The Singaporean Flag

Singapura

Two equal horizontal bands of red (top) and white; near the hoist side of the red band, there is a vertical, white crescent (closed portion is toward the hoist side) partially enclosing five white five-pointed stars arranged in a circle; red denotes brotherhood and equality; white signifies purity and virtue; the waxing crescent moon symbolizes a young nation on the ascendancy; the five stars represent the nation's ideals of democracy, peace, progress, justice, and equality. (Source) 

The name of the flag is Singapura. It was adopted on 3 December 1959, when Singapore gained self-governance from the British Empire. When Singapore gained full independence on 9 August 1965, it was reconfirmed as the national flag.

Local news II

Water needs
Singapore will be able to meet its water needs despite the current dry spell, said Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan on a Facebook post. (continued)

Immigration
There were fewer immigration offenders arrested last year than in 2012, but the number of harbourers tripled, the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said in a report. (continued)

Singapore will continue to tighten the flow of foreign workers on work permits, even though they fill jobs that may not be attractive to Singaporeans, says Acting Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin. (continued)

Maritime collision
Two maritime vessels collided in the Singapore Strait, in the third such incident in 13 days. (continued)

Formula 1
Singapore's Andrew Tang has set his sights on racing in Formula One, after winning the 2014 Toyota Racing Series in New Zealand last week. ... Now that he has won the premier international race for aspiring F1 drivers, Tang is aiming a little higher. ... But those plans have to be put on hold for now, as he will serve National Service from May this year. (full report)

Kindergarten registration
The registration exercise for 2015 admission to Kindergarten 1 in the MOE [Ministry of Education ] Kindergartens will be held on April 4 and 5, starting at 9am. It is open to Singapore Citizen and Permanent Resident children born between January 2, 2010 and January 1, 2011. (continued)

Quirky Singapore XIV - GDP

Hungary = Washington D.C.
Singapore = Tennessee
Netherlands = Florida

...in their respective GDPs :)

Singapore Sights - CNY & South and North Bridge Road

This series of pictures is from 2 or 3 weeks back. It documents my way from Chinatown to Kampong Glam through South and North Bridge Roads around the time of CNY (Chinese New Year).

My favorite hotel at Speaker's Corner.

Quirky Singapore XIII - Tea and Coffee

Ordering coffee and tea in Singapore is a special art form because it blends together all the local languages. This is, then, your authoritative guide of how to order coffee or tea in Singlish.

For starters, coffee is known as kopi and tea is known as teh. The milk used is NEVER fresh milk but either condensed milk or evaporated milk. (Evaporated milk is simply fresh, homogenised milk from which 60% of the water has been removed. Condensed milk is milk with water removed but with sugar added.)

Quirky Singapore XII - Controversial issues: Section 377A

Section 377A of the Penal Code of Singapore, in the eyes of some an infamous law, is a legacy of the British colonial government, and the main remaining piece of legislation which criminalises sex between mutually consenting adult men.

The blog-based current outcry is due to a document, entitled "Support 377A: a simple guide to giving feedback" (see it reproduced here), written and circulated by a local church, the Faith Community Baptist Church that embodies "a systematic campaign of hatred against LGBT people in Singapore". [LGBT=Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender/Transsexual people]

Beyond the courage, importance, necessity, etc. of writing about the issue, of which there are also plenty of examples, I really like this approach to the document and its contents:

(I am really sorry I cannot make it larger! But you can enlarge it here!)

Sources: here, here, and here 

Quirky Singapore XI - 5th autonomous university

Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) has just become Singapore's fifth autonomous university.

Method
Parliament passed a bill.

Aim
To give "a wider choice in pursuing a degree" in Singapore to more young Singaporeans.

About the bill
1. Enables SIT to award degrees, confer diplomas and certificates.
2. "Empowers the government to guide the strategic developments of SIT towards meeting national objectives."
3. "Allows the government to provide resources to SIT and monitor the performance and finances of the institution."

5th autonomous university of Singapore
In addition to the National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Management University and Singapore University of Technology and Design.

(Source)

Local news I

To give you a taste of Singaporean news...

Dengue cases 
372 dengue cases were reported last week from February 9 to February 15, the highest number of cases reported in four weeks. (continued)

Haze conditions 
Hot spots increasing dramatically in Sumatra, with 458 visible today. Haze may worsen when the winds weaken next week. Some rain expected, but not enough to douse the fires. (continued)
Some parts of Singapore were slightly hazy on Monday morning. (continued)

Public Warning System
The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) will sound the "Important Message" signal islandwide on Saturday, February 15 at 12.05pm in support of Total Defence Day. The public is advised not to be alarmed by the minute-long sounding exercise. When the signal is sounded, the public can immediately tune in to any local radio station to listen to an important message broadcast by SCDF. (source)
(When the signal started, I was on my way to Geylam, right by the Rochor river, across from the end of North Bridge Road.)

Sailing
After a long and arduous journey from Australia, some participating yachts from the 'Clipper Round the World Race' finally arrived in Singapore. (continued)

Singapore Airshow

Sultan of Brunei visits Singapore Airshow. He ... was given a tour of the exhibition accompanied by Singapore's Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen. (continued)

Singapore Prison Service

The number of ex-inmates who committed offences again after being released increased in 2013 compared to 2012. But encouragingly, more ordinary Singaporeans are also coming forward to assist inmates and their families. (continued)

Quirky Singapore X - New Year Eve's Fireworks

Clearly these pictures are not mine (nor is the title :) ). But they are BEAUTIFUL!

Source: here

Cemeteries II - Choa Chu Kang Cemetery, Chinese section

Choa Chu Kang Cemetery Complexis the only active cemetery in Singapore. It has 3 main sections: the Muslim, Chinese and Christian sections. It is at the old Choa Chu Kang Road, which is only a few bus stops away from the university.

I got off the bus where the map said the Muslim cemetery was, but I couldn't really find it. This might be it. Perhaps next time.

These are then my pictures from the Chinese section of the cemetery.

Cemeteries I - Old Malay Cemetery

This series is for Eszter :)

This cemetery is unused. It is the old Malay cemetery, hence it is very close to Kampong Glam, in an unused block, close to the Malabar Mosque.

Quirky Singapore IX - Water supply

Then on to the question of water supply. (I reproduce or use heavily the material from the PUB's sites, PUB being the Singapore's National Water Agency).

The Water Loop

Quirky Singapore VIII - Food supply

I have just looked at another blog post :) that touches on something that I am very interested in: where does the food (and water) come from? Singapore is such a small country, with lots of people, do they have space to produce their own food?

This post gives a little bit of the background. The owners of the goat farm, that the post is about, have originally owned a pig farm. They have started pig farming in the early 1970s, moving on from chicken breeding. In its heyday in the late 1970s - early 1980s the farm had 2,000 pigs, employed over 30 workers, and has "become one of the biggest suppliers of pork to the local market". But "[i]n the early 80s, pig farming was phased out in Singapore, with help from the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority – AVA (formerly known as the Primary Production Department – PPD)".
So in 1988 the farm has started breeding goats.

Unfortunately "niche farms like this one ...  are living on borrowed time. When they first moved to Kranji [a suburb in northwestern Singapore] they were given 20 year leases. When those expired, the government only gave them a 3 year renewal. ... the goat ... farmers I spoke to are worried that in less than three years they will be told to shutter their businesses."

Overall Singapore seems to be very dependent on other nations for food: beef from Australia and New Zealand (see my picture of a McDonald's ad at our local bus stop), sometimes from the US and Japan; chickens and pigs from Malaysia...

Quirky Singapore VII - Press freedom

I have just read a local blog post, comparing press freedom in Hong Kong with that in Singapore: "Today, Hong Kong ranks 58^th in the 2013 press freedom index. Singapore, where all local media is heavily regulated by the government, ranks 149^th, just ahead of Iraq and Burma."

The post makes reference to the index, but I have also copied in the ranking, see below.

Interesting things, beyond the lack of press freedom in Singapore, are the place of the Netherlands: 2nd!, and the change in Hungary's position: -16 (from 40 to 56), with the corresponding comment in the text ("Democracies that stall or go into reverse - Hungary (56th, -16) is still paying the price of its repressive legislative reforms, which had a major impact on the way journalists work.").

Sad. (Not so much for the Dutch, of course!)

Quirky Singapore VI - Chocolate

I am sharing this because I find it cool that the 3 countries I am ......* are at such markedly different parts of the chart.

Modern Singapore

I have found this picture in another blog as an illustration of Singapore today (vs 50 years ago).
I think it is amazing!

Sentosa VIII - S.E.A. Aquarium

The Aquarium from the outside.

 

Sentosa VII - Merlion Plaza and Resorts World

Merlion Plaza

Sentosa VI - Beaches

This was my first view of the "beach". This is not the beach yet, only the view from a car park. But it already shows you how misleading certain pictures can be. (Not counting the darkness of the picture because of the strong sun.) This is a nice sunny beach.

But this is its backdrop: oceanliners.

Sentosa V - Merlion and the no-name snake/dragon foundtain road to the beach

Merlion. Head. Finally. But I went behind its back, because my first goal was to get to the beach(es).

Sentosa IV - Getting to Sentosa, finally

This is the Jewel Box, the final stop of the Cable Car to Sentosa, as well as a gift shop :) and a restaurant.

Sentosa III - Getting to Sentosa, Faber Hill and Faber Point

On the way from Henderson Waves, climbing Mount Faber to arrive at Faber point, the pathway was not very good. It was not a problem here and in the morning. But I actually got down from the Hill on the other side under similar conditions, but in the dark. And, note, there are no lamps. That was quite an adventure! :)

 

This is the building on the top of Mount Faber. With bronze (?) murals all around, introducing Singapore and history of Singapore.

Sentosa II - Getting to Sentosa, Henderson Waves

Once I got on the ridge, signposting became much better, almost excellent.

Sentosa I - Getting to Sentosa, still in the city

This Saturday I went to Sentosa Island. I got up early, took my mobile phone as both my map and guide book and set out. Because I had a cable car entry ticket and I have read nice things about the area from where the cable car sets off, I have gotten off the MRT at a stop called Redhill, still way off from Sentosa.

Then disaster struck. I received a text from my mobile operator stating that I had $0.22 on my prepaid card. So first I had to make a phone call to the operator, to explain to me what the ... happened in 5 days, because that is when I have put (a LOT of) money on this card. Well, no answer, customer service, although very polite, was completely useless. (If I want to use my phone, I should put more money on it. Sure, like it is going to happen. And if I am not satisfied with this answer, I have to wait 3 days until somebody looks into the matter and calls me.) Let it suffice to say, that I was now completely on my own, with no maps or anything to guide me. I have checked a map at home, so I had a rough idea which way to go - south :), and to be honest, maps don't help much in Singapore anyway :) Furthermore, I like to talk to local people, so I can I ask, right?!

So I set out in the general direction of south. This is Redhill market.

This is a temple. Note the wire basket in front, where somebody has just lit the regular red sheets of paper.

Still life in front of an HDB building.

CNY - Steam boat dinner

Today, 7th February, the phd students of the business school (NBS) had an invitation to celebrate CNY together. We had to RSVP and were also told, that the dress code was Red Attire. The invitation came about a month ago, so I have been preparing for this for a long time - for a European (or Hungarian) red clothes are not a staple in the wardrobe. I bought a nice red dress in Kampong Glam a while ago and wore it today. The surprising thing was that not everybody had red clothes on...

Anyway. This was a steam boat or hot pot party, a very Chinese way of celebrating CNY, in which you have a hot pot filled with water and you use it as a communal cooking pot to cook all kinds of meat, fish, tofu, vegetables, and mushrooms in abundance.

Without further ado my pictures of the evening.

Preparations

Food

Arrival - Red attire?

The gang - the nice Chinese phd students who always include me for lunch and dinner! (Not to mention our sharing of tidbits about culture and history and politics here and there all the time.)

The steam boat/hot pot.

Quirky Singapore V - The Olympic Games

Now that the Winter Olympic Games are just around the corner, I have checked how Singapore is doing in the Olympics.

Relying on wikipedia I have learned, that Singapore has never competed in the Winter Olympic Games. Big surprise! :)

In the Summer Games since 1948 when they first competed, Singaporean athletes have won 4 medals (2 silvers, 2 bronzes) but never gold. Of the 4 medals 2 are for team and 2 for individual achievements, in 2 sports: silver for weightlifting in 1960 (Rome), silver in 2008 (Beijing) for the women's table tennis team (beaten by China), and 2 bronze medals in 2012 (London) in women's table tennis, one for the team (beating the Korean team), and one in singles (beating a Japanese opponent).

In cash payout for Olympic gold medals, Singapore is number 1. Or would be if a Singaporean athlete had (ever) won gold. But alas! In 2012 Italy paid the most (S$225,000) to Olympic gold winners, followed by Russia (S$167,000), while the US only paid S$31,000 per gold medal. Compare that with the S$1,000,000 Singapore has promised for an Olympic gold! Even the bronze medal winner athlete has received S$250,000! Of which, however, she had to pay back a mandatory 20% to the National Sports Association for future training costs!

Singapore has never hosted Summer Olympic Games, never bid for them either, but held the 117th International Olympic Committee Session in 2005 to select the host city for the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Singapore has however bid for and won the hosting of the first Summer Youth Olympic Games in 2010. The event was organized between 14 and 26 August 2010 with the participation of 3,532 athletes between the ages of 14 and 18, from 204 nations, in 201 events of 26 sports.

CNY around the world and in Singapore

I don't have pictures from the actual celebration, so have a look at these amazing pictures from around the word!

Although both of my favorite pictures come from Kuala Lumpur...

...have a look at no. 1, 29 and 31 as well :)

1 - Sentosa

29 - Marina Bay

31 - Marina Bay once more

An interesting post about "A Different Chinese New Year Celebration" in Singapore has nice old pictures, about a traditional component of CNY in Singapore that has disappeared: 

"Some traditions survive the test of time. Others disappear due to certain circumstances. Lion dances, angpows, Mandarin oranges and auspicious couplets have always been the items commonly seen in Chinese New Year celebrations in Singapore. More than 40 years ago, there was also another item deemed indispensable for the most important festival for the local Chinese. It was the firecracker."

Another post on the topic of CNY in Singapore is on "The celebrating of Spring in the greater town", which I like particularly for its pictures of the "goodies". The many round, gold/yellow/orange/red things, and the cakes, and fruits and other food items, that were actually on sale in Chinatown until the eve of CNY.

Btw on the topic of angpows ...

...or hongbaos, because I know that hongbao (紅包; pinyin: hóngbāo) is the Mandarin pronunciation, but I cannot find anything on angpows, and Cantonese is something else again, so I am going to assume that angpow is Hokkien.

Anyway angpow means red envelope or red packet. The red of the envelope symbolizes good luck and wards off evil spirits. The packet itself is a monetary gift, with the money inside the red envelope. It is given during holidays, such as, and most importantly, CNY, or other special occasions (weddings, the birth of a baby, graduation, etc.). It is mostly given within the family or at social gatherings.

It is such a big deal, that you can find guidelines online about who to and how much to give (case in point). But it is not just about the size of the amount. It is also about the digits. Because in Chinese there are a lot of homophones (and not homonyms!), any number that sounds like a bad word (four is pronounced like "death") are bad luck and therefore no-no (so 40, 400 and 444 are out)! Any number that sounds like a good word (eight sounds like "prosper", "fortune" or "wealth", double eight is "joy", nine sounds like "longevity" or "long lasting", but even number are always luckier...) is good luck so go ahead!


And for illustration, this is the angpow I have received from Mrs Tan. And it is also very similar to the one I gave to Mata!

Quirky Singapore IV - Tea drinking

I have found these posts a while ago, and I was very surprised for a number of reasons. I have just looked at them again, and I found new things to be surprised at.


I thought that due to Singapore's past as a British colony, the many citizens of Chinese descent, and my impression that tea (teh tarik) drinking is a pervasive local custom, Singapore would be very prominent on this list:

Quirky Singapore III - Signs and signposting

I already have sooooo many signs, I thought it was time to share. But this is probably only the first of many posts on Singaporean signs.

This is from close to the MacRitchie Reservoir (and Tree Top Walk). And it is no joke, there are monkeys around!

Seriously?

It bears repeating! But also, have a nice day!