Is Singapore a good place to retire to?

This is a question, and my answer for non-Singapore citizens (or residents) considering retiring to Singapore.

The short answer is: No.

Population, Foreigners, and the TFR

[Drafted Feb 2018)

In Oct 2014, at NUS Society, PM Lee gave a speech on Singapore at this inflexion point. And he made some comments about Singapore's population policy.

First, let's do some math.

[Warning: Heavy computation ahead.]

How the PAP will lose power

Video: Ex-Brit tells the Truth about Singapore's Politician 

Every General Election is for the People's Action Party (PAP) to lose, not for the opposition to win.

Because, the majority of Singaporeans are generally content with the status quo (PAP in power) and are not voting for an overthrow of the PAP govt. 

Thoughts about GE 2025 before Cooling Off Day

In GE 2011, I was rooting for more opposition. Though I did not vote for the opposition. Because the opposition candidate standing in my ward, was kinda meh. WP was not in my ward.

Wargaming China's Invasion of Taiwan

 Video: Why US Airpower will save Taiwan:

 

Did Singapore get Taylor Swift on a Exclusivity contract?

PM Lee answers how SG got Taylor Swift to Singapore. Notice he says "negotiated an arrangement" (0:07) for Swift to perform in Singapore. "And to make Singapore her only stop" (0:10). At about 0:40 PM Lee says "we can't say, 'you will come here only on condition that you will go other places'". Note how uneasy he seems.

So, did Singapore make Swift sign an exclusive arrangement?

Secrets of Singapore's Success - Part 1

Ask most Singaporeans about the one critical factor for Singapore's success, and many (if not all) would probably answer: Lee Kuan Yew.

But THAT is a simplified answer for a complex answer. Because LKY did a lot of things. 

The reason people asks for the "Secrets to Singapore's Success" is because they (might) want to replicate Singapore's success. "LKY" is not a good answer, because they can't have LKY. 

Not because we are selfish and don't want to share LKY. But because he's dead.

Anyway, someone asked our Ambassador-at-large, Tommy Koh (formerly our representative at the UN) what was the secret of Singapore's success.

He diplomatically sidestepped the question, then asked 50 of Singapore's leaders in the civil service, past and present, for their take on it, compiled their essays into a book, and made bank!

Sea Level Rise - Singapore's possible response

[First drafted in May 2022 in response to a simplistic comment online about cancelling the Cross Island line, reducing our population, not cutting trees to prevent climate change and sea level rise, instead of coming up with measures and means to mitigate sea level rise.]

The truth is, even if Singapore does NOTHING to add to the carbon in the atmosphere, the sea levels WILL rise. For the simple reason that ALL the carbon in the atmosphere that was added in the last 100 years (or since the start of the Industrial revolution) is already melting glaciers and polar ice caps, and permafrost, and these are reducing albedo effects, and releasing methane (in the permafrost) and earth is already in a runaway cascade of heating up. EVEN if Singapore completely shuts down our carbon emission TODAY, it will not matter to the world. 

Singapore is less than 0.01% of the population of the world, and our land area is less than 0.001% of the world's land area. Our environmental impact on the WORLD will have less than negligible impact on sea level rise. Heck, if somehow a virulent and deadly pandemic wipes out the entire population of Singapore today, so we do not produce and pollute one MORE atom of carbon from today onwards, the sea levels WILL STILL RISE.

Fake News Checklist

 

Why Tolerance is Intolerable (A comment on a message of tolerance to LGBT)

[From a Facebook Post in June 2015 - I think it was a commentary on why we are intolerant of LGBT.]

It is going to take a while because the issue is tied up in values. And when one's position is informed by values, tolerance is intolerable.

Why? Because if you believe in the One True God, then what of other believers of other faiths? Obviously their gods are false. Then how can one tolerate those of other faiths? Obviously only in a patronising way. Not necessarily OVERTLY patronising. But in your heart of hearts, you KNOW you are the follower of the One True God (OTG, reg'd trademark), and those of other faiths are obviously wrong, deluded, and hell-bound.

How else can you tolerate them except with the Knowledge that they are wrong, but you have to keep your mouth shut because, hey - multi-culti, diverse and fruity, let's all just get along or the ISD will get you for sedition?

So we "tolerate" other faiths.

Childish Singaporeans

[From June 2013, when an Indonesian Minister called Singaporeans "childish"because they were clamouring for him to fix the haze problem.]

While I don't agree with the idiotic Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Ensuring Bribes get to the Right People (or whatever his official title is), I can understand why he is irked by Singapore clamouring for effective action. His constituents have long given up expecting their political leaders to do anything, so it is a vicious reality check for him to realise that in other countries you say what you'll do and then you do what you said you'll do.

So when he called Singaporeans "childish", he is saying in effect, "you expect me to do something just because I'm coordinating minister or some such political leader? You are naive! No other country works like your obsessive compulsive mentally disordered little red dot! Grow up!"

Reaction to PM's speech on 9 Oct 2021

I know what the govt is trying to do, but the govt is not addressing the (irrational?) fears of the masses. Yes, we need a change of mindset,. This means a change of expectations. But this speech does not do it. You cannot change mindset, just by telling people "you need to change your mindset". To build a ship you will need to organise manpower, skills, resources, plan construction, divide up the work, allocate manpower and resources. BUT you need to start by painting a picture of where the ship will bring us, and what we can do.

Home

"Home" (1998) written by Dick Lee, and sung by Kit Chan is a perennial favourite for Singaporeans.

Why?

Singaporeans like "Home" because we are NOT "rah-rah sis-boom-bah" jingoists. 

Singapore to import electricity?

[From Feb 2020. In draft for over a year.] 

So Singapore is planning to import electricity from Malaysia. 

On Facebook, this news was met with derision and incredulity.

And what I could call "patriotic anxiety".

Why is Singapore doing this? Netizens (Singaporeans) were bemused. We had just severed our dependence on Malaysia for Water. Why start to depend on Malaysia for another critical resource?

Let me explain... well, this is my interpretation.

Mental Health. Resilience. Are we losing it?

First, Naomi Osaka declined to do press interviews for the French Open. For that she was sanctioned. Which caused her to withdraw from the tournament. That was in June.

Then at the Olympics this month (July 2021), Simone Biles withdrew from an Olympic gymnastic event. 

In both cases, the reason was for their mental health.

Osaka did not like the format of the press conference which could be intimidating or confrontational - at least, from her perspective.

Biles simply said that she was not confident of herself. That she did not trust herself. 

This is the woman who is so good, four moves in gymnastics are named after her.

[This is Katelyn Ohashi (video). She outscored Simone Biles a few years ago. But she left the sports after injury and some incident of body-shaming. ]

So when she says she's not confident, that she doesn't trust herself, it probably means something.

The Future of Covid19 II - The near future (my thoughts on April 2020)

[I started this in April 2020, as Singapore entered our "circuit breaker" (a.k.a. lockdown). Along with most of the rest of the world. The news were depressing, and mostly pointed to what looked like the end of civilisation as we knew it. So I wrote and edited this draft, but as the pandemic seemed to have no end. I had no end for this piece. I just kept writing and re-writing. There may be no end to this pandemic. Or it will become endemic. With intermittent flare up of epidemics. Who knows?]

Some time ago, which seemed like a very long time ago, I had tried to consider what is the long-term effect of Covid19 as it spread across the world and what might happen to it - would it be defeated and die out never to bother us again? Would it become endemic like the cold or seasonal like the flu?

Would our "familiarity" with the virus lead to some herd immunity and lessen its toll on human lives?

Would we come to live (and die) with it?

Teddy bear abandoned on street in Turin, Italy (Photo: Reuters)

Singapore's Success - 50 Shades of Great?

I saw a book, "Fifty Secrets of Singapore's Success" which is a collection of 50 essays by prominent Singaporeans (I guess), and edited by Tommy Koh.

The book was an idea by Tommy Koh. He was asked what was the secret of Singapore's success by some undergrads in the US and Mexico. And (not having an easy answer then) he said that there was not one single secret, but he will think about it (and ask other smarter people) and maybe write a book (or edit one).

A diplomat, tactful, and can think on his feet. I really admire Tommy Koh. 

Then, recently, I saw this video: "15 Incredibly Smart Things Singapore Got Right":

If not Covid19...

Some people have observed, that since wearing masks, and observing heightened hygiene their children have had fewer or no minor illnesses. One noted that his child used to fall sick every month since attending childcare. Now, no. 

I don't have any statistics to back up this observation, but fewer colds, and coughs, runny noses, since all this mask-wearing.

This mask-wearing might have something to it after all... maybe we can't eradicate Covid19, but maybe... If no one is falling sick from colds, if the transmission of the cold virus is broken, if the virus dies out...

Maybe we can't eradicate Covid19 with masks alone. But maybe, the common cold? Not as deadly, but... something.

Trump - Gump or Chump?

 

This video tries to present Trump's 4 years with his achievements and failures.

Do you agree?

First, let's call a spade a spade. This is (or was) the "Trump Presidency", not the Trump Administration. Because calling what they did over four years, "administration" is arguable and generous. Just consider the turnover of the Cabinet members (not covered in the video, because rightly, it is not usually considered an achievement or failure, but is indicative or symptomatic of a dysfunctional... "administration". Or "Dysadministration".) So it is NOT in question that Trump was the 45th POTUS. So call it the Trump Presidency. "Trump Administration"? Laughable. Arguable. Debatable. But I will let it pass as a customary nomenclature rather than an objective and accurate descriptor. 

Second, some of the achievements or failures are subject to the judgement of history and/or are multifaceted and would depend on the perspective and the lens thru which it should (or would) be seen. For example, was Trump's confrontation with China good or bad? Achievement or Failure. It's not easy to say at this point in time/history. Or you might say, it depends on your perspective. US perspective? Even so, that depends on the long term objectives and US's role in the unfolding history. If the US is on the decline (from the perspective of history) and China is in ascendency, then though Trump was not ready to concede the 2020 election weeks after the result was obvious, he readily ceded US global leadership (in some/many aspects) to China. 

Third and finally, this video assesses Trump's "achievements" and "failures" as if this presidency's endeavours were thought out and thought through. That the achievements are intentional, and failures were just badly executed, unfortunately timed, or undermined by opponents or historical events. That is generous. The evidence suggests that Trump "Forrest Gump" his way to the Presidency, and his achievements. As for his failures, they can all be traced back to his lack of understanding, interests, and intellect. Or his bias/prejudices. 

And some of the achievements in this video were wrongly attributed to him. Getting to pick 3 conservative Supreme Court Justices was due to the machinations of Mitch McConnell more than the astuteness of Trump. 

It may be too soon, but eventually, history will ask, "President Donald Trump - [Forrest] Gump or Chump?" Or maybe some are already asking. Or some believe they already know the answer.

[Edit/ Addendum: From a Washington Post newsletter (The Daily 202), of 25 Nov:

Trump will be the first president since Herbert Hoover in the Great Depression to leave office with fewer Americans employed than when he started. More problematic is that, as a lame-duck, Trump is aggressively trying to box in his successor with new rules, regulations and orders that are designed to tie the hands of the incoming administration.

The federal budget deficit was $3.1 trillion in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, by far the biggest one-year gap in U.S. history. Trump promised as a candidate in 2016 to eliminate the national debt over eight years. When he took office, the debt was $14.4 trillion. It now stands at $21.1 trillion.

While Trump has lost in the court of law, he was won to some degree in the court of conservative public opinion. By baselessly sowing doubt in the integrity of the results, and with the complicit consent of Republican lawmakers who stayed silent for so long, Trump is convincing millions of gullible supporters that his successor is somehow not legitimate. This will make it harder for Biden, who strives to be a healer, to bind the national wounds into which Trump has been rubbing salt these past four years.

]

US Democracy - fundamental assumptions. Fundamentally flawed.