© 2005 Rene Maassen

Contact: rene@renemaassen.nl

http://www.renemaassen.nl

On Thursday March 7th 2002 we bicycle across the bridge between Johor Bahru in Malaysia and Singapore in Singapore. At the end of the bridge we can see Singapore already. Singapore belongs to the smallest country’ s on the planet and this country is basically one big city. This little island lays at the southern tip of Malaysia. To the west lays the Melakka strait and across that lays Sumatra of Indonesia. Singapore is small: is measures approximately 40 km (25 miles) from west to east and 20 km (13 miles) from north to south at the narrowest points. The country Singapore consists in total of about 60 islands and the seas around them. But when I talk here about Singapore, I mean the largest island with the town Singapore that covers most of the island. The other islands are just dots in the sea.

The Netherlands is about 65 times larger than Singapore! The Netherlands is situated at the 52nd latitude north and Singapore just at the 1st latitude north. Singapore’s south coast lays only 143,9 km (approx. 90 miles) north of the equator. Therefore, the weather here is basically the same year round: hot and humid. It is about 36 C (97 F) in the daytime and around 25 C (77 F) at night. There is a strong wind from the Northeast from November to April, that makes the temperatures quite comfortable close to the sea. Away from the sea, it’s hot and sticky. Singapore does have a wet season, but no dry season. In December and January there is some extra rain, but a spectacular rain can fall most afternoons.

Now the weather is pretty. The sun is everywhere and it is again 36 C (97 F). The wind is strong indeed on this bridge that is about 2 km (1 mile and 440 yards ) long. It looks more like a dam, because it barely makes it above the water. Parallel to the bridge are huge pipes of more than one meter (3 foot 4 inches) diameter. Singapore’s live line?

The immigration procedure of Singapore is very efficient. We, as bicyclists, must use the same entrance as the cars. There are no less then 24 entry lanes, each with a little immigration office. It is quiet. We roll our bikes to one of those offices. The reception is very correct and the female official speaks excellent English. After filling in the usual immigration form we get a 14 days stay permit stamped in our passports. Next are customs. Clear signs are hanging everywhere that drug traffickers receive a mandatory death penalty in Singapore. To us, the officials only nod their heads in a friendly way and smile. We have arrived safely in the 8th and last country of our journey and we shake hands (we give a kiss too, but I don’t want to reveal to many personal details, so I don’t).

In Malaysia Jolanda had found an old overview map of Singapore. We will use that one to bicycle to the East Coast Park. That park lays at the south coast, but is called East Cost Park for some unclear reason. A little imperfection? According to an other source, a cycling couple we had met in Malaysia, we may camp there for free. We place our bets on that. The traffic is extremely disciplined. There are many new looking cars, that move almost without making a sound over the as new looking streets. We are more or less the only bicyclists and are treated with extreme care and precaution. Regularly cars and busses stay a large length behind us, only because they do not want to overtake us short before a curve. All cars push their brakes gently but firm when we cross the streets. The streets are lined with green everywhere and the housing blocks look new, although the size of the plants en trees shows they must have been here at least a few years. Everywhere are clearly marked road crossings and sidewalks for bicyclists and pedestrians. What a difference with Malaysia, where city planners show a clear hate against pedestrians! We see Chinese, Indian and Malay people intermingle everywhere on the streets. Oh sorry, Singapore almost 100 % sidewalks coverage. It is obvious that Chinese form the majority here, but all seem equal.

Normally, there should be a spectacular rain storm here on most afternoons. But now it has been dry for almost four weeks, a remarkable fact. The grass turns brown. It is the same drought under which southern Malaysia also suffers. Melakka is almost without drinking water. The probable cause is the mass removal of all coastal wetlands on the Malay peninsula and on the Sumatra coasts too. The mass fill up with concrete that followed quickens the drying up of the land. In Malaysia, many coastal wetlands have been converted to palm oil plantations that slowly dry up the land too. The oil palm originally comes from Ghana in Africa, nut now three quarter of the Malay coast plains have been filled with it. Every 4 weeks the little nuts can be harvested. They look like large black olives. The palm oil is retrieved under high pressure in factory’s. That oil is used as cheap weight fill up in products like cookies, ice, noodles etc. It also has a function in some soap products. The natural sponge function of the land gets disturbed by this activity however with climate change as a first effect.

After about 35 km (22 miles) of cycling, Singapore ain’t that small, we arrive at the eastern part of the south coast. We ask a few people about the camping spot in the East Coast Park. That is easy to do, because everybody speakes good English here. We are very close to it. At the bicyle rent shop we must apply for a permit. We had heared of that. That permit is indeed free, but we may stay only for three nights. We hadn’t counted on that.

We had hoped to be able to stay here, say one week, take a good rest and fly home then. We will fly back to home in a few days from now, is our first reaction. We take the camping permit. A few kilometres to the west lays our chosen campground B. There are three area’s with camping allowance, from this area B is should be relatively easy to go to town by bus. We place out tent close to the beach, under the shadow of a coconut palm. It is a pretty spot. The floor is sandy so we look for some stones to place the tent firmly. That is not easy, this park is so darned well cleaned that we can not find stones or other waste material. In the accompanying boat storage we find a few stones. So, the camping is free. But in the nearby restroom building everything costs money. Toilet 12 Eurocents and a shower for 20 Eurocents. Even filling my water bag costs money, 30 Eurocents. I can’t remember ever having paid for some tap water, but fine, Singapore offers us perfect camping spot on the beach for free. We are happy with the situation.

It is quite busy in the park. This East Coast Park (that lays on the South Coast, as I’ve said earlier) is some 20 kilometres (13 miles) long and just 200 meters (220 yards) wide at most places. This park lays on reclaimed land too. Singapore doesn’t even have natural resources to fill a small area of sea, the needed rocks and sand for these operations are imported from Indonesia! In essence the park is one long and clean strip of green with a nice beach. The park has 2 separate lanes: one for pedestrians and one for bicyclists and rollerscaters. For each group there are clear icons on the smooth tarmac lane. Each lane has one direction to the west and one to the east. It is all very clearly marked and there is no reason to make a mistake. The camping area where we are now, is a (now) brown grass field next to this recreation highway. There is an information sign that says you need a permit to stay here overnight and where to get this free permit. There is again no reason to make a mistake.

On this little island called Singapore live officially 3,2 million people, but some 800.000 contracted foreign workers live here too. So in total that makes 4 million people on just 640 square kilometres (250 square miles). The complete different races live here in good harmony and prosperity. The permanent resident population consists for 77 % of Chinese, 15 % Malaysians, 5 % Indians (mainly Tamils) and 3 % others. About half of all those people some to practise their recreation in this park. We see people all the time walk, walk backwards, fast walk, fast walk backwards, cycling (forward only), roller-skating, finessing, play badminton, swimming and finally practise a sort of virtual sword fighting.

Looking back at the history, it is a big miracle that it all ended so well for little Singapore with its mixed population. When Malaysia got it’s independence from Britain in 1957, a rivalry soon became visible between the Chinese leader Lee Kuan Yew of autonomous Singapore and the Malay leaders in Moslem dominated Malaysia. Lee Kuan Yew wanted a multi-racial society based on equality and the Malay wanted a Moslem state, with (almost) equal rights for others. Singapore was then already a Chinese dominated trading centre. During a brief period (September 1963 to August 1965) Singapore joined the Malaysian federation. But race riots in both Malaysia and Singapore soon lead to a split up. De Malay more or less kicked out Lee Kuan Yew with his Chinese minority and gave him little non-precious Singapore as a ‘country’. They where confident Singapore could not survive without Malaysia, so the Chinese would soon be back, but then under Malaysia’s conditions. Singapore was spawned of from Malaysia and was born as a new country in 1965.

The basic idea was to let this stubborn Chinese with his Chinese people rot away in that mud filled island. Singapore has no resources, not even enough water, other than it’s people. Useful space was hard to find. But the Malay didn’t count on Chinese ingenuity, strive for success, hard working capabilities and entrepreneurial spirit. The Chinese bought water from the Malay using a pipeline (the live line next to the bridge!). Now they purify that water and sell it back as drinking water to the Malay, with a profit of course. The price for water supply was fixed in a long term contract (the Malay saw this as a quick way of making some money out of a then pretty low value resource as water). Now the Malaysians want increase the price of water, but the Singaporeans of course want to stick to the negotiated long term contract. A solution was found too for the space problem. Many former sea is now reclaimed land and Singapore landmass still increases. Some locals joke:

"If you look at Singapore in 20 years, it will be square [along the country’s borders]."

The hardworking Singaporeans import materials, deliver a clear added value and export the products with a profit. It’s only production resource are it’s 3,2 million citizens. The 4 largest harbours in the world are now all in Asia, Singapore is one of them. At school I still learned that Rotterdam (in the Netherlands) is the largest harbour in the world, but Rotterdam harbour now takes the last place in the world top-5. Under strict leadership of Lee Kuan Yew, Mr. Singapore, this place has grown from a mud hole to a prosperous modern worldly oriented city. The gross national product (GNP) per head of the population is now equal to that of the Netherlands. Only 40 years ago Singapore was a third world country. At the present speed Singapore will soon overtake the Netherlands at rocket speed. It is a miracle that 4 million people can live so densely and yet their town is so liveable. To get the same population density in the Netherlands, we would need 250 million citizens and not the current 16 million. Yet Singapore is a lot more safer, cleaner and more quiet place than the Netherlands (or any other present western city environment). To give you an idea…………….

On Friday March 8th we wake up in our little camouflage tent after again a perfect sleep. The strong wind kept our tent dry and cool. After a little walk, we take bus 36 into town to buy our 2 tickets to home. The city centre lays 15 kilometres (9 miles) to the west. Singapore city has an impressive skyline of tall glass office buildings. It is clearly more busy here, and is also clearly still Singapore. It is clean, safe, ordered and disciplined. The lush city green grows here in abundance too and looks well taken care of. Directly at the first travel agent it looks that are plan to leave in a few days is not feasible. All flights to Europe are full till early April. Somewhat discouraged we visit a few more travel agents. It is the same story everywhere. It looks like that many airlines have reduced their number of flights after September 11th (you know, the day that……) with one third. In the meanwhile, demand is back to normal so the number of flights on offer is 1/3 too low. Therefore, there are also no super discounts available, because the seats fill anyhow. Garuda Indonesia is the first airline that has 2 seats (the last 2!) on March 21th, but only in a more expensive ticket class. But in that class we can buy a one-way (the cheapest class offers only returns), so in the end it is hardly more expensive. The friendly travel agent however can’t get confirmation for our requested 30 kg allowance in stead of the normal 20 kg. For this, we must buy the ticket directly from the airline, which we do a little later. So, that is arranged. A bit expensive and a bit late, but is all set now: on March 21th we fly home to Amsterdam in a direct flight without having to pay extra for our bicycles.

So, now we have to fill almost two weeks, and only 2 nights allowance on our camping permit left. In the city we take a look a few cheap lodges. Well cheap, cheap for Singapore. The cheapest we see is a sort of shoebox without windows and hardboard separation walls between us and the next shoebox. This should cost already 20 Euro (17 Dollar) per night. No thanks. In our tent we sleep a lot better than in this shit hole (if you excuse my French). We make a new action plan, it doesn’t take long. We will use the last 2 night on our camping permit on that nice beach location and bicycle then back to Malaysia where we possibly can camp easier. Somewhere around the 19th March we then return to Singapore and try again to get a new 3 day camping permit, but now on Jolanda’s maiden name. This new plan is possible because EU citizens don’t need a visa for Malaysia or Singapore.

We camp the remaining two nights on the pretty beach. The seawater is lovely to swim in and deep enough to do so, even with low tide. The water is not really clear but clean and with a nice temperature. There is some noise in the park at Friday and Saturday evenings, but it gets quiet later in the evening. We notice that many young couples, clearly deeply in love, come to the park, often with a tent. Even in this hot weather they retreat back in their tent, to our amazement. But later we begin to understand why, we think at least. As a young engaged or married couple, you don’t have a house immediately in Singapore. If you want to share some privacy between you and your partner to investigate certain physical area’s, you just buy a tent a take it to the beach. Of course one could book a hotel room, but those are so darned expensive and the shitty shoebox that I described earlier for 20 Euro is not exactly a romantical setting. Camping in the Coast park is free, but you may do this only one weekend per month. Is this that there is this 3 nights permit limit? Is the government afraid that the productivity drops to too low levels otherwise? We think, this might be the explanation; we didn’t look into the closed tents. What we did notice however is that some, closed for a longer time, tents moved left-and-right in a rhythmic way. It surely wasn’t the wind that caused that.

On Sunday morning March 10th our camping permit is expired. We slowly pack everything. I want to change our plan till the 21st somewhat and discuss this with Jolanda. Via the (true) east coast of Singapore, we can bicycle to the Singapore island Pulau Ubin and get there by ferry. It lays in the Northeast corner of Singapore. It is possibly a lot quieter there. Maybe we can camp there till March 21st, because staying in Singapore is still my first wish. If we can’t, we return to Malaysia till our flight leaves. What you think? Jolanda doesn’t have to think long to say yes. We bike along the east coast, around Changi Airport. In the north east corner of the east coast we find another coast park. This is called Changi Coast Park. Factually, this Park should be called the East Coast Park and not the one on the South coast. Never mind, the confusion only increases now. We see various camping spots full with weekend tents and picnicking families. We read that for this park too we need a camping permit, but these must be requested one week in advance. We can’t do that. On one such a spot, that permit sign fails however. We place or bets on that spot. We can always say honestly that we looked at the signs and therefore choose this spot to camp. This park is not as busy as the East Coast park (on the south coast) so maybe the inspection is a bit more flexible too. There is some stray garbage on the beach, a little imperfection, but we can live with that. We drop the plan to go to Pulau Ubin and possibly back to Malaysia. We will now camp a few days here, then try a second stay of three nights in the East Coast Park (on the south coast) with a new permit and then return to this spot for the last few nights. So we will try to stay in Singapore till our departure on March 21th. In the daytime we can make trips to the city with public transport. The days here are more than pleasant. From Monday to Friday we are virtually alone. The last days of this long tour slowly slide by and we look back with satisfaction. We take a good rest, swim and sun a lot and sleep a lot too. We make various day trips to town and to nearby Changi village to buy food and fruit at the local market.

After 4 nights in this park we bike back to the East Coast Park (on the south coast). Now Jolanda asks for a 3 night permit on her maiden name. I sit at a nearby picnic table and try to look as disinterested in the other direction as I possibly can. The girl from the shop recognises Jolanda directly however and knows that she was with that other bicyclist that got his permit only a few days ago.

"You can only get one permit per month. Nor can you apply for a second permit on your own name. Not sooner than next month I am allowed to give you a new permit. I am sorry, but it is really impossible".

Jolanda keeps talking and pleasing however and after a long wait she does get our second permit on her own name. Fortunately, even in strict Singapore some rules show some flexibility.

Again we stay three pleasant nights at this spot. Here in East Coast Park (on the south coast) the swimming is better, but the camping is a bit noisier in the evenings. In Changi Beach Park (on the east coast) the water is not so clean to swim, but the camping is perfect at night. The north eastern wind blows a lot stronger there, so it’s cooler too. Also it is perfectly quiet there, except when a plane takes over and fly’s over our tent with low altitude. Although that makes more noise than humans, it is of a more tolerable type and easy to ignore.

On Saturday the March 16th we return to Changi Beach Park (on the east coast), for our last 4 nights. On Monday March 18th we make another day excursion with public transport. Today we will make many public transport kilometres because we want to see many things. The organisation of Singapore keeps amazing us. Everything is so clean and disciplined here. There is (almost) no waste paper or cigarette butt to be seen on the streets. There is (almost) no graffiti and vandalism doesn’t occur anywhere. Everybody respects the maximum speed and other regulations. We ride in various perfect airco city busses, that are all clean and safe and for which you never have to wait more than 10 minutes. A short ride costs 50 Eurocents, a long ride never more than 1 Euro as a maximum. There is even a TV screen in the bus, of which you hear the sound via a FM walkman. That you must bring yourself. The streets and numerous parks are all clean and swept. Singapore has a law about public green. The government has made it mandatory for itself to have all streets lined with maintained public green because this would boost the public moral. Foreign investors too should be impressed by Singapore’s active approach when they ride through the streets of Singapore. We are definitely impressed at least! You won’t find chewing gum on or under your seat or where ever in Singapore (because chewing gum is illegal). For most offences of the anti-social-behaviour type there is a fine for first time offenders of a 1.000 S$ (650 Euro, 560 $). For repeated offences the fines increase and include public services like toilet cleaning too. Drug traffickers are mandatory hanged and drugs users must follow a mandatory kick-off program. A police state without personal freedom? I don’t think so, because I see very little to none police on the streets. Most discipline seems to come from the people them self. There is full freedom of speech, only criticism on the government or other racial groups is not tolerated very well. That seems not too bad to live with, I think. Although every form of press control makes people suspicious in western country’s, that is just a viewpoint out of many possible viewpoints. According to Mr. Lee Kuan Yew (Mr. Singapore) it is not acceptable that a newspaper can write whatever it wants to write. As an example, many race riots are started by wild reports in the media about some misdoing by some other group. Completely separate from the question if that article was good journalism or sewer journalism, those wild accusations will have had their destructive effects on lives of many people, long before the government or the other group had a change to respond to that wild report in the media against them. There surely is a good logic in that. Western country with their increasing multi-racial society will be forced to adept a similar rule too in the future. Singapore clearly has a planned development of recreation and land use (just as the Netherlands: we should be thankful for that). There are clear living and recreation area’s. Those last one’s are often the most beautiful spots that are equally accessible for all.

On this excursion day we go first to Bukit Timah (Timah Hill). With 164 meters (541 feet) this is Singapore’s highest mountain. It lays just Northwest of the city centre. Now it is a nature reserve. It is the last piece of remaining undisturbed jungle in Singapore. This lush green hill is just some 16 square kilometres in size (some 6 square miles). There are various walking trails crossing the park. As soon as we leave the main trail, it gets interesting; a pretty walk. In 1880 already 90 % of Singapore’s original vegetation had been destroyed. Only in 1990 this last hill with original vegetation was saved from the bulldozers by making it an protected area. It is small, but very pretty and almost undamaged. Better late than never. There is an excellent information centre with free lockers too. The walking trails are clearly marked. The trail is good to walk, despite being a true jungle trail. Everything here is actually precisely right: precisely Singapore.

After this jungle excursion we visit, again by bus, the Haw Par Villa; a Chinese mythology park. When we arrive it starts to rain, the first rain shower in a long time. We seek shelter on a little roofed seat and read more about this park. This used to be a villa, with a Chinese mythology park in its garden. This park used to be named: Tiger Balm Garden. Yes, Tiger Balm Garden. If think by now; "Hé, I know a red coloured ointment against sour muscles that gives a burning sensation when applied", then you are right. Read on.

The villa was build by the order of Aw Boon Haw (Gentle Tiger), who offered it as a gift to his only and elder brother: Aw Boon Par (Gentle Panther). Aw is the family name, that in Asia usually gets named first, before the persons name. These where two Chinese Brothers that where born at the end of the 19th century at Rangoon in Burma. Burma is the old name for the country that is called Myanmar these days (like Holland is the old name for the country that is called ‘The Netherlands’ these days. However, Holland was strictly speaking not a country, but just a successful province of a country then called ‘The Republic of the United Netherlands’ that lasted till 1795. But I don’t want to drown you in history, so I don’t).

Their father was a Chinese herbal expert. At an early age the two brothers Boon Haw and Boon Par became orphans and a close relationship followed. In 1926 they moved their business to Singapore. The family secret was a recipe for a burning red coloured ointment that offered relief for just about everything. The brothers Aw used aggressive marketing techniques and made it a world success. They called their ointment ‘Tiger Balm’. Today it is available around the globe. Both brothers have died by now. Gentle Panther died in 1944 and Gentle Tiger died in 1954. Their lives and this garden are by now mythologies too and are briefly described here.

Gentle Tiger ordered the construction of the villa and the Chinese mythology theme garden to save those legends for future generations. It was a gift to his beloved brother Gentle Panther. The villa was finished in 1937. Soon W.W.II started and under the Japanese occupation of Singapore, Gentle Panther fled to Rangoon where he died in 1944. His younger brother, Gentle Tiger, was fled to Hong Kong. When he returned to Singapore after W.W.II and heard that his beloved Panther-brother had died, he ordered the demolition of the villa. The garden should become a public theme park, what it is till today. Our travel book describes this place with little esteem, but we think it’s perfect! Directly at the entrance there is a hexagon shaped, a typical Chinese form, Tiger balm package. On each side there is a tiger. It looks like a tiger at least. But you look again, you will see that one cat has a striped print (Tiger!) and the other cat has a dotted print (Panther!). So these are the two Aw brothers! Inside there are dozens of Chinese legends displayed as a sort of three dimensional strip story. With many of these there is a Chinese and an English information sign. In the many Chinese mythologies a fusion has taken place between Buddhist influences and old Chinese legends. The Chinese legends and animistic religions where thousands of years old: China is one of the oldest known civilisations on earth. Those Buddhist influences came much later, about 2,200 years ago, from India to the north. Buddhism at its turn was again influenced by Hindu influences. The end result of this fusion is what I call "Chinese Buddhism".

In China there is virtually nothing left to be seen of religion in daily public life. Because the officially still communistic government of The People’s Republic of China, sees religion as "opium for the people". All expressions of religion are therefore illegal. During Chairman Mao’s cultural revolution almost all temples where demolished and religious leaders and monks where "removed" [killed]. Only recently the Chinese government starts to allow religious practices, and only in a strictly private environment. Probably the nicest thing of Malaysia and Singapore is that the Chinese community here still uses uninterrupted centuries old practices that we can view daily. In the real China, all of these have been cut out of society. Like there is the burning of very large incense ‘pillars’, thick as a (Dutch) bicyclists leg. Or the praying to the laughing Buddha of success and prosperity, let’s say a Chinese Buddha. Also every Chinese temple here has a fire place with a chimney that always smokes. The Chinese burn money there. The Chinese first buy a pile of money at the temple, then pray to the Buddha of success and prosperity in the after life, and then burn their piles of money thick as telephone books in this fire place. When they die, they can receive their burned money "at the other side of the river". It is fony money, for us. Not for the Chinese!

The Chinese mythologies and stories behind these events are in China impossible to see or to find for the ordinary traveller. Here in the Tiger Balm Park we can even touch them! The images are larger than life and most are truly funny. An artist is continuously busy repainting them all. The collection is enormous and much to large to possibly describe here. One however, I like to share here with you. In the park there is a giant dragon, where you can walk trough. Inside the dragon there is the story of the ’10 courts of hell’. This too is a Chinese variation of Buddhist scriptures. The 10 courts of hell concept comes directly from the Buddhist Sutra’s. The explanation of various crimes and punishes here have under went clearly Chinese influences, though not too severe.

Every person that dies first arrives at the first court of hell. Every court has a court president that is almighty and looks very scary indeed. The court president is the largest character and is dressed as a very wise Chinese, complete with ZZ-Top style beard. For centuries Chinese have portrayed wise men like this. Did the Texas rock band copied the long beard image from the Chinese? In this first court of hell there is a golden bridge. Every person that has done nothing but good deeds in his/her live may walk directly over this golden bridge to heaven for his reward. Depending on the intensity of this persons good deeds, his stay in heaven may be short of long. Every person that has committed more good deeds than evil deeds still has a positive Kharma and may walk over the silver bridge and go directly to the 10th court of hell and a suitable reincarnation will be selected for them. "One harvests what one has seeded" is clearly on top of this court system. These are "cause" and "effect" of Chinese Taoism.

Well. that leaves us with all the other expired earthly souls, the ones that may not cross the golden or silver bridges. Well, it doesn’t look too good for them. It doesn’t looks good at all for those sinners! They must pass all other 9 courts of hell! That is no fun. At every court certain crimes are dealt with and the convicted receives his/hers punishment on the spot. These are instant court cases. An appeal procedure fails. It is a miracle that these terrible tortures, that are very precisely displayed, are not deathly. They are ‘just’ very painful and last for ever. When the sinner has received his full punishment, this heaven-not-worthy person must proceed to the next court of hell. We have arrived at the third court of hell and see there:

Crime: Unthankful, no respect for the elderly, escape from prison.

Punishment: Ribs are pierced, hart and other intestines are pulled out, the eyes too.

Crime: Drugs addicts [traffickers], grave diggers and those that inflict social unrest.

Punishment: Tied to a red hot burning copper pillar and grilled for hours.

To be hanged in Malaysia or Singapore as a drugs trafficker feels at lot more comfortable than this, it seems to me. The first crime that this court deals with, "no respect for the elderly", is such a typical Chinese influence. This time it is Confucius (551 – 479 BC) that speaks. Finally all mortal souls reach the 10th court of hell and last the exit pavilion. Here the final judgement is given: back to planet earth in some form of reincarnation. In Buddha’s teaching every thing that is not nirvana is equal to hell. So reincarnation is hell too. This site doesn’t talk about nirvana however. Everybody goes back to earth. Depending on how much bad Kharma you’ve paid off in these 10 courts of hell, your reincarnation will be one of the six possible paths. This six fold path comes directly from the Buddhist Sutra’s. One could be reincarnated for an example via path one: as a powerful and healthy human being. Or maybe by the sixth path: A live full of misery as a horse or other 4-footed animal (all 4-footed animals have a miserable live in China). After having received this final judgement all proceed to the little pavilion of Mem-Po. This old woman gives everybody a cup of her magic (Chinese) tea. Because of this all previous lives and this terrible court are forgotten. It is a miracle that someone can tell the story here. Then follows Samsara: each goes his appointed path. There is no free choice. The laws of Kharma (the grand total of all good and evil deeds) and Dharma (the wheel of live) are equal for all. On earth a new live starts; in Buddha’s teaching a new change to reach the only purpose of live: nirvana. Because you don’t want to return to these 10 courts of hell!

Here I stop this simplified story of only one detail of the Chinese mythology park. Very satisfied and deeply impressed about this heritage of the Gentle Panther and Tiger brothers, we are many hours later on the street again. Our bus stops almost immediately and we go to the Internet shop in town to email. Then we eat at a Hawker Centre. This is another masterpiece of Singapore’s efficiency. In the past, Singapore had street hawkers selling food, as almost everywhere else in Asia till today. Often this is nothing more than someone’s kitchen table on wheels where you can buy the loveliest food for minimal prices. These mobile kitchen tables don’t fit in the city life of modern Singapore (they are now outlawed by the Singapore government). That is why there are now Hawker Centre’s. A group of these micro business entrepreneurs rent a room by a busy street collectively. There are dozens of micro kitchens at the sides of these centres, where you can select a meal. A typical hawker meal costs around 3 S$ (2 Euro, 1$80). This way you can order at one kitchen a Indian Thalie with Samosa, of at the toko next door an Indonesian Sajoer Lodeh. Or a Chinese prawn noodle soup, or a Thai chicken-cocos-curry or a Malay Nasi Goreng or again something completely different. Other shops sell an amazing variety of fresh fruit drinks. You can buy whatever you want at whatever shop and still eat all at one table. Those tables stand in the centre. On the utensils there is a clever marking so the collectively hired cleaning lady can sort it out. Delicious, good, efficient and competitive: Singaporean!

With again an other bus we arrive in the evening safe and sound at our camouflage tent. Our rain fly sheet we had made ourselves in Georgetown (Malaysia) has kept our stuff perfectly dry. Today we have had another perfect and interesting day. In total we have travelled some 80 kilometres (50 miles) in many first class busses and city trains, all with airco and TV. Yet we have spend in total only 6 Euro’s (5 $) per person for all of this. Public transport can be good for a competitive price, Singapore proves it!

Singapore keeps amazing us with these things. Everything that is not supposed to be possible, all the things we keep talking about but never solve, Singapore simply does it and does it well. It is simply all just a mater of mentality. Singapore has three keys to it’s success story and social coherency. These three I have discovered at least so far:

1) High prosperity for all, linked to high productivity of the country and the people

2) House ownership, combined with planned development

3) Discipline and high ambitions of government and the people

The first point I have already described earlier in this story. The prosperity seems to reach all. There are no drop outs here or people outside the game called economics. In two weeks Singapore I have counted only six homeless people. In all other first world city’s I see more of them on a single day. The second point is as remarkable. Everybody lives in nice apartments (95 % of all Singaporeans lives in a flat-type building). There are nice and nicer blocks, but there are no bad apartments. Most people own their house. No less then 94 % of all houses are privately owned. Which government doesn’t dream of that? Singapore does it. At the first growth years of Singapore, it became obvious to Lee Kuan Yew that "low rent Ghetto’s" would lead to crime and deterioration. Therefore he quickly developed the Central Provident Fund (CPF), that should make home ownership available to all. People that own their home are sensitive and careful about their home and their environment and cause few trouble. What a vision of Mr. Singapore!

The government soon build good housing blocks at low cost. The first housing blocks where true standard housing blocks and where designed without fantasy or inspiration. Buyers had to lay down an initial payment of 20 % and could finance the rest by the government at favourable conditions over a 20 years period. Many people showed interested at these houses, but it soon became clear that most people did not have the discipline to save the 20 % down payment in a few years. Therefore the CPF was introduced. As soon as a person has a job, a mandatory percentage is collected from the salary as down payment for a CPF house. The building and allocation is a responsibility of the government. The building and maintenance are done by private contractors. Undoubtedly under strict conditions. Soon the government gave order to design nicer and prettier housing blocks. Sometimes we see a few remaining old style housing blocks, that currently receive a face lift.

Some small area’s have been appointed where the free market conditions rule. Till the age of 35 CPF housing is only available to married couples. Singles may apply for a CPF house after the age of 35. When a person buys the CPF house, that persons CPF is used for the 20 % down payment (CPF is like a strict personal bank account). Married couples can normally save their 20 % down payment in 5 years and is subtracted from the total value of their CPF. The remaining 80 % is financed by a mortgage over 20 years at favourable conditions under a government lone. A buyer has the right to finance this mortgage at a bank of their choice, but the government conditions are often more favourable.

This mandatory CPF saving was initially 5 % of monthly salary and was slowly increased to 25 %. With rising wages, it was later reduced to 20 %. The employer must add a same monthly amount to his employee’s CPF as the employee does himself. During the allocation and distribution of housing, the government carefully looked at racial mixed neighbourhoods that it favours. But because these where privately owned houses, the aim of the CPF plan, those could be sold and bought at free will. Soon this lead again to racial clustering. That could in the future lead again to race riots and ghetto area’s. Therefore in 1989 a quota system was introduced. For each housing block there was a maximum allowance of 62 % Chinese, 25 % Malaysians and 13 % Indians and others. That’s the explanation that Singapore shows a truly mixed population on its streets.

The CPF also works as a personal health care finance budget. The government pays a part of each hospital bill and for the patients share a part of his/her CPF could be used. Lee Kuan Yew knew the stories of free healthcare for all in some country’s, but according to him, no country could sustain that in the long run. With an exception for a few country’s that get rich for free while sleeping, e.g. by oil revenues. Mr. Singapore saw the future again as it would come. Something that is free, will have a higher than natural consumption. It is loosely consumed, like an all you can eat buffet, and it’s free too! Free for the patient, not for the system. If the money doesn’t end first, the supply of doctors and facilities will. If a good health is not free, people will be more careful about their health and medical consumption reduces without the people having a lesser health.

In 1965 Lee Kuan Yew had to build Singapore out of a mud hole. As a tiny island without resources and with an ethnic diverse population it had all the ingredients for a disaster with a quick end. The world press was unanimously pessimistic about the change of survival for micro Singapore, surrounded by large and not too friendly neighbours. Mr Singapore had a deeper reason to strive to 100 % home ownership. Should there be an armed conflict with a larger neighbour, most Singapore soldiers could have the feeling they where fighting to defend the property of a few rich. If every soldier was a house owner too, he knew what he was fighting for. Fortunately Singapore never had to put this theory to the test. Tiny Singapore has a true army with a mandatory army service for all man during 2,5 years. There is no service call for females, something that I would expect in strict Singapore? Every man must come to a yearly recall, that lasts 2 to 4 weeks, 13 years long. It is mandatory for the employer to give the required time off, it is mandatory for the government the pay the full salary. Mr. Singapore foresaw that micro Singapore could only defend itself if potentially every man could be a soldier when attacked. A soldier who owns his house naturally….

That leaves us with the third key to Singapore’s success story: Discipline and high ambitions of government and people. Lee Kuan Yew understood very well in 1965 that his only production resource where his people. But the unemployment was record high and nobody wanted to invest in changeless micro Singapore. Singapore MUST perform better than average, was decided. The attraction of foreign investors had top priority in first years. Slowly, one by one, they came to Singapore. Attracted by favourable starter conditions. Singapore’s Chinese population was willing to work hard and long hours. Lee Kuan Yew recognised too, that if Singapore wanted to grow from a cheap assembling country to a successful design and produce country with first world standards, the children should receive education of the highest quality. The regional standard was too low here too; Singapore MUST perform better, was decided. In the meanwhile the population understood very well that only together and without conflicts the road to economic progress was open. A liveable city without being a police state is only possible with discipline from the people themselves. Who still turns against the rules, will be punished severely.

Not everything is peace and glory. In Singapore too, nobody is rich for free. In the past there where strict rules about how many children a family was allowed to have, but that rule has been dropped now. Most Chinese families seem to have 1 to 3 children. The Moslems (mainly Malaysians) 5 to 10 children. To pay the high cost of living here, most fathers and mothers must work full time. Many families have a contracted children nursing and household maid. Most of them come from the Philippines, Indonesia or India. For the ‘lowest’ jobs, no Singaporeans can be found anymore. Several hundred thousand contract workers live here and ‘operate’ Singapore. Most come from India, Bangladesh and Indonesia. These contract workers do not the same salary and working conditions however, as a Singapore worker would get for that same job.

The Bangladeshi park sweeper in the East Coast Park (that park on the south coast) where we camped is called Djang Ghie. He is one of those 800.000 contract workers. He works very serious and hard; his park area is totally clean and swept. He is a modest and somewhat shy young man. He is neatly polite and not very fat at all. He talks English in that typical Indian way with an extremely heavy Indian accent and way too fast. We recommend him to talk a little slower, so he can be understood better. His knowledge of English is reasonable. When I ask him about his working conditions, he tells me them. He must work 7 days per week and for 14 hours per day. He gets paid just 700 S$ (450 Euro, 400 Dollars) per month. His private employer is contracted by the government the sweep the coastal parks. Djang Ghie lives with 30 other Bangladeshi boys in a single large room, that his employer has bought for them as a mandatory housing for contract workers. Djang Ghie has a contract for two years., that may be extended for another two years. In the meanwhile he has found out that an other (competing) employer pays 1.000 S$ for just 10 hours work per day. But his stay and work permit is linked to his current employer, so he literally is a salary slave and that is being exploited. Only by returning to Bangladesh and applying again for a new stay, he can swap to that other employer. His flight back home is mandatory paid once by his employer, but his flight to Singapore Djang Ghie must pay himself. The cost for a local (and expensive) recruiting agent and the new visa he must pay out of his own pocket too. His current employer lets him pay a part of his doctors bill too, although there is a law that makes it mandatory for employers to pay all housing and healthcare costs for their contract workers. His shared living room is free, but the whole situation smells like exploitation. Even so, Djang Ghie manages to send home every month 500 S$ (325 Euro, 290 Dollar). That leaves him with some 7 S$ (4,50 Euro, 4 Dollars) as daily money to eat and as pocket money. They cook collectively. That 500 S$ is in Bangladesh an enormous sum. Hopefully his parents do something useful with it. Djang Ghie shows he is not too happy with his live in the meanwhile. We give him a mango, that he gladly accepts. In the distance he spots his supervisor coming in our direction and continues sweeping again.

All in all, Singapore is a remarkable spot, where 4 million people from different racial backgrounds live harmoniously together in a nearly perfect country. The contrast between Moslem Malaysia and Chinese Singapore is remarkable. The Malaysians have precious resources (oil), the Singaporeans nothing (not even water). Both became independent from colonial powers simultaneously in 1957 and in 1965 from each other. Malaysia is clearly on of the most prosperous country’s in Asia. Yet Singapore looks at least twice as prosperous to us, by our overall impression. In Singapore the progress seems to have more or less equally reached all people. Where as in Malaysia still large numbers of people live in breakdown houses and in villages where clearly little money circulates. Also, Singapore has a planned development for living and recreation that contributes to liveable conditions for all. In Malaysia a few rich own all the nice spots and all the others must live and recreate in the remaining lesser spots. The difference between these two neighbouring countries with their till 1965 shared history, are the hard working Chinese citizens of Singapore with their unstoppable entrepreneurial spirit and ambitious and reliable government with sharp vision and power to execute. That difference between the economic power and productivity of Malaysia and Singapore is also shown in their national currency’s. From 1967 till May 1973 the Malaysian Ringgit and the Singapore Dollar where 1: 1 exchangeable. At Malaysia’s request, that guaranteed hard link was then abandoned. Each went its own economic way and today the Singapore Dollar is worth twice as much as the Malaysian Ringgit.

Singapore shows very well the future potential for China and the Chinese people. Only in the latest years China loosens the economical restrictions on its people and China’s economy grows spectacular. With that, the social contradictions grow too: a potential bomb under China’s future. If the Chinese government can lead all that potential in the right direction, China is certainly the world’s first economic power in 20 years. In Singapore the government has made under strict leadership of Lee Kuan Yew in just 37 years a prosperous country with very liveable conditions for all and where all participate. From that perspective, Singapore certainly deserves the title "Perfect China".

On Wednesday 20th March we reach a quick end of our fascinating journey that lasted 18 months and where we pedalled 18.000 kilometres (11,450 miles) through 8 countries. We give away the last camping stuff to the Bangladeshi park sweeper in this Changi Beach Park (that lays on the east coast). He lives in the same room as Djang Ghie (the sweeper that works in East Coast Park, situated on the south coast). We bicycle to the airport, where I dismantle the bicycles and throw away worn parts (to save weight). Jolanda goes to town with the bus to buy the carton bicycle boxes we had reserved at a bicycle shop. We pack everything and weight it: we are within our 30 KG allowance. Perfect.

The check-in goes fast. We take a long shower and a delicious meal at this perfect airport. Shortly after midnight, it is now March 21st and spring, our metal bird takes of. If there a people camping at Changi Beach Park (lays at the east coast), they are now awakened by us. In 14 hours we fly back to Amsterdam Airport where this journey started 18 months and three days ago. Our family waits for us and outside it is perfect Dutch spring weather.

[Source some Singapore facts: "From Third World To First" door Lee Kuan Yew].

© 2005 Rene Maassen

Contact: rene@renemaassen.nl

http://www.renemaassen.nl