Etiquette in Singapore

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Singapore is an island city-state off the coast of Malaysia and home to over 5 million people.

This diverse nation has 4 official languages: Malay, Chinese, English, and Tamil. Each person’s cultural tendencies usually lean heavily towards which ever language is considered his or her native language.

Singapore is a parliamentary republic, led by a President and Prime Minister.

Just like with language, Singapore also has a wide variety of religions. There are large populations of Muslims and Christians and smaller populations of numerous other religions. Singapore does not recognize any official religion.

The national currency is the Singapore dollar.

Gift Giving Etiquette

Singapore takes pride in being the most corruption-free state in Asia. For this reason, government employees are unable to accept gifts of any kind or value.

Gifts exchange is something done between friends. If you try to give someone a gift before a personal relationship is established, it may be perceived as a bribe.

If you do give a gift, don’t expect that the recipient will open it in front of you, as this is considered a sign of greed or impatience.

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