Time feels the Singapore buzz
Weekend, June 2, 2007
Time feels the Singapore buzz
Efforts to re-energise Republic draw the attention of world media
Jasmine Yin
[email protected]
ITS multi-billion-dollar surgery for a new face is not even half-done, but what has been promised — casinos, luxurious waterfront living and, more recently, F1 speed machines — have landed Singapore on the latest cover of Time magazine.
The six-page article documents the slew of transformations, such as the Marina Bay Sands casino resort and the French Rivieria-inspired Sentosa Cove residences, that are taking place to woo foreigners — especially those with deep pockets — to visit, live, work and play in the Republic.
It cited Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew's outline of Singapore to be a "tropical version" of New York, Paris and London rolled into one, as well as comments by the Singapore Tourism Board's chief executive Lim Neo Chian that Singapore, which "is changing its image in the eyes of the world", has set its eye on "self-transformation".
Also featured in the article was a Singaporean banker who, after five years in New York, decided to return because she felt that life in Singapore would surely become "less boring" and "more cosmopolitan and sophisticated".
While political and media watchers welcomed the positive spin, they also cautioned the possible social downside of branding Singapore to the international crowd.
Dr Ho Khai Leong, a political observer from the Nanyang Technological University, noted that positive international coverage — with Time as the latest foreign media to report on Singapore's expensive facelift — suggests, "to a certain extent, that our efforts have been given serious attention".
The signs in recent years have been nothing short of promising: Foreign students and talent coming to study and work, as well as multi-national corporations that still consider Singapore as an attractive investment location, in the face of other emerging regional economies.
Yet at the same time, Dr Ho told Today that the "global-city efforts have widened the gap between the haves and have-nots" — a point that was also raised in the magazine feature.
"Despite this economic revitalisation, many Singaporeans find the changes their city is undergoing to be bewildering and even threatening," according to Time.
National University of Singapore sociologist Chua Beng Huat was also quoted as saying: "The backlash comes from so-called foreign talents taking the best jobs without any obligations to maintaining the national good."
Media watcher Viswa Sadasivan told this newspaper that, as a Singaporean, he was "exceedingly proud" of some of the recent developments to re-position the country.
But he cautioned that "it should not allow us the licence to lose perspective of the interests of the majority of the heartlanders for whom Singapore getting on the cover of Time or another international publication is not going to have a material impact on their lives, vis-a-vis bread-and-butter issues like next month's Goods and Services Tax increase".
The Singaporean banker who was featured in the magazine is coming back as a foreign talent, even though she may have been born and bred here, Mr Sadasivan argued. He added that "a lot of changes in Singapore will be skewed in favour of the cosmopolitan, those who are more secure in their lives and are ready for the higher levels of benefit in Maslow's hierarchy of needs".
"At the end of the day, we need to be Singapore and the day when we have arrived is the day when we don't feel the need to compare ourselves or make ourselves the East's version of something in the West," he said.
S'pore buzz makes it to Time Magazine cover
S'pore buzz makes it to Time Magazine cover
Republic is featured on its cover and six-page spread, which showcases some of the key projects that are redefining the city's identity, and its efforts to re-energise into a destination city and playground for the wealthy.
http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/9...108d685rt9.jpg
June 5, 2007
AsiaOne
Time magazine has featured Singapore on its front cover in its June 4 issue with a report on how this island has been sparing no efforts to transform itself into a global city of fun and frolic, business and pleasure, investment and innovation, and education and migration.
Writer Kathleen Kingsbury covered practically all aspects of growth in Singapore - its economy, its infrastructure, its emerging new icons such as the two Integrated Resorts, its hefty investment in the biomedical field and its current property boom.
The only area headed for zero growth is its population now at 4.4 million, no thanks to the country's low birth rate.
And this is why the island republic has long actively tried to woo foreigners to its shores to work, live and play.
Says the report: "Singapore has steadily been adding about 100,000 expats annually since 1990, census data shows. Foreigners now make up about 19 per cent of the city's population, in contrast with Hong Kong where expats make up less than 8 per cent."
It adds that the city aims to boost its population by 25 per cent to 6.5 million over the next few decades and this can only be realised by admitting foreigners.
Quoting Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew in a Chinese New Year speech this year, the report says Singapore's founding father wants to see this island become a "tropical version" of New York, Paris and London, all in one.
It says Mr Lee spoke about art exhibitions, jazz bands, museums and al fresco dining. The Marina Bay development would transform the way people work and play in Singapore, the report cites Mr Lee as saying.
It adds: "This is no botox job. Work in underway on an epic facelift, one that could within a few years render Singapore nearly unrecognizable: the financial district will have a striking new skyline, while casinos and other amusements will dot the city."
These and other developments, including multimillion dollar seafront homes, a mega-yacht marina, a Universal Studios theme park, and the coming Formula 1 race event, will turn Singapore into a world-class playground for the wealthy.
Adds the report: "The point of this real estate renaissance: Change Singapore's image as a prosperous but rather dull commercial hub into that of a vibrant, fun destination - a place where people want to live in or at least visit on holiday, not merely transit on their way to more exotic Southeast Asian locales such as Bangkok and Bali."
A revamped Singapore goes beyond property development, the report points out. "After the 1997 Asian financial crisis, bureaucrats realized the city could no longer rely upon manufacturing to fuel its economy, and began setting policies designed to create higher-paying, white-collar jobs in specific sectors: biotechnology, education, and private banking and finance.
"Singapore aspires to be a regional or even global center in those areas by offering incentives to corporations such tax breaks, reasonably priced premium office space and Singapore's corruption-free business climate."
It observes that despite such economic revitalisation, the local population has been unhappy about the influx of foreigners as well as the building of casinos here.
It quotes National University of Singapore sociologist Chua Beng Huat as saying: "The backlash comes from so-called foreign talents taking the best jobs without any obligations to maintaining the national good."
On the other side of this coin is the view of Pinchin Kwok, a 28-year-old banker, who returned to Singapore "for the good life" after having lived in New York for five years.
She is quoted as saying: "Many of the reasons people leave Singapore when they are young will be gone. Life can only become more cosmopolitan and sophisticated. Everything will be less boring."
Adds the report: "Perhaps Lee Kuan Yew was right when he compared this new Singapore with Venice, London and New York. Those cities grew into giants not by copying blueprints of other capitals but by being open and fresh to ideas and unfamiliar DNA.
Cheong Koon Hean, the chief executive of Singapore's Urban Redevelopment Authority says that ultimately, "we need to seek out answers that best suits Singapore. To find our own soul."
The report ends with this comment: "With their usual determination, Singaporeans are looking."