Re:The cost of keeping Singapore squeaky clean
by baybal2 on Tuesday October 30, 2018 @01:55AM
(#18334235)
I lived in Singapore for 2 years as an exchange student. The city does get credit for what it isn't.
The level of competence of local civil administrators is overstated. All Singaporean oldtimers I knew were quietly lambasting their incompetence, but what you can give them is that, while being really mediocre at that, they were doing their job, and did it consistently year after year.
This is shows how far an institute of civil administration can go by "simply having people who simply do their job." This is what I see less and less in Western countries.
Regarding cleanliness, clean for sure, but Shenzhen central districts are by far more "squeaky clean." :D
Regarding Singapore's economy - pale and waning away. The country has an own economy for sure, but it is no longer a global player.
Before China's accession to WTO, a double digit of GDP was coming just from stamping "made in Singapore" on Chinese goods and reexporting them. The day China acceded to WTO, was almost a national day of mourning there.
Since then, Singapore's economy made a U turn, and became a gigantic offshore heaven for Chinese money. They don't really have any other major source of wealth other than that now.
LKY don't deserve to get credit for his "genius" for simply turning a country into an offshore bank.
The level of competence of local civil administrators is overstated. All Singaporean oldtimers I knew were quietly lambasting their incompetence, but what you can give them is that, while being really mediocre at that, they were doing their job, and did it consistently year after year.
This is shows how far an institute of civil administration can go by "simply having people who simply do their job." This is what I see less and less in Western countries.
Regarding cleanliness, clean for sure, but Shenzhen central districts are by far more "squeaky clean." :D
Regarding Singapore's economy - pale and waning away. The country has an own economy for sure, but it is no longer a global player.
Before China's accession to WTO, a double digit of GDP was coming just from stamping "made in Singapore" on Chinese goods and reexporting them. The day China acceded to WTO, was almost a national day of mourning there.
Since then, Singapore's economy made a U turn, and became a gigantic offshore heaven for Chinese money. They don't really have any other major source of wealth other than that now.
LKY don't deserve to get credit for his "genius" for simply turning a country into an offshore bank.