Singapore participated at the 2005 Southeast Asian Games in the Philippines under the IOC country code SIN.

The selection criteria for participating in the games was set strictly based on their ability to win at least a bronze medal for the country.

Hence, the Singapore National Olympic Council asked the various sporting federation bodies to nominate their candidates based on their performance between 1 March 2005 to 24 June 2005, with achievements above the bronze medal scores in previous games.

While this process was relatively smooth for some sports such as swimming, table tennis and badminton, it raised issues on management and competence for others like athletics, chess and squash.

The Ministry of Community Development produced a theme song, Live Our Dreams, composed by Thomas Schönberg and sung by Kit Chan, to inspire the Singapore contingent in the games.