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Why is Singapore no longer "cool"?

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Re: Why is Singapore no longer "cool"?

#141

Post by shell0x »

As a German expat who lived in Singapore for 3 years, it’s still the best country I ever lived in and I’ve also worked in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan HK, and Germany.

Everything works, it’s very efficient, public transit and internet is good and it’s extremely safe. It also has great food and has low taxes.

Most Western countries just can’t compete and while the UAE is pretty well run in some aspect, there’s always the religious part which makes me uneasy when I’m there.

As a single person without kids, there is no better place than Singapore.

Re: Why is Singapore no longer "cool"?

#142

Post by GJim »

typon wrote: post #95
browningstreet wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is actually the whole developed world at the moment. Every place is a retirement community now.

Even though it feels depressing right now, I think the post-boomer world is going to be an amazing place.

Nice bit of agism there.

Re: Why is Singapore no longer "cool"?

#144

Post by rschachte »

shell0x wrote: post #141

As a German expat who lived in Singapore for 3 years, it’s still the best country I ever lived in and I’ve also worked in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan HK, and Germany. Everything works, it’s very efficient, public transit and internet is good and it’s extremely safe. It also has great food and has low taxes. Most Western countries just can’t compete and while the UAE is pretty well run in some aspect, there…

That’s a lot of places to live. Moving to the UK from the US for me was already mentally draining logistically so curious how you balance that

Re: Why is Singapore no longer "cool"?

#145

Post by huhkerrf »

shell0x wrote: post #141

As a German expat who lived in Singapore for 3 years, it’s still the best country I ever lived in and I’ve also worked in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan HK, and Germany. Everything works, it’s very efficient, public transit and internet is good and it’s extremely safe. It also has great food and has low taxes. Most Western countries just can’t compete and while the UAE is pretty well run in some aspect, there…

It's strange that you mention the religious part of UAE making you uneasy, and not the modern day slavery.

Re: Why is Singapore no longer "cool"?

#146

Post by burnt-resistor »

ifwinterco wrote: post #4

I think Singapore's immigration policy is still interesting and relevant to western countries, but it's true it's also kind of similar to the UAE. Essentially it's (relatively) easy to get work visas for areas where there's a genuine shortage but difficult to get permanent residency and almost impossible to get citizenship. That's still a very different policy to what most western countries have right now. The UAE ha…

UAE.. powered by de facto slavery.

Re: Why is Singapore no longer "cool"?

#147

Post by destory-everyth »

huhkerrf wrote: post #145
shell0x wrote: post #141

As a German expat who lived in Singapore for 3 years, it’s still the best country I ever lived in and I’ve also worked in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan HK, and Germany. Everything works, it’s very efficient, public transit and internet is good and it’s extremely safe. It also has great food and has low taxes. Most Western countries just can’t compete and while the UAE is pretty well run in some aspect, there…

It's strange that you mention the religious part of UAE making you uneasy, and not the modern day slavery.

To be fair, Since they have lived in quite a few locations you can easily become desensitized to the conditions of these so called "slaves". The conditions of them in the UAE are not verry different from Singapore. The law allows for transportation on the back of open trucks, mass casualty traffic incidents involving the poorest workers are common. For a maid if they want to change employees they need permission from their current employer and the current employer can choose instead to repatriate them, with 30 days to exit the country and no money or means to challenge any mistreatment the abused are simply expelled and forgotten about. You can imagine the power imbalance, sa cases, torture and malnutrition. To the outsider it looks well balanced but it is simply well segregated. Even public housing has a ratio per building causing minority races to be unable to sell their properties on a level market rate.

The local mouthpiece even has a topic for maid abuse https://www.channelnewsasia.com/topic/maid-abuse

Re: Why is Singapore no longer "cool"?

#148

Post by drekipus »

somenameforme wrote: post #107
typon wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even though it feels depressing right now, I think the post-boomer world is going to be an amazing place.

There's an interesting aspect of fertility rate that most don't know. They also determine the exact age ratios within a society! Imagine a population has a global fertility rate of 1 (and in Singapore it's even lower, though not globally - yet). That means each successive generation is half as large as the one prior. And we can approximate the age of fertility as between 20 and 40. So now let's start with 1 newborn a…

Thankfully there's infinite people from other countries who can migrate freely and replace the aging population, right?

(Serious question)

Re: Why is Singapore no longer "cool"?

#149

Post by woooooo »

miyuru wrote: post #139
woooooo wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look at the map, all ocean travel between East Asia and India/Europe basically has to go past Singapore. They've been a trade and financial center with a substantial chinese population for a long time.

> Look at the map, all ocean travel between East Asia and India/Europe basically has to go past Singapore. Same can be said about Sri Lanka.

Its less funneled although most straight lines will approach the southern tip of India. Singapore is one of 2 possible ways through Indonesia and its the shorter one.

Re: Why is Singapore no longer "cool"?

#150

Post by milchek »

shell0x wrote: post #141

As a German expat who lived in Singapore for 3 years, it’s still the best country I ever lived in and I’ve also worked in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan HK, and Germany. Everything works, it’s very efficient, public transit and internet is good and it’s extremely safe. It also has great food and has low taxes. Most Western countries just can’t compete and while the UAE is pretty well run in some aspect, there…

I would argue even with kids it is great (but of course can be expensive!). I lived and worked there for a couple of years during COVID with a young family and loved it (once the lockdowns and pandemic stuff blew over of course).

As you mentioned, for families, it’s extremely safe, everything is well run and maintained so healthcare and education are not a concern. Proximity to other countries for travel is excellent (well, I’m from Melbourne so much easier to get places than from here!), and the country it self has plenty to do for families in terms of activities, shopping, and food.

Beyond that, I found Singaporeans just really great to work with and be around. It’s really multicultural, they value education and talent so the workforce is full of bright and capable people, and there is a huge expat community as well.

The only major downside for me - the heat and humidity! It was a struggle the first few months for sure.

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