What's the cost of living for a foreigner in Singapore like? Obviously there can be a big range, but I'm curious what your experiences are?
More generally, is there some resource for comparing costs of living of various places?
I moved to Singapore
161–170 of 239 posts
Re: I moved to Singapore
#162Earlier quoted context omitted.
My friends Dad, travelling in the US, had the police order him off the street at gun point because he was jaywalking. I'm sure that is not the typical experience of most people, but I thought it an interesting anecdote after seeing the parents post...
>> had the police order him off the street at gun point because he was jaywalking. I simply don't believe your friend's dad was telling the truth. There are plenty of bad cops in the US, but drawing a gun on someone because they were jaywalking? I call bullshit.
Doesn't sound so outlandish to me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHjjF55M8JQ
Re: I moved to Singapore
#163Earlier quoted context omitted.
My friends Dad, travelling in the US, had the police order him off the street at gun point because he was jaywalking. I'm sure that is not the typical experience of most people, but I thought it an interesting anecdote after seeing the parents post...
>> had the police order him off the street at gun point because he was jaywalking. I simply don't believe your friend's dad was telling the truth. There are plenty of bad cops in the US, but drawing a gun on someone because they were jaywalking? I call bullshit.
I see you've never been to Baltimore
Re: I moved to Singapore
#164Earlier quoted context omitted.
When you take a look around Singapore's neigbor countries and their living conditions, you must admit that the Sing' government did a pretty good job so far. And then there is the asian culture of not being to critical to the "superior". You even have that in democratic Japan and SKorea. Talking crap about the gov is more a Western life style (mine too, 'cause I m from Europe too, but have lived in Asia long enough t…
I think we really need to watch out when we label certain sorts of thing Western. I know it usually comes from an attempt to be culturally sensitive, but it's just not true and potentially harmful. Gender equality is not rooted in Western culture. It sucked being a woman equally in Glasgow, Shanghai & Algiers. Gender equality was spread with difficulty and imperfectly over a decade in throughout liberal democracies a…
Sure. Its not genetic or anything. Critical views towards authority have developed in the West in the past 500 years, with the rise of protestantism (as in "you talk to God yourself and not through some father figure mediator") and later through Enlightenment (as in "use your brain, goddamit!"). It took us quite a while and quite a bit of luck, too, to get where we are today.
Most of those things did not happen elsewhere. Hence my comment above.
Re: I moved to Singapore
#165Why is this post get so many vote? I understand that this guy is famous for some of the stuff he did, but hey... hacker news is news for hacker, right? not news about hacker?
Travel and worldliness are both interesting subjects to many hackers. I'm sure that a less notable hacker moving to Singapore wouldn't attract quite so much attention, but you should notice that most of this thread isn't about Mr. Sivers: it's about Singapore.
Re: I moved to Singapore
#166Earlier quoted context omitted.
The law is not just about porn, but also other "obscene material" like pro-LGBT material, material critical of the regime (Wired is banned because of this), illegal Bibles etc.
Wired is not banned you can get the UK & US editions in most bookshops. It's just expensive! Various publications that have been critical of the political environment have been dragged into court to deal with Singapore's not-so-friendly libel laws. The LGBT situation is culturally more acceptable than it was, but there is still a lot of work to be done. NB: I am a liberal Brit who lives and works in Singapore (nearly…
Ah, sorry. I misintrepreted the information on Wikipedia about the issue
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disneyland_with_the_Death_Penal...
Re: I moved to Singapore
#167Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's hard to visit with an open mind when you would risk several years in prison for doing what you would at home. Capital punishment is required for being in the company with someone possessing a small amount of weed. "Obscene material" gives you prison up to three months, 21 years if you make it avaliable to someone under 21. If you watch the movie Milk with someone under 21 years old, you risk 21 years in prison.…
>>Capital punishment is required for being in the company with someone possessing a small amount of weed. Capital punishment is meted out to persons who possess or have reasonable knowledge of someone who possesses or deals in drugs. Do I agree with it? No. But it's very far from your claim. There is due process of law. >>All members of Jehovas Witnesses were imprisioned in 2004. The reason for this is because Singap…
If they're treated like other pacifists, then why are their bibles banned?
Re: I moved to Singapore
#168Pretty amazed that you got permanent residency in under 8 months. That'd be amazing in the US.
Re: I moved to Singapore
#169I love Singapore, except for the climate, which is oppressive. There is amazing hawker (street) food everywhere and, thanks for strict enforcement of health regulations, it's pretty cheap too. At least it was. It's been a few years since I was there. I kinda view Singapore as the Zurich of Asia. Zurich (and Switzerland in general) is very regulated (although Singapore more than Zurich; there are no rules against chew…
It sound like your describing Positive liberty vs. Negative liberty, and yes coming from the UK I do find the rules in mainland Europe at time strange.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_liberty http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_liberty
Re: I moved to Singapore
#170I'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 grew up in .sg, and it really challenged my notion of democracy as a universal good. The benevolent dictatorship there seems to have things figured out pretty well, while most democracies in the region are flailing in comparison. (or should I say alleged democracies perhaps? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_true_Scotsman, etc.)
Of course, "benevolent dictatorship" is not a form of government; it's just a dictatorship that happens to be benevolent right now, but I have a feeling the honor/shame-based values of a Confucian society may have an advantage as far as their ability to produce benevolent rulers.