Singapore should drop SIN as country code, say poll respondents

SINGAPORE - The results are in - Singapore should be a SIN city no longer, said respondents in our online poll to find out what the best code for Singapore is.

Only 31 per cent of readers think SIN is the best code for the Republic. SGP was preferred by 47 per cent of respondents, while 22 per cent chose SG.

That means more than two in three, or 1,192 of the 1,737 respondents, think that there are better alternatives than SIN as an abbreviation for Singapore.

The issue came up after Forum letter writer Andrew Choo Ming Sing appealed that SIN be dropped as an abbreviation on visible platforms through which "we project ourselves to the world".

Mr Choo wrote that watching Asian Games athletes with the word SIN emblazoned across their chests "evoked a feeling that was somewhat bittersweet", in a letter that was shared more than 14,500 times on Facebook.

Both the International Olympic Committee and International Air Traffic Association codes for Singapore are SIN. The United Nations' country code is SGP.

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