are lions, in one sense of the word. They don’t go around kicking a*s and taking names. Singaporeans have been lucky, in a manner of speaking, in their ability to avoid major conflicts.
But they are lions in the way they’ve aggressively established a place in today’s world. Lee Kuan Yew understood that developing a nation with no natural resources was a virtually impossible task. But instead of giving up or begging to be under another country’s shadow, the Singaporeans approached the challenge the best way they knew how, by putting a premium on internal development rather than external inputs.
FORMAL ADOPTION OF THE LION SYMBOL
Approximately 600 years after Sang Nila Utama established Singapura, the Singaporeans formally adopted the lion head symbol. Officially, it “symbolizes courage, strength and excellence, as well as resilience in the face of challenges”. And they take the usage of the emblem very seriously, such as making it illegal for people to carelessly replicate it. So Sang Nila Utama really did hook up the future generations with a representation that has an enduringly-positive connotation.
CONCLUSION
We presume that when Sang Nila Utama designated the area Singapura, he couldn’t actually see all the way into the 21st and it becoming one of the richest countries per capita. But maybe he did see some type of mythical, lion-like creature, and that’s what being a visionary is all about – the ability to perceive value in something that others can’t.
Lee Kuan Yew also possessed that quality and was able to make his people richer than the Malaysians who shunned them. Some of us may be lions in a more literal sense, being able to trample any opposition that gets in a way. But others are more subtle lions, who are able to succeed by possessing an indomitable spirit of competitiveness.
