Some Background on Singapore

Before I get to all the exciting entries about myself and what I have been up to, I decided that I should give some background on Singapore. I know that I myself didn't know a whole lot about Singapore before I applied for the Fulbright; for most people Singapore is a place they hear about occasionally in the news as being a business/finance hub somewhere in Asia. Or, maybe they have heard about all the crazy laws here (more on that later!). Anyways, I have encountered a lot of confusion by people in the U.S. when I told them I was moving to Singapore. I have just realized that I have a habit of picking quite unknown countries to live in, I am forever fielding questions about Denmark as well!

First of all, the name Singapore roughly means "lion-city" in Malay. This leads to the presence of lion states and fountains all over the city. Singapore is SMALL - the whole country has an area of about 700 square kms (270 square miles) and this has increased some since the 1960s due to land reclamation projects. This is just slightly smaller than New York City. There are about 4.7 million people living here, giving a population density of 17,000 people per square mile. This is the third highest population density in the world - only Macau and Monaco are higher. Here is a zoomed out map showing Singapore.

Singapore was originally settled by the British for use as an East Asian trading post, was brutally occupied by the Japanese in WWII, and declared independence from Britain in 1963. Directly after declaring independence, Singapore joined the Federation of Malaysia but declared itself to be it's own state only two years later in 1965. At that point in time, Singapore was essentially a third world country - there was mass unemployment, housing shortages, a lack of sanitation, and no natural resources to speak of. The main leader of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew (who acted as Prime Minister from 1965-1990), tackled all these problems with a series of aggressive reforms that transformed Singapore into the first world country that it is today (OK, they actually got downgraded from first world country status recently due to freedom of speech issues, but for all intents and purposes they are definitely a first world country). Since 2004, Lee Kuan Yew's son has been the Prime Minister. The state still has a very strong hand in the running of the country. Especially glaring is the total state control over the media - the "breaking news" each morning is typically the advent of some new state program to help old people, single mothers, children, etc.

Singapore also has a very interesting cultural and ethnic makeup. The country is mainly Chinese (75%) with some Malaysians (14%), Indians (9%), and others (2%). This ethnic diversity also leads to religious diversity - the main religions here are Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, Taoism and Hinduism. This is neat because there is always some sort of religious or cultural festival/holiday going on at any given time! Because of all the different groups, Singapore has four official languages - English, Mandarin, Malay, and Tamil (a southern Indian language). In schools, everyone is required to learn English, as well as one of the three other official languages. In my experience, most people will use Mandarin, or Malay, or Tamil, when speaking to people of their own ethnic group, but of course have to use English when speaking to others. Singapore also has it's own brand of English slang called "Singlish". This is mostly shortenings of words or phrases, like saying "can" as an affirmative instead of "Yes, I can do that". They also use the word "lah" a lot, in a similar manner as Americans use "right" or Canadians use "aye", and tack it on to the ends of statements or questions. In terms of language, I have not had any trouble being understood, but I sometimes have had trouble understanding people because of the Singlish words and cadences they use.

Singapore also has a lot of very strict laws, which sometimes make international headlines. Probably the most well known are the drug laws, which gives a mandatory death penalty for drug trafficking, where drug trafficking is defined as being in possession of any types of drugs in any amount, even without demonstrating a desire to distribute said drugs. More minor offenses often carry lengthy prison terms, or caning sentences (yes, this is literally where they beat you with a cane). There is also a ridiculous number of things that can incur huge fines, such as jaywalking, littering, spitting, not flushing a public toilet after use, walking around naked in your own house, and bringing a durian (a horrible smelling fruit) on buses or trains.


In my own experience here, the national pastimes of Singapore appear to be eating and shopping. Eating is most often done in outdoor "hawker" centers that have tons of stalls with different kinds of food. Prepared food is really cheap here - at the hawker centers you can get a good dinner for maximum $4 US. There are shopping malls everywhere, and they appear to be packed anytime of the day or night.

All in all, Singapore is a really small, really crowded, and really hot and sweaty country. This is made worth it, in part, but the interesting cultural mixes and the diversity they bring to Singapore in terms of languages, religions, and food. I'm really not enjoying having to deal with all the crowds everywhere, but it certainly is interesting.