ABSTRACT
Most member states of the United Nations take their independent existence for granted; at least, most of the time. Despite the complex security problems addressed by the world body with mixed success, it is the great exception rather than the rule for its member states to be confronted continually by the prospect of political extinction. On the surface, the island-Republic of Singapore, located at the southern tip of peninsular Malaysia, would seem to fall within this general rule and not to be compared, for example, with Kuwait, whose sovereign status has been under threat from Iraq. By contrast, the sovereign status of Singapore has not been questioned or been placed in any doubt since its independence in August 1965 and its uncontested entry into the United Nations in the following month.
