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.
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| One of the major Hindu Temples |
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| The large Buddha Tooth Relic Temple in Chinatown |
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| 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.
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| HDB housings are being prepared |
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| Also our building is getting ready |
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| A helicopter in the distance practicing for National Day |
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| 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 19th century air pollution in
a 21st century city
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| 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 17th 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 29th floor balcony to the neighboring islands of Indonesia
(not where the rain forest is burning…).
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| View on the first weekend of July, around sunset |
Many greetings from sunny and not hazy Singapore!
