This is part 2 to the post on Singapore.

Erin said, “I am still curious about a couple things.”

Oh Erin, how I love the way you make me think. These are questions that my non-Singaporean friends hardly ask. So my mind wasn’t tailored to think in that direction, yet I am living in the mist of the answers to all these questions, day in day out, without giving it a care…ain’t I terrible?

Ok, let’s start….

“What’s the population of Singapore and is there any countryside?”

As of 4 Feb 2008, total population is 4.6 million. Locals and permanent residents 3,583,100 and foreigners, 1,005,500. But Singapore’s economic planners think the country can hold 6.5 million people, a size they feel will be ideal to keep the economy humming.

Countryside? Nah. The space is too small, so whatever available space left is used for building ‘pigeon holes’ to house the forthcoming 6.5 million. But to live up to the ‘Garden City’ title, we have trees all over the place, mini-forest. *wink*

“What is the main industry there?”

Singapore’s main industries include electronics, chemicals, financial services, oil drilling equipment, petroleum refining, rubber processing and rubber products, processed food and beverages, ship repair and biotechnology.

It has an open business environment, relatively corruption-free and transparent, stable prices, and one of the highest per capita gross domestic products (GDP) in the world. Exports, particularly in electronics and chemicals, and services provide the main source of revenue for our economy, which allows it to purchase natural resources and raw goods which it does not have.

The Port of Singapore is one of the busiest in the world, surpassing Hong Kong and Shanghai.

“What is the poverty level, the average income, that kind of thing.”

Seriously, there isn’t a very clear indication of the % poverty level in Singapore lately. The last report on this was in 2000, mentioning the story of Mdm Lee Chong Peng….

Lee Chong Peng is the symbol of Singapore’s broken dream. She lives alone in a one-room flat on about $3 a day. “I watch television and take short walks,” she says. “My legs ache now, so I cannot go so far.” But without fail, every Wednesday afternoon, Lee takes the lift down eight floors to the ground level of her public housing block.

There she joins dozens of other poor folk from her district in Chinatown to sit, waiting, on concrete benches. Lee, 84, chats with friends, while others remain sullen, lacking even the warmth of comradeship. At 5 p.m. they all form into a line and shuffle forward to receive a plastic bag containing six eggs, 1.5 kg of rice, a can of baked beans, a can of sweet corn, one packet of hot chocolate, one packet of coffee, some cereal and a single toilet roll. Without this weekly donation from a charitable group, Lee and her neighbors find it tough to survive.

According to the 2000 Census, 12.6 per cent of households earned less than $1,000 per month. A monthly gross total household income of $1,500 and below is considered “poor” in Singapore.

You do see very old uncles and aunties who are in their 70s or 80s picking up cupboard boxes and empty cans from the streets and the dustbins to sell them off later to earn just a few dollars. In very rare cases, you can find beggars on the streets, but we do have high-class beggars, we call the street performers, here in this fast growing economy of Singapore.

According to statistics gathered in 2007, the average household income is S$6,280. Hmmm…that seems a lot, but that’s only a handful of such people (I know of) who actually fall in this average-group. Most of the people whom I know falls into the S$4,000+ category for the entire household.

In Singapore the income range is extreme! A managing director can be getting S$20,000 basic monthly income and a receptionist may be just getting S$1,200 per month.

“What are some common prices for food items, cars, houses?”

Food

As I type along, I realised that Singapore is a place of extremes. A plate of Chicken rice at the coffeeshop usually ranges between S$2.50 – S$3.00, but in certain parts of Singapore where a kind owner of the coffeeshop doesn’t raise the rental as much as the jump in Singapore’s economy, chicken rice at S$1.50 per plate still exists. Yet at restaurants, especially those inside the hotels, a plate of chicken rice could cost you S$6.50 and they don’t even taste half as nice as those sold in the stalls at the coffeeshops!

Generally, Singaporeans eat in non-air-conditioned hawker centres and coffeeshops. A hawker centre could house as many as 60 stalls and a coffeeshop usually consists of 9-10 stalls. In such places, the average price ranges from S$2.50 to S$3.50.

There are days when its way too hot, we, pampered Singaporeans, will get our food from the cool air-conditioned food courts in Shopping Centres, where we pay about S$0.50-S$1.00 more for the comfort.

Cars

The 1600cc cars, Korean and Japanese brands like Honda, Toyota, Hyundia, Kia, Nissan and Mitsubishi cost about S$50,000 – S$70,000.

Other luxurious cars like Lexus, Jaguar, etc can go up to as high as S$200,000.

Houses

Our HDB, which we ‘buy’ from the Government or from the current owners ranges from S$200,000 -S$600,000.

Private ones like terrace houses, condominium and bungalows are always above the Million mark.

“And where does your deep sense of Nationalism come from?”

Hmmm…seriously, ITS EVERYTHING!

The air that I breathe in, except when the rubbish truck happens to pass by;

the sunshine that’s ever so glaring (even though I often complain about it, you know Singapore is located (almost) just next to the equator, imagine the heat!);

the grumblings from the aunties and uncles who sit in the coffeeshop practically the entire day doing nothing but complain about the government;

the sense of predictability (everything is so organised, sometimes other than my pounding heart, I do feel like living in a robotic world);

with the above point, that leads to feeling safe and secure all the time;

To sum it up, its probably due to my frequent travel experiences (in the past) to countries like Thailand and China (I go there to get my beads and stuff), it made me appreciate the cleanliness and greenery of Singapore and that alone, I’ve got my hands and legs chained to this ground.

“What is it in your country’s history that has defined your country today?”

Could believe it? Its the masterpiece of just ONE Man!

The history of the Republic of Singapore began when Singapore gained its independence and became a republic following a secession from the Federation of Malaysia on 9 August 1965.

After the separation, the fledgling nation had to become self-sufficient, and faced problems including mass unemployment, housing shortages and lack of land and natural resources such as petroleum.

During Lee Kuan Yew’s term as prime minister from 1959 to 1990, his administration curbed unemployment, raised the standard of living and implemented a large-scale public housing programme. The country economic infrastructure was developed, the threat of racial tension was eliminated and an independent national defence system was created. Singapore evolved from a developing nation to first world status towards the end of the 20th century.

Mr Lee Kuan Yew is the Minister Mentor now, age 85, still very influential in the decisions made by the government. So he’s the man! Although my father’s and grandfather’s generation NEVER liked him, because they could not accept the drastic changes he made to Singapore then, but hey, look at Singapore now, if he wasn’t such a ‘tyrant’ (that’s what the older generation call him), there won’t be the Singapore today!

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Phew! I’m done! *laugh* Erin, don’t get me wrong, I love to answer questions, if there is such a thing called reincarnation (which I don’t believe), I guess I was an answering machine in my previous life. Do you believe it, I actually do love Examination time during my school days! *laugh*