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[ahleebabasingaporethief]

A foreigner's impression of S'pore

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From: EddieSong <nobr></nobr> 10:12 pm To: ALL <nobr></nobr> (1 of 2) <tbody> </tbody> http://forums.delphiforums.com/3in1kopitiam/messages?msg=58010.1 Singapore has been frequently derided as an authoritarian nanny state – dismissed in one vicious critique as “Disneyland with the death penalty<!--<NOTE>--><!--</NOTE>-->.” Singapore is definitely the wrong place for repeat drug offenders and rapists. At the same time, however, it is a good (although imperfect) example of limited government spending: It nationalizes only 17 per cent of gross domestic product a year (compared, for example, with Canada’s 39 per cent). Yet Singapore has excellent health care, exceptionally low unemployment, minimal poverty, high literacy and one of the world’s most dynamic economies. How did it get so many things so right? Henry Kissinger once described colonial Singapore as “located on a sandbar with nary a natural resource.”<!--<NOTE>--><!--</NOTE>--> When Great Britain granted the it independence in 1959, Singapore was an impoverished Third World island nation with all the filth and fever that stagnant sewage ensures in a densely populated city (population: one million) of slums. Per-capita GDP then was $400 (U.S.). In the 50 years since, Singapore’s nominal per-capita GDP growth has signalled its astonishing advance: in 1990, $12,000; in 2000, $22,000; in 2010, $50,000 – or, expressed in terms of purchasing power, $62,000. This ranks Singapore as the fifth highest in the world, well ahead of the United States (in 11th place with per-capita GDP of $47,200) and Canada (in 22nd place with per-capita GDP of $39,400). The Economist says Singapore (current population: five million, about the same as Denmark) now has the best quality of life in the Asia-Pacific – though it has no government-run welfare state. The World Bank says Singapore is the easiest country in the world to do business. Transparency International says its is one the least corrupt countries. Boston Consulting Group says Singapore has more millionaires, relative to population, than any other country in the world: 15.2 per cent of all households have more than $1-million of personal assets “under active management,” which means that house values aren’t counted. Singapore’s unemployment rate normally hovers around 2 per cent. In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, it doubled to 4 per cent. Singapore’s economy nosedived only briefly and quickly recovered. Its economy contracted by 0.8 per cent in 2009 and rebounded by 14.5 per cent in 2010. Singapore owes much of its success to the blend of eccentric socialism theory, family-based Confucian instincts and the laissez-faire enlightenment of Lee Kuan Yew, otherwise known, from his student days in London, as Harry Lee, the long-time prime minister and life-time guardian of the parliamentary republic he established in 1965. Mr. Lee’s instincts were paternalistic. But he knew, in the 1960s, that his country couldn’t afford a welfare state. So he used government’s coercive power to compel Singaporeans to build it themselves. Specifically, he compelled people to save 20 per cent of their wages in personal savings accounts – and to invest the money as best they could. Singaporeans still put 20 per cent of their wages into their central provident fund (CPF) accounts, which they control – subject to some idiosyncratic restraints. You can use CFP funds to buy your house, which explains why 92 per cent of Singapore families own their homes. But you must set aside 6 per cent of your savings for “MediSave” expenses. (For major medical expenses, you can pool your MediSave funds with the MediSave funds of family members.) And the government requires certain investments. You must, for example, buy stock in Singapore’s profit-making bus system, thus encouraging you to use public transit. Mr. Lee understood the strength of socialism as a political doctrine and the strength of capitalism as an economic force. You will need a pension one day. You will need medical care one day. You will lose your job one day. You may well be poor one day. These risks require insurance. So save your money. At any given time, only 3,000 Singaporeans receive state-distributed, last-resort assistance. Person for person, Singaporeans are the most diligent savers in the world – and among the least taxed. They are apparently quite content to keep it that way. <tbody> </tbody> Options Reply <tbody> </tbody>

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From: EddieSong <nobr></nobr> 10:26 pm To: ALL <nobr></nobr> (2 of 2) <tbody> </tbody> 58010.2 in reply to 58010.1 What some readers say: slimfish7 My son and his family live in Singapore and love the Country . Especially the simplicity of life ! skessels Ask your son to take up Singapore citizenship then. They give it out freely. skessels Mr. Reynolds knows so little about Singapore. Does he know that most Singaporeans do not have enough for retirement despite the compulsory savings? Most of the savings are used for housing; a supposedly government-subsidized apartment cost on average about $450,000. And when you buy one, it comes uncompleted. So, you will need to put in another $50,000 to complete the interior. The high average income is not reflective of the average Singapore. The average salary is boosted up by the salaries of foreign professionals. The median monthly HOUSEHOLD income last year is $5000. Figure out how much retirement savings do a person have after paying off the mortgage over his whole working life? Healthcare is not cheap; that's why the Singapore government has made savings for medical expenditure compulsory. If you are require a procedure, that would set you back at least $10,000 in the highest subsidy bed in a public hospital. People die because they can't afford the cost of health care. Pan handling is illegal in Singapore, so you won't see poverty. To qualify for welfare which pays out only $300 a month, you have to go through a laborious series of assessment. This whole process puts of people for even trying. If you have family, your family is required by law to support you financially. That's why official statistics show low rate of poverty. The Singapore government manages information very tightly. Lots of information that are easily available in developed countries are deemed as secret in Singapore. For example, the Singapore government will not disclose how much reserves it has or make public how the reserves are invested. I would suggest the author check out other sources of information besides what the Singapore government provides. Live in Singapore for a few years and mix with the locals to truly see how miserable life is in that island state. chickenstuff What everyone always overlooks, including this article is that Singapore is the size of downtown Toronto. It's a little misleading comparing it to other nations. How does Manhattan, London or Paris compare to Singapore? green fella I lived there in the late 80's for 2 years and I agree, they have got it mostly right. I left with a sour taste due to the total intolerance of political dissent and vilification (and prosecution) of anyone unlucky enough to get elected from another party. No party, however wise and perceptive, gets it right all the time. Dissent is the lifeblood of democracy, however messy things get. In fact things get much messier if there is no one to critique those in charge, it's only a matter of time. Anna Hopkens This article is very one sided coming from somebody that used to live there ( and thankfully left). You cannot compare Singapore to a developed country as the standards there are very low. Even though they have months of rain they force their people to drink "New" water which is basically treated sewage through a membrane filter. The gov thought that golf courses are more important than water reservoirs. No mention in the article of the high cost of living for eg. a 2011 Honda accord costs over 120k$. Apartments sold by the gov have no central heat or hot water heating whatsoever. You're paying 400k literally for an uninsulated concrete shell ie walls are bare spalling concrete . People eat in hawker centers without dishwashers so dishes are cleaned with cold water in the alleyways, hepatitus is still a big problem in Singapore. It seems the writer never talked to anybody other than the Singapore gov. which is famous for self promotion. Proxy servers are used to control info coming in from the internet and all the media is state run. In some ways I found China more free. thomastoronto Regardless of what you think about Singapore, Reynolds is pointing out that there are better systems of government other than American and models that suck much less from workers. Its not necessary to enslave a population to develop a creative, caring and growing society. Government's will always impale you on their "services" spear to keep their relevant alive. Time has come to reduce the monster by at least 30% and ignore the union carp of "Americanizing" " hard ship for children" all the nonsense that threatens your freedom from tax serfdom. Victorian Canuck How does Singapore do it? Well, for starters, it's about 10 metres long, and 20 metres wide. How productive is it to compare a country that's smaller than many cities, to Canada? tempsperdue A disingenous comparison at best to make with a confederation like Canada, Singapore is a quasi-dictatorial (albeit a benevolent one, minus the death penalty) city state, and Canada is a confederation, a dominion and constitutional monarchy...we aren't even a proper Federal state (our provinces have a lot more power)... A more proper example would be to compare Singapore with other near city states, or other states within states like Hamburg, the city of London --not greater London--, Vienna, etc. These cities are all their own provinces and as such have much more power and say than Canadian cities...and they are rich too, i...[Message truncated] View Full Message <tbody> </tbody> Options Reply <tbody> </tbody>

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[ahleebabasingaporethief]

Seems likne cannot copy and paste from 3 in 1 . Always have narrow box...difficult to read.

THE LINK IS HERE..http://forums.delphiforums.com/3in1kopitiam/messages?msg=58010.1

 

[red amoeba]

for a moment i thot u like Makapaa...

jus copy the text....

 

[tonychat]

Seems likne cannot copy and paste from 3 in 1 . Always have narrow box...difficult to read.

THE LINK IS HERE...58010.1

It is not cannot copy and paste, it is you dunno how to do it.

 

[ahleebabasingaporethief]

Link is here.....http://forums.delphiforums.com/3in1kopitiam/messages?msg=58010.1

 

[Leongsam]

Seems likne cannot copy and paste from 3 in 1 . Always have narrow box...difficult to read.
http://forums.delphiforums.com/3in1kopitiam/messages?msg=58010.1

Why can't you just do this you twit......

http://forums.delphiforums.com/n/ma...&prettyurl=/3in1kopitiam/messages?msg=58010.1

Singapore has been frequently derided as an authoritarian nanny state – dismissed in one vicious critique as “Disneyland with the death penalty.” Singapore is definitely the wrong place for repeat drug offenders and rapists. At the same time, however, it is a good (although imperfect) example of limited government spending: It nationalizes only 17 per cent of gross domestic product a year (compared, for example, with Canada’s 39 per cent). Yet Singapore has excellent health care, exceptionally low unemployment, minimal poverty, high literacy and one of the world’s most dynamic economies. How did it get so many things so right?


Henry Kissinger once described colonial Singapore as “located on a sandbar with nary a natural resource.” When Great Britain granted the it independence in 1959, Singapore was an impoverished Third World island nation with all the filth and fever that stagnant sewage ensures in a densely populated city (population: one million) of slums. Per-capita GDP then was $400 (U.S.).


In the 50 years since, Singapore’s nominal per-capita GDP growth has signalled its astonishing advance: in 1990, $12,000; in 2000, $22,000; in 2010, $50,000 – or, expressed in terms of purchasing power, $62,000. This ranks Singapore as the fifth highest in the world, well ahead of the United States (in 11th place with per-capita GDP of $47,200) and Canada (in 22nd place with per-capita GDP of $39,400).


The Economist says Singapore (current population: five million, about the same as Denmark) now has the best quality of life in the Asia-Pacific – though it has no government-run welfare state. The World Bank says Singapore is the easiest country in the world to do business. Transparency International says its is one the least corrupt countries.


Boston Consulting Group says Singapore has more millionaires, relative to population, than any other country in the world: 15.2 per cent of all households have more than $1-million of personal assets “under active management,” which means that house values aren’t counted.


Singapore’s unemployment rate normally hovers around 2 per cent. In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, it doubled to 4 per cent. Singapore’s economy nosedived only briefly and quickly recovered. Its economy contracted by 0.8 per cent in 2009 and rebounded by 14.5 per cent in 2010.


Singapore owes much of its success to the blend of eccentric socialism theory, family-based Confucian instincts and the laissez-faire enlightenment of Lee Kuan Yew, otherwise known, from his student days in London, as Harry Lee, the long-time prime minister and life-time guardian of the parliamentary republic he established in 1965. Mr. Lee’s instincts were paternalistic. But he knew, in the 1960s, that his country couldn’t afford a welfare state. So he used government’s coercive power to compel Singaporeans to build it themselves. Specifically, he compelled people to save 20 per cent of their wages in personal savings accounts – and to invest the money as best they could.


Singaporeans still put 20 per cent of their wages into their central provident fund (CPF) accounts, which they control – subject to some idiosyncratic restraints. You can use CFP funds to buy your house, which explains why 92 per cent of Singapore families own their homes. But you must set aside 6 per cent of your savings for “MediSave” expenses. (For major medical expenses, you can pool your MediSave funds with the MediSave funds of family members.) And the government requires certain investments. You must, for example, buy stock in Singapore’s profit-making bus system, thus encouraging you to use public transit.


Mr. Lee understood the strength of socialism as a political doctrine and the strength of capitalism as an economic force. You will need a pension one day. You will need medical care one day. You will lose your job one day. You may well be poor one day. These risks require insurance. So save your money. At any given time, only 3,000 Singaporeans receive state-distributed, last-resort assistance. Person for person, Singaporeans are the most diligent savers in the world – and among the least taxed. They are apparently quite content to keep it that way.

 

[ahleebabasingaporethief]

slimfish7
My son and his family live in Singapore and love the Country . Especially the simplicity of life !
skessels
Ask your son to take up Singapore citizenship then. They give it out freely.
skessels
Mr. Reynolds knows so little about Singapore. Does he know that most Singaporeans do not have enough for retirement despite the compulsory savings? Most of the savings are used for housing; a supposedly government-subsidized apartment cost on average about $450,000. And when you buy one, it comes uncompleted. So, you will need to put in another $50,000 to complete the interior.

The high average income is not reflective of the average Singapore. The average salary is boosted up by the salaries of foreign professionals. The median monthly HOUSEHOLD income last year is $5000. Figure out how much retirement savings do a person have after paying off the mortgage over his whole working life?

Healthcare is not cheap; that's why the Singapore government has made savings for medical expenditure compulsory. If you are require a procedure, that would set you back at least $10,000 in the highest subsidy bed in a public hospital. People die because they can't afford the cost of health care.

Pan handling is illegal in Singapore, so you won't see poverty. To qualify for welfare which pays out only $300 a month, you have to go through a laborious series of assessment. This whole process puts of people for even trying. If you have family, your family is required by law to support you financially. That's why official statistics show low rate of poverty.

The Singapore government manages information very tightly. Lots of information that are easily available in developed countries are deemed as secret in Singapore. For example, the Singapore government will not disclose how much reserves it has or make public how the reserves are invested.

I would suggest the author check out other sources of information besides what the Singapore government provides. Live in Singapore for a few years and mix with the locals to truly see how miserable life is in that island state.

chickenstuff
What everyone always overlooks, including this article is that Singapore is the size of downtown Toronto. It's a little misleading comparing it to other nations. How does Manhattan, London or Paris compare to Singapore?
green fella
I lived there in the late 80's for 2 years and I agree, they have got it mostly right.
I left with a sour taste due to the total intolerance of political dissent and vilification (and prosecution) of anyone unlucky enough to get elected from another party. No party, however wise and perceptive, gets it right all the time.
Dissent is the lifeblood of democracy, however messy things get. In fact things get much messier if there is no one to critique those in charge, it's only a matter of time.
Anna Hopkens
This article is very one sided coming from somebody that used to live there ( and thankfully left). You cannot compare Singapore to a developed country as the standards there are very low. Even though they have months of rain they force their people to drink "New" water which is basically treated sewage through a membrane filter. The gov thought that golf courses are more important than water reservoirs.

No mention in the article of the high cost of living for eg. a 2011 Honda accord costs over 120k$. Apartments sold by the gov have no central heat or hot water heating whatsoever. You're paying 400k literally for an uninsulated concrete shell ie walls are bare spalling concrete . People eat in hawker centers without dishwashers so dishes are cleaned with cold water in the alleyways, hepatitus is still a big problem in Singapore.

It seems the writer never talked to anybody other than the Singapore gov. which is famous for self promotion. Proxy servers are used to control info coming in from the internet and all the media is state run. In some ways I found China more free.
thomastoronto
Regardless of what you think about Singapore, Reynolds is pointing out that there are better systems of government other than American and models that suck much less from workers.

Its not necessary to enslave a population to develop a creative, caring and growing society. Government's will always impale you on their "services" spear to keep their relevant alive.

Time has come to reduce the monster by at least 30% and ignore the union carp of "Americanizing" " hard ship for children" all the nonsense that threatens your freedom from tax serfdom.
Victorian Canuck
How does Singapore do it? Well, for starters, it's about 10 metres long, and 20 metres wide.

How productive is it to compare a country that's smaller than many cities, to Canada?
tempsperdue
A disingenous comparison at best to make with a confederation like Canada, Singapore is a quasi-dictatorial (albeit a benevolent one, minus the death penalty) city state, and Canada is a confederation, a dominion and constitutional monarchy...we aren't even a proper Federal state (our provinces have a lot more power)...

A more proper example would be to compare Singapore with other near city states, or other states within states like Hamburg, the city of London --not greater London--, Vienna, etc. These cities are all their own provinces and as such have much more power and say than Canadian cities...and they are rich too, i...[Message truncated]