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I moved to Singapore

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Re: I moved to Singapore

#71

Post by mgiampapa »

true_religion wrote: post #48
vegai wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is anyone's freedom of speech violated if they're not allowed to litter?

You can't possess or view pornography---that's a violation of free speech. There's more. But the only positive that's trumpeted about singapore is that their streets are clean and their city beautiful. This is good for the tourist, but not necessarily a place you want to move to.

I was just in Singapore for 2 weeks. The streets aren't all that clean. Cleaner than San Francisco or NYC yes... but there is litter in the mornings and evenings and this was even in the highly tourist areas downtown by the Marina Bay. (Awesome hotel pool at least, but that's not how I would pick a place to live)

Re: I moved to Singapore

#73

Post by xiaoma »

maayank wrote: post #38
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

That's true in theory. The Singaporeans I've known and worked with have pretty much all been bilingual in Mandarin and English, often speaking Taiwanese or Cantonese as well. On the down side, their Mandarin, English and probably other languages are each strange.

Despite having grown up in an English environment and having spent most my adult life in Taiwan, communication isn't necessarily that smooth. It's like they just grab words, grammatical particles, and sentence structures willy-nilly from whatever language they feel like, including Malay. It's not just an issue of "Singlish". Even adjusting to standard Mandarin in China is a bit of work for the Singaporean interns I've met in Beijing. As a casual learner of Cantonese and Taiwanese, it's fun crowd to hang out with, though!

Re: I moved to Singapore

#74

Post by mikemaccana »

phlux wrote: post #50
keyle wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've visited Singapore twice. I've settled in Australia, originally from Europe. I was really worried when I visited Singapore and took their 'tourist' tour. They put you in a bus, drive you around all jetlagged and give you orange juice on the beach. Completely surreal. What really put me off was their unconditional love for their government. The woman 'tour guide' in the bus just couldn't stop thanking the governme…

That was the tour guide -- you get a completely different version of things in a candid discussion with friends who live there. I am by no means an expert on the politics there at all, but if one thinks that the us political system is not more corrupt at the highest levels then is simply delusional -- yet life is good for most of us in the US. I think that one can create a bit of there reality and are not 100% subjec…

Yes, but protesting isn't illegal in the us.

Re: I moved to Singapore

#75

Post by StavrosK »

shii wrote: post #49
keyle wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've visited Singapore twice. I've settled in Australia, originally from Europe. I was really worried when I visited Singapore and took their 'tourist' tour. They put you in a bus, drive you around all jetlagged and give you orange juice on the beach. Completely surreal. What really put me off was their unconditional love for their government. The woman 'tour guide' in the bus just couldn't stop thanking the governme…

s/communism/totalitarianism/g and you'll make better sense.

Thank you, I hate it when the two are used interchangeably.

Re: I moved to Singapore

#76

Post by berntb »

barrkel wrote: post #47
phlux wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 AMAZIN…

The cities in anime I suspect you are referring to are almost exclusively dystopias. The things that enthuse you about the city make me certain I would not like it, perhaps even less than I like American cities. I like my cities with history and layering, nooks and crannies as well as new growths.

Well, in principle I agree.

I've never even been to Singapore, but I know some people that used to work there. They loved it so much that they put lots of energy and time into getting back.

I don't know what Singapore do right, but I have never heard anyone be so enthusiastic by some place they didn't grow up(/study).

Re: I moved to Singapore

#77

Post by seri »

cageface wrote: post #64

Singapore seemed a little to squeaky-clean and expensive, so I did the same thing, but in Vietnam instead. Internet infrastructure here isn't great but other than that I haven't regretted it for a second. The U.S. and Europe just seem so boring now when I go back.

I'm Vietnamese, so I get a little curious here. Would you mind sharing what you particuarly like about Vietnam? And which city are you living in?

Re: I moved to Singapore

#78

Post by keyle »

astrec wrote: post #58
keyle wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've visited Singapore twice. I've settled in Australia, originally from Europe. I was really worried when I visited Singapore and took their 'tourist' tour. They put you in a bus, drive you around all jetlagged and give you orange juice on the beach. Completely surreal. What really put me off was their unconditional love for their government. The woman 'tour guide' in the bus just couldn't stop thanking the governme…

Australians have no constitutional right to free speech, and some forms of speech are expressly criminalised via the sedition and various vilification acts. The only form of speech that enjoys some protection is political speech. So whilst Australian's can freely talk crap about the government, Australia is far from a beacon of free speech.

Are you referring to rights of anarchism?

I'm no trespasser and trouble maker, but I can tell you that anybody is free to do whatever they intend to in Australia, so as long as it doesn't impair other people doing so. In other words, you're as free as you can be without causing damage to others. I'm not sure what you're referring to though.

On my way home I saw dudes roller-blading half naked in the city. I call that freedom. Do you have examples?

Re: I moved to Singapore

#79

Post by Lucadg »

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…

A few years back I was at Singapore's airport and I saw, along many other signs forbidding most human activities one which still haunts me at night. There was this symbol of a person reading and the text was: no studying.

Then one day while I was walking down Orchard road I saw a long line of people quieing on the street to get in...Sweansens (a chain crappy ice-cream store). That's when I decided Singapore was lost.

What scares me the is most is that all the rest of South East Asia aspires to become a big Singapore. Human beings are not supposed to live like that.

Re: I moved to Singapore

#80

Post by mikemaccana »

alnayyir wrote: post #29
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…

Westerners who've never lived there and wouldn't be in any danger of suffering any of this "harsh" treatment love to complain about Singapore. Visit sometime with an open mind.

I worked for a startup for three years whose small sAPAC headquarters moved from Sydney to Singapore. I was young, enthusiastic and very well performing (I was measured in my job each week by customers).

I found most of the Singaporean staff I met

a) thought I was slightly crazy

b) either loved me, or hated me

for the same reason: I didn't slavishly adhere to rules, particularly when it came to giving customers what they wanted. If the entire (US founded) company had that idea the company wouldn't exist at all: particularly when you're a small company competing with giants, flexibility is required to win business. Singapore suffers from the India problem: they're technically talented, but the adherence to authority means they don't produce many innovative companies.

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