What it means to live in Singapore – Part 2

In May, Ana and Simon already shared with you what it means to live in Singapore when it comes to Food/Drinks as well as Regulation (http://ana-and-simon2013.blogspot.sg/2013_05_01_archive.html).

Today, there are some more specialties about living in this Southeast Asian metropolis – the melting pot of the region.

Diversity

By its location, it could be expected that Singapore would be mainly inhabited by Malay people, the majority of the population of neighboring Malaysia from which it is separated by the Strait of Johor, a less than 1km wide stretch of water that makes Singapore an island rather than the most Southeastern point of Eurasia. However, about 75% of the population are ethnic Chinese. On the one hand, Chinese traders have been living and working in the South-China-Sea area for centuries and represent significant minorities in many countries across the region. On the other hand, the British – ruler of Singapore for almost 150 years – also encourage Chinese immigration to Singapore for cheap labor and trade. About 15% of the citizens of Singapore are actually Malay and around 10% are Indian, primarily from the Southern States of India, speaking Tamil. Thus, Singapore has not one, not two but four official languages – besides English which was used for centuries for administrative purposes, the ethnic mix is represented with the official languages Mandarin (Chinese), Malay and Tamil. Moreover, the mix of people also means that they bring a very diverse religious mix – Many Chinese were Christianized or Buddhist, Indians were Hindu or Muslim and Malay and Arab traders also followed Islam.

Thus, there is a multitude of religious buildings and many are quite impressive.

One of the major Hindu Temples

The large Buddha Tooth Relic Temple in Chinatown

The major mosque, close to Arab Street

This somewhat unique mix of nationalities and religions brings a diversity of public holidays that is incredible: Chinese New Year in February, Good Friday and Christmas as Christian holidays, Vesak Day in May is a Buddhist holiday, August sees the breaking of the fast (Muslim holiday – Hari Raya Puasa) and October the other Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha or Hari Raya Haji and in November, Singapore celebrates the Hindu festival of lights (Diwali or Deepavali). Add New Year’s Day, Labor Day and Singapore National Day and there is quite a nice mix of 10 public holidays which somewhat easing the pain that in general, Singapore has much less vacation days than most European countries – a pain specifically felt by Ana.

Unity

Being a tiny city state – or a “Little Red Dot” on the map (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_red_dot) – with such a diverse population, Singapore has done many things to ensure its citizens follow some sense of unity and togetherness. For the outside observer, especially for Ana and Simon, this is often a bit odd. In the cinema, about 50% of the commercials are paid for by different government bodies, be it the armed forces, the police (mostly recruiting) or the family ministry that encourages the citizens to take care of their parents and grandparents – it seems very paternalistic. However, one has to understand that Singapore wanted to initially be part of Malaysia and was “kicked out” of the Federation of Malaysia only two years after its formation. When Singapore thus found itself on its own, its somewhat authoritarian prime minister Lee Kuan Yew wanted to ensure that Singapore was going to do well on its own. Being surrounded by huge neighbors, Singapore embraced a concept of “total defence” which includes a conscript military service that – even today after being shortened – means every male citizen of Singapore joins the army for 2 years. Moreover, all public houses needed to be inhabited by a mix of races exactly mirroring the ethnic mix of Singapore in order not to create ghettos as in most places or even in Singapore before independence (still observable in Little India or Chinatown). In preparation of the national day, public housings were flagged with the Singapore flag, posters said “Happy 48^th birthday, Singapore” and fighter jets and helicopters with the flag were circling the skies over Singapore for practice.

HDB housings are being prepared

Also our building is getting ready

A helicopter in the distance practicing for National Day

And that is apparently how it will look like on the day itself

Singlish

Due to the ethnic mix of Singaporeans and the fact that English was and still is the number one language in Singapore, a certain style has evolved that mixes some Chinese, Malay and Tamil into the “standard English” as the Brits were trying to implement for about 150 years. It mainly shortens many sentences, omits some verbs and often adds some confirming (“can, can”), tonal (“lah”) or modifying (“can’t, can’t”) statements at the end of the sentence. While it is officially being regarded with low prestige and cannot be found in written form, even Simon’s banking adviser asked him in a semi-formal SMS “Come office 20 minutes, can?” Another statement may be: “Dis guy Singlish damn good lah”. So while every visitor can officially get around with English, it may sometimes need some patience. 

Days of haze or 19^th century air pollution in a 21^st century city

This is how the situation looked from Space

It even made it to the European and American news even if not on the front pages: At the end of June, Singapore was suffering a week of bad air pollution, caused by wildfires in the Sumatra jungle, across the Strait of Malacca. This apparently happens every year during the dry season (which is in the Northern Hemisphere’s summer) as farmers in Sumatra use relatively dry weather to clear the rain forest with a “technique” called slash-and-burn. Not much of a technique, they just set huge areas of rain forest on fire and wait until the ashes clear to cultivate palm oil or soy bean plantations. The destruction of the rain forest with burning makes Indonesia one of the largest emitter of carbon dioxide, despite its relatively low level of industrialization. What started to happen around the 17^th of June was that Singapore became increasingly hazy. First, it just appeared to be somewhat lower visibility, maybe down to 2 kms and the air turned out to be a bit grey. A few days later though, one could really tell the smell of burned wood in the air and eyes started to itch. 

The visibility got worse and suddenly, people and the media started talking about the PSI – the Pollutant Standard Index. It’s a measure how many particles are in the air, affecting its quality and visibility. An index below 50 means “good” air quality, between 51 and 100 “moderate” and afterwards it reaches “dangerous levels”. To Ana and Simon and many other foreigners, it started to get a bit random especially when >200 meant “very dangerous”, >300 “hazardous” and >400 “very hazardous”. The difference and interpretation of very dangerous and very hazardous became the major topic on the Singapore news. From Ana and Simon’s balcony, it looked like this:

The worst haze season so far had been in 1997, so 16 years before when the levels reached a “very unhealthy” 226. This time, things got much worse though as the PSI reached above 300 and later even 401. Surprisingly, the Singaporeans “kept calm and carried on”. More people (but by far not all) would start wearing masks and also INSEAD and Mercer started distributing special masks with filter clearance for their students / employees. The whole week freaked Ana and Simon out and they would spend as little time outside as possible. Singapore, often being described as dull and boring, took the whole situation with a pinch of humor though.

During the climax of the haze, tensions ran high between Singapore and neighboring Indonesia. For a country like Singapore that has tried to regulate and standardize as much as possible, it came as a huge frustration that it was dependent on events in neighboring Indonesia and – literally – the course of the winds. The Singapore government urged Indonesia to take action just to get an initial reply from an Indonesian minister that Singapore “should stop behaving like a child”. Once the situation improved, however, the Indonesian president apologized to Singapore and the three countries (incl. Malaysia which has been badly affected as well) are back trying to ensure this is not going to happen again… Until next year.

Well, it is not all bad – by now, the air is as clear as can be and since it is the dry season, Ana and Simon often have a good look from their 29^th floor balcony to the neighboring islands of Indonesia (not where the rain forest is burning…). 

View on the first weekend of July, around sunset

To everyone who was worrying, it is all good and Ana and Simon are well. They thank you for all your warm thoughts. In case that the interested reader wants to read more about this year’s haze (hopefully not coming back), enjoy this Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Southeast_Asian_haze#Singapore

Many greetings from sunny and not hazy Singapore!