consequences of high cost of living in Singapore

Singapore is a highly developed country. It has a strong economy, sky high skyscrapers, luxurious shopping malls and many other facilities. We have low poverty rates, secure safety security, high quality and availability of education and many others that contribute to high standards if living. Though it is a glory to have a high standard of living, there are many consequences that come with it.

In Singapore, the price of goods such as common things like groceries in a supermarket, are priced at highly unreasonably prices. Even fast food chain restaurants are prices higher that many countries across the globe. Lets take the big mac scale for example.




Singapore is on the top six of the chart, just at he global average of around 40. This chart compares Singapore to other countries. From the chart, we can observe that the prices of goods are fairly high in Singapore.

A high cost of living may cause the gap between the poor and the rich to increase. This is because the poor will have to use more money to buy groceries, daily needs or houses. they may not be able to afford it, have to work harder, and use up more of their savings to get them. This leads to a wider gap between the poor and the rich. A high cost of living may also result in lesser babies. Babies require a lot of money to raise. They need milk powder, clothes, space and later on money for education, for tuition and school. For the poor, having children will increase their financial burden because they not only have to care for themselves, but also have to provide for others. Lastly, the number of cars will be affected too. Cars need fuel and maintenance, both which are not cheap. Public transport is much more affordable, so more people to choose to take it, and thus there is a decrease in cars on the road.

These are just three of the consequences of high cost of living in Singapore. We all have to be aware of the economy of the various countries across the globe so as to not be left behind and constantly improve so that our lives will be better.

EnC week T1W10

On EnC week, we went to Kampong Glam and Little India , two of the places in Singapore that many visit thanks to its rich culture and history and learned malay dance. We went there with the school to find out more of the malay and indian 4 Fs: Fashion, Folk, Food and Festivals. But, I thought it was just going to be yet another learning journey where I could just blindly enjoy the ambience.

On the first day, we were gathered to learn malay dance. According to the cikgus, we were learning a courting dance, in which a male and female are to pair up to perform the dance. It consisted of graceful and precise steps, most of which I painstakingly but clumsly executed. It wasn't anything like the kpop I watched, but rather like swans dancing to a rhythm.

Next, we went to Kampong glam and roamed around Arab street. The first thing that caught my attention was the strong fragrance of perfume. Apparently, the smell came from the shops that sold non alchoholic perfume. The perfume is especially tailored for muslim's use because they are forbidden to use or drink alcohol due to their religion. In its vicinity, were rows and rows of textile shops selling textiles from the deepest shade of blue to the lightest shade of yellow. On their surfaces, there were patterns made out of shapes printed on. Further on, I found many food stores, all of which sold traditional malay dishes such as mee soto and nasi padang. The shop owners told me that nasi padang was something like Chinese mixed rice, where they gave you white rice with your selected vegetables and meats. Malay cuisine is influenced by other races such as Chinese, which you can see from the Daging Masak Kicap, "soy sauce beef" which was completely new to me because never did I know that other races influence could be mixed in to produce a new product. The Malay Heritage centre's exterior was filled with plants which I later found out were actually spice! These spices are used by the malays in their cuisine. There was turmeric, nutmeg, betel nuts and many more...... They not only add rich flavour to it nut also have health benefits, have a unique fragrance and if used as a garnish can be very aesthetically pleasing.

The next day, we visited the sultan masjid, a well known mosque located in Kampong Glam and madrasah aljunied. When you first glance at the mosque, there is a giant gold colour dome at the top which resembles loyalty and a black strip that is actually made by glass bottles donated by the poor so they could contribute to the mosque while others donated money. At the side of the giant dome, a tall watch house called a minaret is featured. It was used in the world war 2 as a watch tower to look out for incoming Japanese troops and to call out for people to come to the mosque to pray. The interior of the mosque was even more majestic, with high ceilings, beautiful carpets and a large praying hall. The mosque was designed by an Irish called Denise Centry who was a catholic and was inspired by the church. This again represents that other races and religions can influence each other to form new products.



The main praying hall


Islam elevate women. This means that women are given rights over their body and life, obliged to seed knowledge, can retain her last name and that any money earned by her belongs to her. Islam encourage strong family ties, respect, love and honour due to parents. Breaking off ties with family is one of the biggest sins to Islam. Lastly, Islam encourages care for the environment which is shown when the black strip is made out of glass bottles.

A madrasah is a school specially for muslims, where to have academic subjects just like us and additional subjects that have to do with the Kuran and Arabic. Previously, I didn't know that madrasahs existed and thought that all children attend normal schools like me. I was even more eye opening when I found out that the girls and boys had to separated during assembly and classes and didn't have any communication between each other unless absolutely necessary.




Madrasah entrance

The pupils were friendly and outgoing and were offered a wide range of extracurriculum activities and such as Arabic calligraphy, silat (martial arts) and duff (Persian drum).

On the last day, we journeyed to Little India. It was a little busier than kampong glam and had a never ending number of flower stalls that sold garlands that were meant to be offered in the temples. They were made out of jasmine flowers that were white and had a very sweet fragrance.  I tried indian rojak at tekka market, a scrumptious mix of fried pastries, vegetables and meat which is then dipped into a sweet yet spicy peanut sauce. Indians use a large array of spices like the Malays too, only, theirs have a more distinguished and heavier taste. Some examples are shredded coconut, coriander seeds, mint, turmeric and many more. Near the food stores, there were stores selling coloured powders which are used during deepavali, the hindu "Festival of lights'' to decorate the front of houses in bright unique patterns and colours. There, henna was offered. Henna is a type of art that is drawn on the hand with a thick paste which has a pungent smell. After it dries, the paste is peeled off to reveal a beautiful light orange pattern. Though it is from the indian culture, it is getting increasingly popular in other countries such as USA too. USA and Indian are so far apart on earth, yet the influence can stretch out so far.



henna that resembles good luck

Through this entire journey, the most impactful lesson I learnt was that different races should and have co exist together peacefully, even to the point where we are inspired by one another and learn from each other. This was indeed a once in a life time experience that has broaden my horizons because in a SAP school I do not have much exposure to people of different races and their culture, habits as well as customs. I think that the school can invite more people of other races to the school to perform and share their traditional art forms, maybe even teach us during music or art lessons. I believe that we should all take racial harmony very seriously so that we can maintain good ties with out neighbours of other races and neighbouring countries because all of us are equal and the same.

Suzhou industrial park

The Suzhou Industrial park was a collaboration between Singapore and Suzhou, expected to bring in money to Singapore when we invested in it. Instead, we were met with disappointment when Suzhou decided to build their own industrial park called the Suzhou New District industrial park which is also located in the heart land of Suzhou not far away from the collaboration.

This experience shows us that we cannot trust other countries too readily as other factors may suddenly come into the picture and affect the economic growth.

I think that Singapore should not share our development experiences, especially since we are a small country. As  small country with no natural resources to share, our development skills are what sets us apart from the other countries. Therefore, if we share our information, they will take advantage of these ideas and become more developed, thus other more powerful countries will also want to collaborate with them.

If we share with lesser developed countries, we will be in the losing position as they have lesser experience than us and they will gain more than us.

Our experience is our own pride and we cant just give it over so easily.

Thus, I think that we should not share our experiences so easily. 

Singapore from 3rd world to 1st world (Economy)

China is a country that is developing rapidly. Countries that want to invest in Asian countries immediately think of China because it has a big population and large land areas that they can build their parks, factories, buildings, shopping malls and many more. China has been around for way longer than Singapore, and as a result, has a lot more experience than us in the economy sector.

Since Singapore is a small country, we do not have much land space to build on. Furthermore, we do not even have any natural resources on our land. Thus, there is not much benefit for other countries to gain by investing in Singapore. However, if larger and more powerful countries join Singapore and invest in Singapore, more businesses will come rolling in, attracting more tourists to visit Singapore and increasing our economy. If we take, China, for example, as a partner for a big project in Singapore that is estimated to increase both the countries' wealth, other countries will also be attracted to find out what potential China sees in Singapore and try to partner with us and help us out in times of need. If Singapore cannot keep up with the fast moving pace, we have nothing worthwhile to compete with China and companies will go to China instead.If Singapore does not have the support of other countries and instead have more competitors, we will have more and more competition and this will result in the drop of the economy.

Thus, we should not be complacent and try to maintain on good terms with China as well as our other neighbouring countries.

culture and culture forces

Culture is split into four main sectors: Food, fashion, folks and festivals.

China and Singapore have different similarities and differences. Both of us celebrate Chinese New Year to bring a new beginning, believe in the Hungry Ghost Festival and celebrate the mid-autumn festival. Yet, we also have differences such as our traditional dishes like  crunchy kaya toast, the famous , all time favourite chilli crab, creamy laksa as well as other delicious delicacies while china wows tourists with their extremely stinky tofu, juicy steamed dumplings and handmade beef noodles.

Despite our differences, our countries are still able to maintain a good relationship with strong ties.

China lean more towards the Chinese side while Singapore is immersed in both the Western and Chinese sides, while at the same time, include other races and religions into the factor. We also have shared values putting our nation before our society and self, and being proud and loyal to our country. In terms of fashion, China's traditional costume is the qipao, a dress dress usually adorned with floral patterns and in a bright color, especially red.  In Singapore, we have a mixture of different races, so we don't have a particularly exact traditional costume, but we do also wear the qipao during Chinese New Year. We also celebrate Deepavali and Hari Raya for the Malay and Indian friends.

Different countries differ in habits and values but we should all be sensitive and respect each and one of the country's practices.