Flag of Singapore Flag of Singapore The national flag of Singapore was adopted in 1959, the year Singapore became self-governing within the British Empire. It was reconfirmed as the national flag when the republic gained independence on 9 August 1965. Prior to its independence, it was the only state flag in Malaysia not to have a 1:2 ratio. The design is a horizontal bicolour of red above white, overlaid in the canton (upper-left quadrant) by a white crescent moon facing a pentagon of five small white five-pointed stars, loosely resembling the Southern Cross, also known as Crux. The elements of the flag denote
Federation independence from the sovereign state, which only takes care of their foreign relations and defence. However, they are neither considered to be part of it, nor recognised as sovereign or associated states. The distinction between a federation and a unitary state is often quite ambiguous. A unitary state may closely resemble a federation in structure and, while a central government may possess the theoretical right to revoke the autonomy of a self-governing region, it may be politically difficult for it to do so in practice. The self-governing regions of some unitary states also often enjoy greater autonomy than those of