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I moved to Singapore

sivers.org

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Re: I moved to Singapore

#31

Post by cglee »

frossie wrote: post #17

The whole stay-abroad until you see "their" point of view is admirable. The flip side is that after that, you can never really go home. I mean obviously you can physically, but you give up your ability to fit in with your own people. This may or may not be a downside for you, but something to be aware of. Anyway, congratulations on your move. [edit in response to questions below: there is a big difference between liv…

The whole point I believe is to remove the notion of "your own people". Therefore, you "fit in" anywhere.

Re: I moved to Singapore

#32

Post by shmulkey18 »

sahillavingia wrote: post #23
kylec wrote: post #11

I'm surprised at his choice of location - Singapore is quite a nanny state, and the punishments are sometimes quite severe. "Singapore society is highly regulated through the criminalization of many activities which are considered as fairly harmless in other countries. These include failing to flush toilets after use, littering, jaywalking, the possession of pornography, and the sale of chewing gum." "Singapore has o…

There are pros and cons of living anywhere. Visit Singapore and you'll encounter some of the cleanest streets on the planet. I don't mind the "severe" punishments that come down on those that do things like litter, because I don't litter — all in all it doesn't change my behavior for the worse, and only improves the quality of life. And jaywalking is illegal in the US too. I'd love to answer any questions about Singa…

Clean streets vs. freedom of speech. Sounds like a no-brainer to me.

Re: I moved to Singapore

#33

Post by happywolf »

sivers wrote: post #7
jackowayed wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I was wondering about that too. But is that number publicly available? If so (or if nothing bad happens if people do know it), is there an issue? Edit: Hmm ... "This has led to complaints of the possibility of fraud and identity theft. Therefore, now when NRIC numbers are publicly displayed, only the last three digits and the letters are displayed." - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Registration_Identity_…

This is one way to find out. You've also got my home address and mobile phone# in the public corporate records (see bottom of http://50pop.com/ ) - so I'm not relying on security through obscurity.

A lot of banks and telcos in SG will use your DOB, mailing address, and NRIC number as security questions when you call them. Posting your info here is not wise IMHO.

Re: I moved to Singapore

#34

Post by d99kris »

sahillavingia wrote: post #23
kylec wrote: post #11

I'm surprised at his choice of location - Singapore is quite a nanny state, and the punishments are sometimes quite severe. "Singapore society is highly regulated through the criminalization of many activities which are considered as fairly harmless in other countries. These include failing to flush toilets after use, littering, jaywalking, the possession of pornography, and the sale of chewing gum." "Singapore has o…

There are pros and cons of living anywhere. Visit Singapore and you'll encounter some of the cleanest streets on the planet. I don't mind the "severe" punishments that come down on those that do things like litter, because I don't litter — all in all it doesn't change my behavior for the worse, and only improves the quality of life. And jaywalking is illegal in the US too. I'd love to answer any questions about Singa…

I second that. It's a very safe city and I don't mind that minor crimes are taken seriously here [1].

[1] http://nope.se/temp/bike_theft_singapore.jpg

Re: I moved to Singapore

#35

Post by iantimothy »

shmulkey18 wrote: post #24
iantimothy wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We aren't a police state. We enjoy different kinds of freedom. Sure, previously some of the 'freedom to' stuff was clammed down upon,but the recent elections showed that we might be moving forward in the right direction. I am casually optimistic that we will find the right balance to allow our citizens both 'freedom from' and 'freedom to' liberties.

"Different kinds of freedom". Whenever anyone says this, I get very nervous. It's pretty clear that these "different kinds" are not real freedom at all, and so don't include things like freedom of speech, the ability to truly determine who governs you, or even the freedom to water or not water the plants in front of your apartment (failing to do the latter in Singapore will result in a visit from the cops). Here's a…

Is an individual's freedom to do something more important than another individual's freedom from something? My country takes a rather paternalistic view on this but like I said, i am casually optimistic that things will change and we as a country are moving towards a more informed citizenry renegotiating the social compact between the govt and people and finding a balance in both positive and negative liberties.

Edited: I can't seen to reply the comment below, so adding the reply here. One of the things my country takes very seriously is both the perception and actual oppression of minorities. In this case, we want ethnic minorities to have the freedom from majority oppression. As an example, there are measures that are put in place that prevents some of our freedom to say certain stuff about the religion Islam in a certain way. To say the rules are like a cudgel instead of a scapel would be right but as a citizen I can see where my government is coming from.

Like the comment below said, generally yes to freedom to instead of freedom from. What is considered not a general case in Singapore differs; that does not make us wrong. Neither does it mean our system is right and perfect. What it does mean is my country is learning and hopefully maturing.

Re: I moved to Singapore

#36

Post by lzy »

While Sivers is obviously an awesome guy, why is this post about him moving to Singapore hitting the frontpage?

Just curious.

(Congrats on becoming a Singapore citizen btw!)

Re: I moved to Singapore

#37

Post by fiblye »

sahillavingia wrote: post #23
kylec wrote: post #11

I'm surprised at his choice of location - Singapore is quite a nanny state, and the punishments are sometimes quite severe. "Singapore society is highly regulated through the criminalization of many activities which are considered as fairly harmless in other countries. These include failing to flush toilets after use, littering, jaywalking, the possession of pornography, and the sale of chewing gum." "Singapore has o…

There are pros and cons of living anywhere. Visit Singapore and you'll encounter some of the cleanest streets on the planet. I don't mind the "severe" punishments that come down on those that do things like litter, because I don't litter — all in all it doesn't change my behavior for the worse, and only improves the quality of life. And jaywalking is illegal in the US too. I'd love to answer any questions about Singa…

>And jaywalking is illegal in the US too.

Depends on where you are. Most cities and college towns in the US don't care where you cross the road so long as you're not doing it recklessly, and places where laws are enforced generally have nothing more than extremely small fines.

I'd rather not live in a society that restricts human liberties to the point of making citizens robotic. Yeah, the US has its share of problems, but chewing gum and porn aren't among them.

Re: I moved to Singapore

#38

Post by maayank »

nihilocrat wrote: post #30

Do you learn the local language every place you live? I would suppose that's a pretty herculean task unless you already know several fluently and spend a considerable amount of time daily studying and practicing.

English is an official language of Singapore.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore#Languages

Re: I moved to Singapore

#39

Post by phlux »

kylec wrote: post #11

I'm surprised at his choice of location - Singapore is quite a nanny state, and the punishments are sometimes quite severe. "Singapore society is highly regulated through the criminalization of many activities which are considered as fairly harmless in other countries. These include failing to flush toilets after use, littering, jaywalking, the possession of pornography, and the sale of chewing gum." "Singapore has o…

I used to manage a team in Singapore when with Lockheed and would go there regularly.

It is one of my favorite cities on the planet.

I took a sabbatical in 2000/2001 for six months and backpacked through asia - I spent 2 months in singapore then as well.

The laws and strictness of the place is greatly exaggerated from my perspective -- if your not doing crazy stuff, you have nothing to worry about.

The city is AMAZING -- and is the FUTURE of cities; they have taken massive infrastructure projects to prepare for more than doubling their population by 2020 - and they build massive underground connective malls and walking causeways.

The city has an incredibly high density of plant life (trees and greenery) and it makes an impact when you visit. Many of the buildings have a large setback from roads where they have trees and grass and planters between the buildings and roads. This is really a wonderful civil engineering trait of the place and makes the city much more beautiful than dense urban dirty environments we see in american cities.

In my opinion, if you ever watch much anime -- Singapore is the city that will most closely resemble that which you see in anime.

I love Singapore - the only thing I dont like is how freaking hot/humid it can get.... and the cost of living.

Re: I moved to Singapore

#40

Post by CamperBob »

d99kris wrote: post #34
sahillavingia wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are pros and cons of living anywhere. Visit Singapore and you'll encounter some of the cleanest streets on the planet. I don't mind the "severe" punishments that come down on those that do things like litter, because I don't litter — all in all it doesn't change my behavior for the worse, and only improves the quality of life. And jaywalking is illegal in the US too. I'd love to answer any questions about Singa…

I second that. It's a very safe city and I don't mind that minor crimes are taken seriously here [1]. [1] http://nope.se/temp/bike_theft_singapore.jpg

I love the icon at lower right in that sign. Is the cop joining hands with his fellow citizens, or dragging them away?
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