We used to go to Singers when I was small as we had (and still have) some relatives in the island state. My aunt, like most Singaporeans, lives in a HDB flat while another relative lives in a house (not common especially for a Malay family). We stopped going for some reason and it was only in 2005 when I next set foot on Singers soil. Since then, I’ve had opportunities to revisit the island city but I never stayed for long, not until my recent trip.
Regular readers of this blog may be aware of how I feel for Singers. I don’t like it and resent some of the people there but I have to relutantly admit that I have grudging admiration with how the country is run. Everything works. You can say that it has achieved a first world status in a region of developing countries. It’s amazing how it transforms itself over the years to where it is now despite no natural resources (no mineral deposits or oil and gas), low population (and hence low local labour supply), limited land space (to plant rubber, palm trees or cocoa) and scarce resources (it doesn’t even supply enough water for its inhabitants). How does it achieve so much from so little and in the face of so many constraints?
Well, for one it has/had a visionary leader. LKW is an astute leader who knew where his country should be and he worked hard to realise those dreams for his country. He turned Singers’ location into an advantage by developing its port and also turning it into a financial centre. There are many more foreign financial institutions set up in Singers than in KL (in fact they are also moving into Islamic finance). As if being a successful lucrative port is not enough, it has also turned itself as an air traffic stopover between Europe and Australia. It also invests heavily into high-tech industries and provides broadband Internet for its people. In short, Singers is a bit like Hong Kong minus the movie industry.
Realising that it needs a first class population to go with the first world status, it invests in its people. You can’t be a first world country if half of your population live in squalor or are homeless so they set up the Housing and Development Board (HDB) to provide decent, affordable housing for the masses and the Central Provident Fund to help the people save for their retirement, healthcare, home ownership, education and investment (similar to our EPF).
To attract visitors/tourists, it positions itself as a shopping destination. Why, it has more Gucci/Prada/LV boutiques than KL does! It built a world-class airport at Changi - that’s more like a city within a city - linked to the city by MRT making it convenient for even backpackers to travel around (if you’re in transit, you can even join a free tour with a choice of either a Cultural or Colonial Tour). If you can’t join the tour because your transit time is short, no sweat; there are other ‘transfer experiences’ options open to you to capture your attention (and while KLIA is too far from the city to make a similar concept feasible, don’t forget Singers is compact enough to make it work). It preserves its buildings (something we don’t do in KL) and build new architecturally interesting buildings like the Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay and Marina Bay Sands. It even copies London’s attraction and renames it the Singapore Flyer. It has also developed Sentosa Island (after renaming it from the unglamorous Pulau Belakang Mati) into a multi-park resort island with the Universal Studios Singapore being the latest addition to the attractions. Funny why residents of an island would need an island getaway but there you go. At least they are visionary.
Not content with that, it has also forayed into gambling with two casinos built and resurrected the Grand Prix (which was discontinued after 1973). So now it has become Macau in those respects. Let’s face it; ethics aside, gaming is a big money-spinner and a lucrative cash cow for the country. No local labour? No problem. Filipinos, who are largely fluent in English (albeit American English at that) are only too ready and available for hire. (Also, ever wonder why despite being a British colony, Singapore adopts American English rather than British English? Center rather than Centre and no Ground Floor anywhere; it’s Basement, 1st floor, 2nd floor, etc? Some examples: Ngee Ann City, Wisma Atria, 313 Somerset). Most stores at The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands (well, those which I entered) employ Filipinos.
So yes, I do have a grudging admiration for them in how they develop and progress to becoming the major financial centre in the region. You always feel like you’ve arrived into a clean and super-efficient country intent on offering you the best the modern world has to offer. The world-class airport, the efficient and very affordable MRT system (well, I dislike the long waiting time to board the train at Changi), the broad pavement, the clear road and direction signs, observance of rules by everyone (including foreign workers! Something you won’t see here – because the locals flaunt the rules too), the shopping and dining delights offered by the myriad shopping malls and eateries that seem to sprout by the day... like I said before, everything works. They even preserve old buildings instead of rushing to tear them down. Same goes to trees. Trees are allowed to grow unlike in KL where they get chopped down. I was in the cab to and fro Changi and admiring the roadside rain trees – and do you know they even have heritage trees? Why can’t we have those in KL too?
It’s also so very safe in Singers like in other developed Asian cities like Tokyo and Taipei. You can walk late at night without fear of being mugged or raped. This despite not being a Muslim country (shame on us for calling ourselves a Muslim country but not implementing Muslim laws that God knows will protect everyone. And by the way, hudud is only applicable to Muslims so non-Muslims need not fear them. Unfortunately, it’s the so-called Muslims who not only oppose hudud but have taken it upon themselves to instil fear of hudud into the hearts of the non-Muslims. Fie on you. You call yourselves Muslims and believers but don’t believe in God’s words/refuse to obey God’s words? Anyway, I digress). Everyone obeys and respects the law/rules. No chewing gum, no spitting, no littering, no graffiti, no illegal motor racing, no traffic jam.
Of course all these make Singers sound boring. Sterile. Hard to please. And it is boring and sterile. It’s become impersonal. You’re treated politely but indifferently. Not many people offer you a smile, a nod, a direct look. Sometimes they don’t make space for you in the MRT. Visitors are welcomed especially if they have money to spend or can benefit the locals. Like in other big cities, there is a veneer here that fools visitors and those who go on about how clean and orderly everything is have no clue of how things really are. What you see is an artificiality right up there with their high-spending materialistic lifestyle. That is why I can never spend too long there. Of course once in a while you feel like going there if only to get away from the bureaucracy and the way things are done here but before long, you’ll be longing to get back.
Well, at least that’s how I feel.
But then again, I’m a product of Malaysia. Not malaise, mind you. Heh
Regular readers of this blog may be aware of how I feel for Singers. I don’t like it and resent some of the people there but I have to relutantly admit that I have grudging admiration with how the country is run. Everything works. You can say that it has achieved a first world status in a region of developing countries. It’s amazing how it transforms itself over the years to where it is now despite no natural resources (no mineral deposits or oil and gas), low population (and hence low local labour supply), limited land space (to plant rubber, palm trees or cocoa) and scarce resources (it doesn’t even supply enough water for its inhabitants). How does it achieve so much from so little and in the face of so many constraints?
Well, for one it has/had a visionary leader. LKW is an astute leader who knew where his country should be and he worked hard to realise those dreams for his country. He turned Singers’ location into an advantage by developing its port and also turning it into a financial centre. There are many more foreign financial institutions set up in Singers than in KL (in fact they are also moving into Islamic finance). As if being a successful lucrative port is not enough, it has also turned itself as an air traffic stopover between Europe and Australia. It also invests heavily into high-tech industries and provides broadband Internet for its people. In short, Singers is a bit like Hong Kong minus the movie industry.
Realising that it needs a first class population to go with the first world status, it invests in its people. You can’t be a first world country if half of your population live in squalor or are homeless so they set up the Housing and Development Board (HDB) to provide decent, affordable housing for the masses and the Central Provident Fund to help the people save for their retirement, healthcare, home ownership, education and investment (similar to our EPF).
To attract visitors/tourists, it positions itself as a shopping destination. Why, it has more Gucci/Prada/LV boutiques than KL does! It built a world-class airport at Changi - that’s more like a city within a city - linked to the city by MRT making it convenient for even backpackers to travel around (if you’re in transit, you can even join a free tour with a choice of either a Cultural or Colonial Tour). If you can’t join the tour because your transit time is short, no sweat; there are other ‘transfer experiences’ options open to you to capture your attention (and while KLIA is too far from the city to make a similar concept feasible, don’t forget Singers is compact enough to make it work). It preserves its buildings (something we don’t do in KL) and build new architecturally interesting buildings like the Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay and Marina Bay Sands. It even copies London’s attraction and renames it the Singapore Flyer. It has also developed Sentosa Island (after renaming it from the unglamorous Pulau Belakang Mati) into a multi-park resort island with the Universal Studios Singapore being the latest addition to the attractions. Funny why residents of an island would need an island getaway but there you go. At least they are visionary.
Not content with that, it has also forayed into gambling with two casinos built and resurrected the Grand Prix (which was discontinued after 1973). So now it has become Macau in those respects. Let’s face it; ethics aside, gaming is a big money-spinner and a lucrative cash cow for the country. No local labour? No problem. Filipinos, who are largely fluent in English (albeit American English at that) are only too ready and available for hire. (Also, ever wonder why despite being a British colony, Singapore adopts American English rather than British English? Center rather than Centre and no Ground Floor anywhere; it’s Basement, 1st floor, 2nd floor, etc? Some examples: Ngee Ann City, Wisma Atria, 313 Somerset). Most stores at The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands (well, those which I entered) employ Filipinos.
So yes, I do have a grudging admiration for them in how they develop and progress to becoming the major financial centre in the region. You always feel like you’ve arrived into a clean and super-efficient country intent on offering you the best the modern world has to offer. The world-class airport, the efficient and very affordable MRT system (well, I dislike the long waiting time to board the train at Changi), the broad pavement, the clear road and direction signs, observance of rules by everyone (including foreign workers! Something you won’t see here – because the locals flaunt the rules too), the shopping and dining delights offered by the myriad shopping malls and eateries that seem to sprout by the day... like I said before, everything works. They even preserve old buildings instead of rushing to tear them down. Same goes to trees. Trees are allowed to grow unlike in KL where they get chopped down. I was in the cab to and fro Changi and admiring the roadside rain trees – and do you know they even have heritage trees? Why can’t we have those in KL too?
It’s also so very safe in Singers like in other developed Asian cities like Tokyo and Taipei. You can walk late at night without fear of being mugged or raped. This despite not being a Muslim country (shame on us for calling ourselves a Muslim country but not implementing Muslim laws that God knows will protect everyone. And by the way, hudud is only applicable to Muslims so non-Muslims need not fear them. Unfortunately, it’s the so-called Muslims who not only oppose hudud but have taken it upon themselves to instil fear of hudud into the hearts of the non-Muslims. Fie on you. You call yourselves Muslims and believers but don’t believe in God’s words/refuse to obey God’s words? Anyway, I digress). Everyone obeys and respects the law/rules. No chewing gum, no spitting, no littering, no graffiti, no illegal motor racing, no traffic jam.
Of course all these make Singers sound boring. Sterile. Hard to please. And it is boring and sterile. It’s become impersonal. You’re treated politely but indifferently. Not many people offer you a smile, a nod, a direct look. Sometimes they don’t make space for you in the MRT. Visitors are welcomed especially if they have money to spend or can benefit the locals. Like in other big cities, there is a veneer here that fools visitors and those who go on about how clean and orderly everything is have no clue of how things really are. What you see is an artificiality right up there with their high-spending materialistic lifestyle. That is why I can never spend too long there. Of course once in a while you feel like going there if only to get away from the bureaucracy and the way things are done here but before long, you’ll be longing to get back.
Well, at least that’s how I feel.
But then again, I’m a product of Malaysia. Not malaise, mind you. Heh
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