Have I mentioned that Singapore has a bunch of Buddhist temples, as well as mosques, synagogues, churches and so forth? Well, it does, and they look great – lots of gold-plated Buddha statues and reliquaries, especially at the spanking new Buddha Tooth Relic Temple in Chinatown, which just opened in 2007 and is an amazing […]
This is more hearsay-based. In the 1960s, and ever since, the Singapore government made its first priority to build housing for the teeming millions living in slum conditions in the city – you know, five or six in a room, no running water, a communal tap in the street and two toilets for a building […]
Before we came here, a friend told us, “Singapore is a country of rules. But the rules can change.” Here’s an example of how it can work, admittedly from a government-run university, but I think it’s applicable to the wider business world, since the Singapore government has its finger in most pies: A non-Singaporean professor […]
I’m involved in a research project at a university, for which there are three bosses in three separate departments and about 24 research assistants, all told. Although the three bosses meet regularly, the three departments normally have nothing to do with each other, so it’s important to foster a system of collaboration. Hah! you exclaim […]
This week’s news from California is that, four months after the 2008-9 fiscal year began, the California legislature has managed to pass a budget, one that will try to cover its $42 Billion deficit. The reason for all the delay is the legal requirement from Proposition 13 (1978) for a 2/3 majority to pass any […]
Yes, Singapore has been hit hard by the worldwide credit crunch. It started when taxi drivers and other workers lost their shirts when AIG went under – so low are the interest rates at Singapore’s banks that people are encouraged to buy insurance policies with pay-out plans, and annuities, and many people had trusted the […]
Well, Christmas has come and gone. The western baubles and decorations that were all over the malls and Orchard Road have been retired, thank goodness. It’s a bit grating to see giant plastic gingerbread men and Santa Claus under the palm trees; to hear songs about silent nights in a land where road noise and […]
You can get a foreign maid to take care of your house and/or children, and there’s a complete set of laws to protect both you and her. The maid earns $300-$400 a month, but it costs you about $1,000. This is because you pay for her airfare from the Phillipines (both ways), three thorough medical check-ups annually […]
I was chatting with a store owner named Lucy last week, and she said that if she had some spare money now she would buy U.S. dollars and Australian dollars. The reason is that her two children are about to start their post-graduate studies at Columbia University and the University of Queensland, respectively. Previously, in […]
The Singapore government builds roads and train tracks, creates bus routes and the world’s nicest airport, and runs a really great airline. Fares on public transit and taxis are very low, probably subsidized, certainly controlled. The government builds and runs schools and universities; it builds and sells high-standard public housing; it hires armies of cleaners, […]