Walked Over

Goodness gracious me. I had no idea that the reason we have that Raffles statue still standing, even after our neighbours pulled down their respective colonial masters’, is due to the advice of one Dr Albert Winsemius, whom it seems we owe much of our current financial sucess to.

One of his earliest pieces of advice was not to remove the statue of Stamford Raffles as it was a symbol of public acceptance of the British heritage and could alleviate concerns that investors have toward a new socialist government. With his help, Singapore attracted big oil companies like Shell and Esso to establish refineries here.

And I always thought it was a symbol of the uneasy legitimacy the chinese leadership here have forged for ownership of the island.

The Economist’s 2009 Liveability Ranking is out (though it costs $250 for a long peep).

We scored 54th out of 140 cities being ranked, according to AsiaOne, losing out to the usual suspects like Hong Kong and Tokyo.

So we’re (according to Mercer) the 13th most expensive place to live in the world, but only 54th in liveability???!!!

Oh Singapore, when will I stop making sucker bets.

Singapore is the 13th most expensive place to live in the world! (at least for expats)

See the report here. Incredibly, New York is cheaper for expats than Singapore. Green card, anyone?