Chapter 33 - Singapore - Clean and Green

 

Singapore is another candidate for a country that's the complete opposite of India. So I couldn't help but wonder what the Indian passengers on my flight from Delhi to Singapore thought when they landed in Singapore. For me, the first thing I noticed is that Singapore is clean and green. It rains in Singapore most afternoons during the time of year I was there, making everything quite green. Singapore is also close to the equator, so it is warm year-round, which also contributes to all the beautiful green trees and plants throughout the island.

The country is quite small, effectively only an island. In fact, Singapore is what many people refer to as a "city-state," which is a country that's not much bigger than a city. There are lots of reasons a city can end up being its own country. In Singapore's case, the country achieved independence from neighboring Malaysia in 1965. When I was driving around Singapore, I met this nice man, Mr. Ung, who drove the taxi I took to my hotel. He was born in Singapore before its independence and told me about what it's been like to live there over the past forty years.

 

Today Singapore is known for being very clean, orderly, planned, and safe (which is why it is unlike India). For several decades Singapore was ruled by one man, a prime minister named Mr. Lee Kuan Yew, who wanted to improve Singapore. Mr. Ung laughed as he told me that when he grew up, families like his lived in straw huts built on stilts--the island of Singapore was really just a fishing village. They were so poor that they had to walk to fetch water from wells, much like many African villages.

 

Mr. Ung spoke proudly of Mr. Lee (in Asia, people use their family name first, the opposite of how we do things in America--if I lived in Singapore, everyone would call me Chmielewski Tom), whom he credits with having made Singapore into the wealthy country it is today. All the citizens like Mr. Ung essentially gave up their rights to have political opposition and to vote, in exchange for allowing Mr. Lee to improve the country without any opposition like we have in a democracy. Even though Mr. Lee called himself a prime minister, this effectively made him a dictator, and dictators often don't end up being very good for the countries they rule. When people get into positions of power like this, with no opposition, they usually become corrupt very quickly, and the only people who benefit from their rule are their family and friends.

What I find interesting about Singapore is that Mr. Lee lived up to his end of the bargain. He increased the standard of living for all Singaporeans by improving the schools, roads, water system, industry, airport, and seaports. He did such a good job that this little country, with almost no natural resources, is now one of the biggest ports in the world. Mr. Ung's family no longer lives in a straw hut, but in a high rise like this one, which are all over town. That's why Mr. Ung laughed when he remembered having to fetch water from a well growing up. Everyone in Singapore now just turns on the tap, often one in a new home or high-rise apartment.

 

As I looked around at all the clean, modern buildings and thought about Mr. Ung living in a grass hut just a generation ago, I couldn't help but be impressed with what Mr. Lee achieved. But like most things in life, there was a trade off, as Mr. Lee had strict rules for Singapore's citizens. For example, he made chewing gum illegal. Seriously. Mr. Lee hated the sight of gum on the sidewalk, so he outlawed it. (Remember how I said Singapore was super-clean?) Mr. Lee also decreed that all men had to have short hair, in keeping with the clean and orderly image.

 

I do admire Mr. Lee for having not turned into a completely corrupt dictator who stole from his people, like many of the rulers with such power in Africa. Clearly, the Singaporean people trusted him and were willing to work hard to achieve a common goal of prosperity.

 

One of the things Singapore introduced was a toll system that makes you pay every time you drive into the downtown area. Because the entire country is effectively one large city, traffic downtown can get busy. So about ten years ago, Singapore introduced road planning. Today the system is all electronic and referred to as ERP, or "Electronic Road Planning." All cars have a transmitter, so whenever they drive under the detection system at the start of every street into downtown, they are charged one dollar. Singapore's currency is also called the "dollar," although one Singapore dollar is worth about 70 US cents. (Singapore's dollar looks different from ours. Only the name is the same.)

 

When I lived in London, England (see chapter 10) in 2003, the city government had just introduced a similar system, based on Singapore's innovative idea, to control the traffic in central London. Just this year, New York City is looking to implement a similar idea in Manhattan, based on the success in Singapore and London.

 

In addition to the cleanliness of Singapore, I loved the food, as it is a mixture of foods from the neighboring cultures of Indonesia, Malaysia, China and Thailand. The food that impressed me the most is the variety of fruit that grows in this green part of the world. My favorite fruit to see is the Dragon fruit. It's bright pink on the outside and bright white on the inside, with little edible black seeds throughout. The inside is a bit like a kiwi fruit: very colorful, but not super tasty or sweet. Nevertheless, I love it for its colors and its colorful name--the Dragon Fruit! Next time you see one, definitely give it a try.

 

In the end, I enjoyed my stay in the very clean and green city of Singapore, which, like the Dragon Fruit, is full of surprises like meeting Mr. Ung. He seemed to be "just" a cab driver, but had wonderful stories about the small fishing town that grew up into one of the world's wealthiest and most developed countries in only forty years.

 

Travel Questions about Singapore:

1. When did Singapore get its independence from Malaysia?
2. What was the name of the taxi driver Toto met in Singapore?
3. Is Singapore north or south of the equator?
4. What was the name of the Prime Minister who ruled Singapore for many years and helped the country develop?
5. What was one of the interesting laws he passed to ensure Singapore was clean?
6. What other cities have implemented or considered starting a downtown toll system to control traffic like Singapore?
7. What was the name of the fruit Toto loved so much in Singapore?

Global Nomad Questions on Singapore:

1. Do a cybersearch to find at least two other countries who have named their currency the "dollar." These are not countries that use the US dollar (like Panama), but have their own currency called the dollar.
2. There are several other city-states around the world that are small countries often not bigger than a city. Some examples are: San Marino, The Vatican (or Holy See), Monaco, Andorra, Lichtenstein, and Bahrain. Choose one of the above or another you discover and write a paragraph explaining how it got to be such a small country, and how it's stayed that way.
3. Like Singapore, Hong Kong and Macau were their own countries until 1997 and 1999, respectively. Now they are both part of China. Do a cybersearch and explain why both Hong Kong and Macau became part of China in those years. (Hint: It has to do with colonization of those territories by two European countries hundreds of years ago.)

Comments

[Ann McDonough]

Tom, I have enjoyed your recent chapters on Bangladesh, Delhi, and especially Singapore. I am anxious to incorporate your experiences into neat learning experiences for my students once school begins. Please contact us. We'd love to have you come back for a visit. Godspeed. Ann McDonough