Singapore Holiday

An expat’s musings of his likes and dislikes of Singapore
This was published in Straits Times. The writer is a Canadian-born copy-editor with The Straits Times. He is moving to Cairo, Egypt, after 15 months in Singapore.
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This month marks my last in Singapore, and during the past few weeks I’ve been bombarded with the same question: ‘What did you think of the place?’

It’s a query that every expat faces in the waning days of his time abroad and, in the case of this country, one that defies a neat answer.

Singapore is a model nation amid a sea of uncertainty. Almost everyone has a home. The country has redefined urban planning. Public transport here is the best in South-east Asia. And the tax rate makes most avowed, Western social democrats blush.

But at the same time, Singapore lacks some of the character of its neighbours. And then there are the fines…

At the risk of sounding self- indulgent, here are the things I will miss, and those I won’t.

Top seven things I will miss

MRT: During my first trip on the system, I saw a public service message that featured a terrorist who blew up a train car, presumably killing everyone on board. While officials might want to consider axing that video from tourist-laden airport trains, it’s hard to argue with anything else MRT-related. Punctual and clean, they almost make standing shoulder-to-shoulder with hundreds of strangers a pleasure.

Little India: A genuine, vibrant area, it is one of the few places in Singapore that have not lanced all of its warts. It shows just how far a little character can go.

Taxi drivers: They don’t make this list for their driving, but for their honesty. This is one of the few countries in the world – and certainly the only one in Asia, besides Japan – where passengers have even a fighting chance of getting back something they left behind.

Trees: It’s amazing to walk through Toa Payoh, where I have lived for the last year, and stare up at the 15-storey-tall trees that line the town’s main streets. They are an example of forward-thinking urban planning, and a repudiation of the scorched earth policy of many Western developers.

Apartment living: While North American cities battle urban sprawl and all the problems that it entails – especially a reliance on carbon-emitting cars – Singaporeans can sit back and relax. Sure, people don’t have the manses of the West, but the local model of development is infinitely more sustainable.

Precision: There is a lot to be said about things working the way they should. From the police to baggage handlers at Changi Airport, Singapore enjoys an efficiency that is almost unmatched.

A forward-looking Government: Unlike many other places, Singapore’s leaders have a coherent plan for keeping the country competitive in a rapidly changing world. Serious investments in everything, from cancer research to the video-game industry, have the country poised for the future.

Top four things I won’t miss

Chinatown: With its sanitised shophouses and overpriced tourist trinkets, it looks more like a slice of South Florida than China.

Fines: The list of things you cannot do here is voluminous, and the fines that accompany even the smallest transgressions can be harsh. A $500 fine for sipping a Big Gulp on the MRT? Yikes.

ERP and COE: There’s no denying that keeping cars off the road is a good thing. Along with improving traffic flow, ERP and COE have prevented a massive amount of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere. But this system of owning cars benefits the wealthy, and is this fair?

The kid gloves: There is a prevailing sense among officials that Singaporeans are not ready for everything from a no-holds-barred Internet to a Western-style democracy. Well-educated and discerning, it seems to me, most are. 

http://www.straitstimes.com/print/Think/Story/STIStory_321683.html