Economic prosperity and eye-catching landscape have made Singapore a tourists’ delight
HAVING moved about a month back to Singapore, it was a nice experience settling down in a new environment. Comprising one main island and 63 small ones, the state is spread over an area totalling a little over 682 km/sq. Although a lot of stuff has been cramped into its small area yet it is a well-organized, neat and clean country.
Malay, Chinese and English are the main languages spoken here. Tamil too is common. The national anthem is in Malay. However, the English spoken here is a mixture of languages and is what some call ‘Singlish’. Singaporeans stretch their words and usually end their sentences with ‘lah’. If you ask them for permission, they say ‘can can’ to mean ‘yes, you can do it’.
EXPENSES: Pakistanis tend to find Singapore an expensive country to live in because of the currency rates; one Singaporean dollar equals about thirty-five Pakistani rupees. Foodstuff, education, recreation and even hospitals are expensive. A normal daal, chawal and quarter fried chicken from a cheap Indian stall costs you around $5. A reasonable meal at a multinational franchise would cost you around $8 to $16. Water is recycled and residents are billed according to your consumption. A common joke here is that only the oxygen you breath is free. Electronic items are comparatively cheaper and eight out of 10 people here own a cellphone.
FOOD: Chilli crab, fish-eye curry, mee rombus, mee goreng, nasi pataya, nasi goreng, satay... makan... food! Money and food seem to be the stuff Singaporeans work for. The locals here hardly cook at home. Home-made food is a tradition carried out on weekends or on some special days. The usual trend here is to eat out even in the mornings. One gets to see a lot of people all dressed to go to offices bustling around in the numerous food courts in the morning for breakfast. And if one plans to cook, a trip to the supermarket is all you need to end up with foodstuff from all over the world: Australian beef, Brazilian chicken, American potatoes, Filipino bananas and Indian spices.
Eating out is not such a big problem for Muslims. Almost all food courts have at least one halal stall serving either Malay or Indian food. In some big shopping malls you have a whole halal food court leaving you with lots of choice. Packed foodstuff carrying certified halal stamps can be found at all major stores. Even salt and sugar carry the halal logo. A government organization MUIS — Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura (Islamic Religious Council of Singapore) provides the certifications for halal food. All major franchises serve halal food. In most people’s opinion Singapore is one of the most suitable non-Muslim country for Muslims to live in.
As yet Singapore doesn’t have a casino but debates are underway. Alcohol cannot be served at spas and massage clinics and customers can only be massaged by their own gender. Also there is official holiday on both the Eids and if any official holiday happens to fall on a Sunday, Monday is declared a holiday. Similarly other religious festivals like diwali are also public holidays.
FINES: There is a fine for everything, fine for chewing gum, fine for eating, drinking and smoking in buses or the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit). Fine for littering, fine for not wearing the helmet while riding a motorcycle or the seat belt in a car or taxi, fine for not stopping your car at the zebra crossing etc. But these fines and other punishments keep the people disciplined and definitely help in keeping the crime rate down too.
SAFE ENVIRONMENT: One thing that really struck me is the safe environment. Girls of all ages can be seen travelling alone, even at night, without any fear. Eve teasing is unheard of.
FAMILY VALUES: Early this August the 3rd Prime Minister of Singapore was sworn in. Imagine only two prime ministers in the past 39 years! No wonder Singapore has progressed so much. Mr Lee Hsien Loong is the son of the first PM of Singapore. He gives his major speeches in Malay, Mandarin and English. Family values are being promoted with the swearing in of the new PM. A five-day work week for the civil servants, extension of maternity leave from eight weeks to 12 weeks (with the government paying for the extra month), more privileges for couples with kids, like decrease in the maid levy, have recently been announced.
GREENERY: Singapore is said to be a city in the jungle. And it surely seems one. Most roads have both sides lined with trees and there is an abundance of parks etc. With a lot of greenery all around, there are fines for cutting trees without permission from the government department. If a tree does happen to have weak roots, support is provided to keep it up.
WEATHER: The weather changes quite a few times in a single day. It might be sunny for an hour and raining the next. As soon as it starts to rain. And though people immediately took out their umbrellas, I enjoyed the rain. Umbrellas are used to avoid the scorching sun too. It’s rather interesting to see even men carrying umbrellas to shun the rays.
Singapore has an amazingly good storm sewer system. Along the sides of many streets there are drainage inputs to the storm sewer system, often open to the air and lined with concrete, leading to a larger sewer. Even after five hours of continuous heavy rain you never see any water on the roads.
TRAVELLING AROUND: Singapore has an amazing network of roads and travelling around is quite easy. Getting information on how to get to a particular place using buses or MRT is usually not a problem. But it is time consuming. The other option is hailing a taxi. Of course, unlike Karachi, you neither have to ask the taxi driver if he is ready to take you to your particular destination nor bargain the fare.
HOUSING: Furnishing your new home is no problem. You can get good furniture for a small apartment for a mere $100 but then you are in debt for about five years. The case is the same for cars. Leasing luxury cars is a hassle free job except of course the payments you have to make each year and that after 10 years the car has to be scrapped!
You can either live in an HDB (Housing and Development Board) flat or a condominium here. HDB flats are cheaper and usually smaller. The most interesting thing is that you dry out your clothes in the kitchen or hang them out of the kitchen window on poles. Condominiums are luxurious flats enclosed within boundary walls that usually house a swimming pool and gym. It is said that if you possess the 5 C’s you are one of the hot shots in Singapore: car, cash, condominium, credit card and club.
Singapore is an interesting mixture of different cultures and civilizations, an outstanding blend of tradition and modernism. For some local air you can head down to Little India. There you get to hear all the latest Hindi and Tamil songs, buy kurta shalwars and janamaz, eat thalis and chicken tikkas and shop for masalas (a life-saver for amateur cooks) at Mohammad Mustafa & Shamsuddin Co. To really feel at home, indulge in the nihari (with oven-hot tandoori roti) served at Usman restaurant. Next time I go there, I am getting it packed for home too, lah!
YOUTH: The youth here are simply crazy about fair skin and blonde hair. Also a lot of slimming centres, clubs and spas keep opening up for health conscious people. You get to see more boys with their ears and noses pierced than girls. Spiked hair seems to be really in. There is a lot of western influence in all walks of life now.
Economic prosperity and eye-catching landscape have made Singapore a tourists’ delight
