Starting on 8 years in Singapore and really getting tired of the place in some ways.
While I do enjoy living in Singapore I have to admit that the place is starting to ware on me a bit. Maybe it is due to the fact that I have been so use to moving so often and this it the longest I have stayed put ever. If that is not the case then it has to be Singapore it’s self.
I know many will disagree with my thoughts on Singapore but I have never been one to worry about that. I just call it the way I see it and this is how I see it.
What I can’t understand is how the people of any country can live like they do here. True life in Singapore is not bad but it could be so much better for everyone and just not a select few like it. But the way the system is set up and the way Singapore survives are so closely links to change it would destroy the country and all it has accomplished to date.
To get companies to invest in Singapore they had to offer highly skilled workers and factory space at a cheap rate which they did and many companies came to Singapore since that the time 1965 to 1975 there was no other place that offered what Singapore had. A safe port with plenty of open land and in the shipping lanes coming out of the Indian Ocean which always made Singapore a prime location for shipping.
Those in power meaning they had the connection, land, capital or influence to call the shot made a killing when the businesses started to arrive. Since most of the average workers had very little education and families to support they where pretty happy for the most part just to get by with a few dollars they earned and thus the gap between the rich and poor started. If you were able to invest during those days your future was pretty well taken care of for you, your family and the kids to follow. If not well you were on your own to get a job and try to get by the best you could.
To keep investors interested in Singapore over the years there has never been a minimum wage for the workers of Singapore which keeps wages low for the hourly worker. More then ¾ of the population makes less that S$3000 a month. If there was to be a minimum wage the price of labour would go up and investors may look else where to have their products made which would be a killer blow for the country with the rise of unemployed rising sharply so by keeping the wages low the country’s population keeps it jobs, it’s a double sided sword they dare not swing, so they just let it be.
To keep the people happy low cost housing was built so everyone could have a place to live at a price they could afford that matched their wages. But you know if think about it if the people made more money then they could afford landed property and would not want the housing flats offered by the government. So in a way the government knew that wages would never be really high for the masses. And the lucky few that could afford the landed property would have no problem at all.
So the building of Singapore started at first with Singaporeans doing the work but over time workers from other counties were contracted to come in for the cheaper rate of labor and the Singaporean moved into other lines of work in the factories, at the port or other areas that where opening up and offered good pay in offices.
Now over the years the numbers of these foreign workers has grown to an unbelievable size causing a shortage of living pace for them. One way this is handled is to have them live on the job site in converted mil-vans, quickly build temporary housing and dormitories or in flats they are rented. Some of the dormitories hold up to 5,000 people and remind me of a prison camp by the way they are run and the rule placed on the residents that stay there. You see there are three sets of rules in Singapore, one is for the citizens, one is for the Permanent Residents (PR) and then one for the Contract Workers (CW).
The real problems lies with the people doing the hiring of the CW and the lack of enforcement of the laws the cover them and other area. For example no workers should be sleeping or living in the shops where they work yet many are, I have seen CW’s sleeping in stairways of government owned building that either worked there or close by. This was not a once in a while thing either but every night. Others living in the trash collection area of the same building and the police never questioned them about why they were staying there. Nurses aids working 8 hours a day 6 days a week for only 300 a month which is still more then the maids who work much longer hours for the same pay and are sometimes abuse by the persons they work for both physically and sexually, yet when the employer is fond guilt of the such crimes are punishments seem very like unlike if they had done the same thing to a Singaporean worker or female. The women charter is very strict with its punishments when crimes are committed against a Singaporean female but it only seems to apply to them and not workers in the county.
The government says that if a person come to Singapore on their own free will it is not trafficking, ok! So young women are told they will get good jobs in Singapore and come over on a visit pass, once they arrive their passports are held by the agent and they are sent to work in bars, massage parlours, red light areas like Geylang or in a hotel or tent in the jungle to service the men of Singapore and or CW that live close by. Everyone knows this and it is no secret either. So since these women came over on their own will even though they were lied to it is not trafficking in the eyes of the government and when the girls get caught they are the once that receive the full punishment of the a law and nothing is done to the agents who bough them into the county. When the girls runaway to seek help they are told little can be done about it while it is being investigated and since the women have little if any money all they want to do is get home so the case is closed and forgotten about.
The sex industry in Singapore huge and the amount of money spent each day has to be insane, so a blind eye is turned to it by the government and it carries on as per normal. Oh sure they are raids from time to time but just return in an hour and the girls are back or the bar is reopened under a different name with the same action going on and with new girls. So this tell me that nothing is done to the owners of the bar for hiring illegal workers or that the fine is so low and the profits are so big it is well worth it to keep doing business the same way.
What is your price not to be corrupt?
The government say to stop corruption in the ranks of the ranks of the government they needed to earn millions of dollars and also this would stop government officials from going the private sector to work where they could earn more money. Ok, I can see their point, I may not agree with it because I feel if you want to serve your country the money should not be the issue, but that is just me and in this case I am dead wrong. So you give all this money to the officials so they will not be tempted to money on the side and cut corners and why take a money if you make so much already? So it does work but isn’t there another way to do it so some of that money could make it down to the low wage workers?
So what about the guy who works a job that only pays S$750 a month and he has a family to support so to make ends meet the best he can she sells illegal cigarettes on the side? Hey if her earned more he would not have to break the law. So it is ok for the top to make millions but the guy at the bottom of the ladder is out of luck? If he earned more would have gone this road, I think not and we are not talking much more either I’m sure. But what really gets me is how the people of Singapore could just sit on their hands while the government gives them self such a large raise and say nothing about it. Are they so docile that anything goes? But when you live in a country where sticks are illegal, protest will get you put in jail, you can be held for 5 years in jail with no charges files I guess you tend to keep your mouth shut pretty tight.
I see coming from the states and serving in the military for most of my lift I have become use to obeying the laws on a personal level but here I see little of it to a level that is some what higher then other counties I have lived in. a good example is people parking their cars illegally. You see it everywhere you go, it like no big deal here do it. I see only hand full get ticked for it which is all they do in Singapore. But if they started to tow away the cars you bet your ass it stop pretty quickly.
People renting out their flats to FW and having up to 20 to 30 people living there. I’m sure they can find these flats pretty easily and do something about it but nothing is don’t until some one reports it to the housing agency and only then it is looked into.
A good show is put on to make it look like something is being done but really little is done and things just continue on as normal after time. It’s like no one really give a crap.
Safety wise yes Singapore is safe, no guns, no knife’s can be carried after 7pm at night, employment is high so sure it’s a safe place to life. You mass transit (MRT) card tracks or your if driving a card you are your electronic road payment (ERP) records your movement. So tracking you is not hard. Everyone has a national ID card which you are required by law to carry at all time.
If you are Singaporean you have freedom from speech just watch you way and about who or you could be sued if your statement in anyway is found not to be 100% true.
While not as bad as it use to be many are still not very curious to others but still a long way to go I these area in my book.
