‘You land at Changi Airport after flying for what seems a lifetime, and you’re naturally disoriented, even before you hit the customs booths that feature bowls of mints, dire warnings about the death penalty for those bringing in drugs, and digital comment cards asking if the service was to your liking. Duck into a public restroom and you’ll be exhorted to aim carefully and to “flush with oomph” for the sake of cleanliness. Outside, it’s tropical sticky but impeccably clean, in a city inhabited by Chinese, Malays, Indians, and a multiplicity of guest workers from around the world — all speaking English.’
My simple answer to this poser is yes, Singapore is the perfect country for the English speaking rich. You can live here, feel very at home, and flaunt your wealth in perfect safety and do as you please minus the small irritation of no gum chewing, and no drugs. If you can live with these two minor misgivings, Singapore is the perfect city to live in.
And the best part, it is going to be better and better, provided you can afford the convenience and luxury of peace, safety and stability at a price. Not many can afford it, not even the millionaire citizens. Many would be here for the last time, downgrade, have a good fling with life until their last dollar is spent and off to another paradise. Their children would have to find their own way except for the scions of the very rich.
Everything is superbly fine in Singapore. The only thing rotting is the core. The Singaporean core, the original people that built this wonderful city, will shrivel and eventually cough out like the stone of a plum. The new core, assuming that they are just as good, will take their place so that this unbelieveable city of prosperity and opulence will go on and on.
Even the CPF scheme is designed that way though not spoken. The average citizens can only enjoy their wealth by trading their citizenships that allowed them to withdraw their life savings. This would allow them to be rich in a cheaper country of their choosing. If they stay put, many would not be able to afford the high cost of living when a cheap small car would cost $100k, and a cheap 3 bedroom public flat would cost nearly half a million Sing$. A private apartment of the same size would cost a million easily and treatment for a major illness will cost more than the price of a 3 bedroom flat. This is small change for the super rich but would bankrupt the average citizens.
Yes, Singapore is the perfect place to be in, for those who can afford it when a few hundred thousand dollars are small change, when paying $10 daily for ERP is small change.
Chua Chin Leng aka redbean
* The writer blogs at http://mysingaporenews.blogspot.com