May 2, 2006
By Neil Fraser
"SINGAPORE can be described as a smorgasbord; a city of a vast array of foods - but also many hospitals that you can visit when you've overeaten and many hotels to recuperate in." Having just finished a typical local multi-course dinner, I felt that my friend's son, Colin, was probably right.
"No," said his father, Daniel Hock Seng Koh, "Singapore can rather be described as a fine city - you get fined for just about everything you do and anything you don't."
Well it certainly is the cleanest city I have ever visited. In two days of walking the city I saw just two cigarette butts on a pavement. Had the perpetrators been seen throwing them on the street, it would have cost them S$500 each, nearly R2 000 a butt. Our Metro Police would have a ball.
Singapore is a city-state and both the country and city are known as Singapore. It consists of one main and some 63 offshore islands. The main island is 617 square kilometres, with the other 63 contributing only another 80 square kilometres. The main island is the site of the city.
Its nearest neighbours are Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei and the Philippines. It has an average annual daily temperature of 27 degrees and an average daily relative humidity of 84.3 percent.
I spent a fair deal of my two-day visit walking around the city. The temperature was 32 degrees but the humidity was just over 90 degrees - I didn't find it pleasant! Thankfully, everywhere inside is air-conditioned, homes, cars, offices, shopping malls.
Tracing the history
Whilst some accounts of the city trace its history back to the third century, it only became commonly known as Singapura by the end on the 14th century.
The story goes that the ruler of Palembang, Sang Nila Utama, sought refuse there from a storm. He saw what he believed was a lion (now referred to as the mystical monster known as a Merlion) and named the spot Singapura - Singa, lion and Pura, city, hence the City of the Lion.
When Stamford Raffles (of Raffles Hotel fame, renowned for its "Singapore Sling" made from dry gin, DOM Benedictine, Cointreau, cherry brandy, Angostura bitters, Grenadine, lime and pineapple juice.) landed in Singapore in January 1819 the local population was just 150.
The city status was formalised as a British 'possession' in 1824 and a Crown Colony in 1867. The British turned Singapore into a thriving free port attracting immigrants from throughout South East Asia; Malays, Chinese, Indonesian traders and labourers, Javanese, Bugis, Balinese and Indians.
In 1942 the city was bombed by the Japanese in a Pearl Harbour-type attack and the city was surrendered to the Japanese a year later and renamed Syonan (Light of the South) by its conquerors. British forces returned at the end of World War 2 and the city became a Crown Colony again. Singapore's first general election was held in 1959 but it wasn't until 1965 that it became a Republic and 1971 before the British withdrew. The British had little hope for the future of the country after they withdrew, believing that there would be little reason for its existence once they left.
Social engineering efforts
But the first Prime Minister of the country had different ideas. Lee Kuan Yew was a visionary who introduced four sweeping social engineering initiatives during his 30 years of office, each backed by strong legislation to make them work.
- The first was to develop 'a robust society' - strong, healthy people. Exercise regimes and facilities were provided throughout the country.
- This was followed by an initiative to turn Singapore into a 'green society'. Even today you have to apply for a permit to cut down a tree over a certain diameter. But the result is wide plantings in the median of highways and pavements in the city, trees and flowering shrubs throughout the city, even on the edges of the many footbridges that span the wide avenues.
- The next national initiative was 'Courtesy is a way of life'.
- Fourthly he set the target of a 'City of Excellence'. Some years ago they had a two-and-a-half hour
blackout and the entire electricity generating staff was fired. In Joburg that would lead to quite some staff turnover.
Today Lee Kuan Yew is still part of the government as "Minister Mentor" in the Prime Minister's office, and the PM is his son Lee Hsien Loong. The son is following his father's footsteps and has introduced the fifth, current national initiative, which is 'to develop an inclusive society'.
As my friend Daniel remarked, "Singapore strives to be a great world city and great world cities need great leaders!" By all accounts Singapore certainly appears to have that.
The initiatives of this progressive government over the past 40-plus years have made Singapore the economic powerhouse of south-east Asia.
With a population of about four million, it boasts a literacy rate of 95 percent; a life expectancy of 77.4 years for males and 81.3 for females; a work force of 64.2 percent of the adult population; 2.6 percent unemployment; a GNP many times that of its neighbours; a CPI of 1.7 percent; and a staggering 84 percent of the population own their homes. Mobile phone subscribers number 911 per 1 000 population and it is incredibly cheap. Seventy percent of homes are equipped with computers, with 492 of every 1 000 people having Internet dial-up. Broadband is promoted by the government and costs about R1 800 per household, which has on average three users. This works out at about R600 a head. I visited a kindergarten and saw the equivalent of our Grade 1 classes being introduced to computers.
This is typical of the country's passion for education and job creation. (To quote Daniel, "How can you talk of democracy to someone with no job and an empty belly?") Everyone goes to school. In fact, schools generally cater for two groups, one in the morning and other in the afternoon. And the number of those going from secondary schooling through into tertiary education is amazingly high.
Infrastructure
This is an efficient society always seeking ways to become more efficient. It has a very good public transport system - magnificent roads, good buses and high-speed trains - and there are financial disincentives for driving into the CBD at certain hours. All cars have a little unit fixed to the inside of their windscreen into which you slip a credit type card and as you cross into the CBD zone it automatically debits from S$0.50 (R2) to S$2.50 (R10) to against the card, depending on the time of day with peak hours attracting the highest charge. The same card is used in any parking garage, public or private. As you enter and leave the card is automatically read and you are debited for the exact time spent parking. There are plenty of ATMs where you can top up your card.
Public transport works on much the same principle, where you are provided with a smart card that can be topped up as necessary. A cashless society and they have very little crime!
Cars are all decidedly newish even though you have to pay some S$35 000 to the government for the privilege of owning one, but there evidently is a huge market for second-hand cars in neighbouring countries.
And the city itself? From two days - not nearly enough to see the city - I would describe Singapore as 'eclectic'.
Future oriented skyscrapers
Because we see so little new high-rise construction, we are not aware that this is a time of a great renaissance of the skyscraper. I read somewhere that "The Asiatic mode of skyscraping takes as its starting point the idea that Earth is itself an off-world colony: it is entirely future oriented." Singapore epitomises this with its gleaming, towering, cyber-style skyscrapers, all sleekly clad in stainless steel, aluminium and glass. Somehow, in this city, they rise quite comfortably cheek by jowl with eastern-style low-rise buildings set between huge US type multi-storey shopping centres (some are 10 floors of retail). Then there is a scattering of historic British colonial buildings peppering the city.
Evidently, in the first rush of development after achieving freedom from colonialism, many heritage buildings were replaced with modern architectural marvels or monstrosities (dependent on one's point of view) until the government woke up to the fact that the country's built heritage was being lost. It brought in strict, but fair, preservation policies coupled with enforced requirements to ensure that owners look after their properties, new or old. The result is the preservation and conversion of some fine colonial buildings: for example the traditional cricket club and city hall still preside over their pristine environments, whilst the main post office is now a magnificent centre city hotel and the Hill Street central police station is a museum.
The financial district is a modernistic cyber-Wall Street with relatively narrow streets and towering bank buildings. It is set on the edge of the narrow river that served as the historic unloading and trading area for all goods delivered to the island. The shallowness of the river meant that all goods had to be transferred from the ships in the bay to 'lighters' that transported them to the city. The esplanade that has replaced the muddy banks that formed this historic unloading and trading area is beautifully lit and is dotted with numerous imposing sculptures. Today most goods are still brought in by sea and this has resulted in Singapore having the second biggest container depot in the world, next to Hong Kong.
The limited land availability means that almost all modern buildings are high-rise, anything from 20 to 70 and 80 storeys. I was staggered to find these high-rises with massive glass walls. Given the climate, the energy consumption must be horrific. An architect I met said that they were not too concerned as the island, with the largest refinery in south-east Asia, has an abundance of imported oil and gas. He did admit it was something of a myopic attitude. The sleek and modern skyscrapers are impressive but could be from many other cities.
Iconic public buildings
It is the public buildings that are really interesting and iconic. The 1 800-seat concert hall and 2 000-seat theatre, situated on a new waterfront area (there are large areas of reclaimed land) are roofed with a glazed spaceframe covered with thousands of triangular 'hoods' or sunshades that give it a surface like a local spikey-skinned fruit called a durian. The complex is nicknamed that by the locals. A new architectural classification is emerging, Singapore's Durian, London's Gherkin. The public space the performing arts complex is set in is beautifully treated and lit. The new 16 storey high-rise public library (75 percent of the facades are glass) and the equally new but low-rise business school in the centre of the CBD would both provide Alan Lipman with much food for comment, as would many of the other new buildings in this south-east Asian city.
Most of the population stay in high-rise apartments that they buy. These dominate the skyline throughout the island, are generally from 20 to 40 floors, and from lower through middle to upper income. A recent report provided average purchase prices as R650 000 for three-bed; R950 000 for four-bed; R1 220 000 for five-bed; and R1 500 000 for executive apartments. These are averages and some of the really expensive units are many times the latter number. Lower income earners are substantially assisted by the government.
These massive projects are softened by the greening requirements of the city and are offset by large lawns and parks. They contain a lot of amenities and each precinct in which they are built has schools and retail within easy distance.
As an avid city-walker I found many of the new roads in and around the city distinctly pedestrian-unfriendly. You aren't allowed to cross the very wide streets and have to trudge to find traffic lights, underpasses or bridges, which just about doubles your walking distance. In that humidity it is not fun!
The people are very friendly. There are great ethnic markets and in areas such as the Chinese Quarter streets are closed to traffic at night for outdoor dining. A number of streets have been pedestrianised for permanent informal trade or flea markets. No general informal trading is allowed but there are dozens of squares ringed with restaurants and funky local shops. I liked the architecture of these more human scale developments, which are strongly influenced by ethnic design.
Capitalising on shopping
Singapore has capitalised on its geographic position relative to its neighbours and has a special airport just to deal with the dozens of low-cost airlines that bring nearly 10 million visitors to the island each year, mainly to shop.
For shoppers, special deals link hotel accommodation, air-travel and buying, which is very cheap. GST (goods and services tax) is five percent and easily reclaimed when leaving the airport. By contrast, my Singaporean friends were horrified at the poor service at Joburg International Airport when they visited last year - bureaucratic, slow and unfriendly. They left convinced it was a deliberate ploy to make you give up even trying to get your VAT back.
Singapore has set itself up as a global business and shopping hub, a city of mega-events, and a health care hub. Even selected taxi drivers are trained as tour guides under a taxi-tourist guide scheme.
Singapore's transformation, in a very short time, has been characterised by an expanding system of quality education and training that has led to a highly skilled labour force; a pension scheme that ensures a high savings rate; central city slums replaced by high rise buildings increasingly owner occupied; and an intensive drawing of the population into the market economy. Academics argue that this has been at the expense of "keeping the poor outside the city gate".
For me, it's a great city, but two days is too short a visit. There are lots we can learn from Singapore, but I don't think that I have to spell that out.
The last word goes to my good friend Daniel. "Singaporeans are characterised by three things, 'Worry, hurry and curry'." If that's what it takes, maybe it's time to change our diet!
Next stop, Auckland.
Cheers, Neil
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