Singapore: An inspiration for a different world

I had the opportunity to visit Singapore briefly for two days, hosted by my friend (more a brother), Raghuram Reddiam and his wife,Malavika. 

Singapore (while an island city-state), is reasonably small, both in size and population, in comparison to my own city, Hyderabad. I was constantly struck by the great strides that could be made by a strong and determined people - if they can do it, why not us?

But the comparison stops there. In infrastructure, public housing, power, roads, health, education, standard of living, public transport, gardens, ecology and in every other conceivable metric, Singapore is a first world country today, which bears no resemblance to Hyderabad.

How did Singapore, formed barely 50 years ago, grow from a GDP(PPP) per capita of $516/year to $87,555, the third highest in the world?

In 1965, it was literally expelled from the Malaysian union by the PM, Tungku Abdul Rehman, as the only way of saving communal violence from happening. 

This 3-minute video shows the reaction of Lee Kuan Yew (LKY) just after assuming his role as PM of Singapore who always wanted multi-racialism, and who believed Malays, Chinese, Indians could live together and build a stronger nation. It moved me so much that I  just had to reproduce it. 

My first impression of Singapore was a very neat and clean one, with swank buildings combined with greenery.

The Mass Rapid Transit trains of Singapore run like clockwork, every few minutes. While not as incredibly numerous as the Moscow trains or as fast as Shanghai's trains, they are very fast, very efficient, and you don't have to wait more than a few minutes.

Everywhere, the integration of the four official languages (Mandarin, Malay and Tamil in addition to the common English language) is evident, whether in subway announcements or in the public space.

"Let's make Singapore our garden" seems to be one motto of the nation. There is a deep respect for greenery, trees, and conservation of the environment. Everywhere I went, there were gardens and green spaces dotting the city.

A view of the bay quay from the Cloud Forest Dome

Cloud Forests are evergreen tropical forests where the cloud cover falls frequently till the canopy of trees. Singapore's "Gardens by the Bay" include a massive Cloud Forest Dome in which trees and creepers mix with waterfalls and an entire ecosystem of plants thrive.

More interesting than the Cloud Fores was the Flower Dome beside it. A truly massive airconditioned greenhouse with exotic plants from all regions of the world. While I am not a botanist, and am barely able to discern a tree from the grass, I found myself spending hours inside this dome. And the way they have themed it with "Alice in Wonderland" at places, and animals and birds at others, makes it very captivating.

The caterpillar (Absolem) smoking a hookah from Alice in Wonderland.

"Off with her head!," the Red Queen said.

"Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!" and the Rabbit looked at his watch and disappeared down the hole.

Notice how the deer seem to be entirely in the air! Very skillfully hidden, a tiny part is touching the ground.

 It is almost as if there was just one deer jumping! The sense of motion in this sculpture is phenomenal.

 All the birds seem to be flying in the air. Again, there are no wires from which they hang, but if you look carefully at their wing tips, they are fixed in the tree trunk.

The Supertree Grove light show is also nice to see, while it is nothing out of the world. If you are at Gardens by the Bay, you must see the light show!

Singapore at night is arguably best seen from the one hour cruise that starts from Clark Quay.

 The Marina Bay Sands light show was spectacular, and should not be missed. I saw it from the Clark Quay cruise boat.

The incongruity of a Buddhist temple in old style architecture in the middle of towering buildings is striking. Why does divinity prefer old buildings?

 Sometimes, as you walk in a lane, it is easy to imagine you are in Chennai. The shops and shopkeepers, the transparent packets of rice, the "Gentleman's Whisky / Brandy/ Rum". The audio was also blaring out some Tamil numbers!

Koi Fish at the entrance to my friend's apartment block

Hawker's Centres are popular in Singapore, since they are very affordable. You can get a dinner in S$3 to S$5.

Singapore's Bus Transport is almost on par with its MRT trains, and use a common card that can be topped up. Transport is cheap.

LKY (Lee Kuan Yew, the founding PM) reportedly said some things the state would look after (education and housing are two of them) and for everything else, the people would have to work.

As many as 82% of Singaporeans live in public housing provided by the Housing Development Board. The rest live in expensive private condos or independent houses. In 1947, when Singapore had the "worst slums across the world", to today, when people of different incomes live in the same new towns and estates, Singapore has come a long way!



My trip to Pulau Ubin took up half a day. Singapore has a main island and 62 other islets. They were trying to reclaim Ubin for real estate development, but the public made a hue and cry, since it is filled with marine life, has a coral reef, and the plant life is also precious for the ecology. Pulau Ubin was allowed to remain as a separate ecosystem and is a popular spot for tourists, barely half an hour away.

 The only transport I saw in Ubin was bicycles. I rode around the whole islet for 5 hours.

As I watched the sun set over Singapore, I remembered the glittering lights of Singapore's skyscrapers, that keep the city alive and buzzing with energy. Singapore's model of multi-racial and ethnic integration, of having 4 different languages, seemed so very different from the attempts to foist Hindi on the Southern states in India.

If Chinese, Tamils and Malays could come together across Christians, Hindus and Muslims, and grow from nowhere 50 years ago, to become such a rich country today, in terms of culture, health, education, and GDP per capita, is there something for us to learn?