Port of Singapore
Posted January 22, 2012
My first visit to Singapore was during the transit from Subic Bay Naval Base to the Arabian Gulf aboard USNS Walter S. Diehl in 1990. Singapore would be one of the stops that most of the ships made when transiting to the Gulf. Looking at the photo which will appear to the right in your browser is the skyline of the financial district. You will see a pier in the foreground, this is where the water taxis or launches would bring us when ever we anchored out as is depicted in the photo to your far right. The photo in the middle as it should appear in your browser is part of the Sembawang Wharves. This is where our ships would tie up to take on fuel and stores. One time the British Royal Yacht Britannia was tied up just in front of us. Through the kindness of the Britannia Society who now runs the Royal Yacht as a museum in Edinburgh, Scotland I have had the blanks in my memory filled in and now know that we had seen the Royal Yacht in early May 1997. This is an important part of my own personal history. I believe that having seen the Britannia was more eventful than if a movie star would have visited my ship during that week. The Queen and other principle royals were not aboard just the extended royal family. My memory is fuzzy about which ship I was on when it occurred but we did have an occasion to refuel the Britannia at sea.
Singapore is a city state on an island on on the tip of the Malaya Peninsula. Much of its landmass is due to land reclamation, that is to say it is built on land fill recovered from the surrounding straight. You can discover most of its history through Wikipedia, however I will lend my insight to it here. The most significant factor is that the island owes its modern origin to Sir Thomas Raffles. Raffles was seeking a place to plant a British Colony during the days of Empire. Chiefly, Raffles intent was to be a thorn in the side of the Dutch East Indies Company. Why? Mainly spices. Not only that the strategic location of Singapore dominated the trade route between the Far East and other British interests in India, Africa and the lands of the Middle East. Singapore is a multi-ethnic or cultural society composed of Chinese, Indian, Malay, Thai and Filipino peoples with some contribution of British, Australian and American Expatriates. The government and judicial system is conducted in English, however all Singaporeans are expected to master Mandarin, Malay or Tamil and English. Although the Chinese are expected to learn Mandarin the primary dialect of these Over Seas Chinese is Hokkein. Everyone in Singapore speaks English, the leadership after independence from Britain recognized that English was the Lingua Franca of the world and also that of commerce. MSC Far East used to be quartered at Subic Bay Naval Base but now makes its home in Singapore. Everything that I have studied on the subject of Singapore US relations indicates that the leadership welcomes the US presence as a stabilizing force in the region.
I personally love Singapore. The people are friendly and I had access to movie theatres, KFC, McDonalds, Pizza Hut and tourist destinations. There is one theme park built as a replica of an ancient Chinese walled city which is now called Haw Par Villa. It is similar and used to have the same name as the location known as Tiger Balm Gardens in Hong Kong. My wife had worked as a nanny in Singapore before she worked in Hong Kong. I always had a splendid time in Singapore. I even found a Christian book store in one of the Orchard Park shopping towers where I had purchased Mark Lowry's Mouth in Motion CD. One of the best things about Singapore is that a Compaq factory was located there, when ever I had issues with my Compaq laptop all I had to do was take it to the factory and they would resolve the issues for me. Sometimes I would have to wait a few hours but it was worth it considering that I was not paying for the service.
Singapore has a one party political system. Taking lessons from the past one might say that Singapore is the only true participatory democracy patterned after Athens that exists today. Every eligible voter in the country is required to vote in the elections, failure to vote in Singapore is an administrative crime. There are some other issues that some Americans might take issue with also and in fact have when one of their own was under its impact. Not flushing the toilet after ones business results in a $S 25.00 fine. That was the state of things as far back as 1997. The possession of and chewing of gum in Singapore is also prohibited. Some years ago an American teenager was caught with a spray can vandalizing someone's property with graffiti. The punishment for this offense is taking the striking of a bamboo cane on ones back. Everyone over here cried foul except for me. When you are living in someone else's country you ought to abide by their laws and not complain about the ramifications when you are caught. Singapore spent very much of its treasure cleaning up its original stinky image and they do not tolerate the behavior of those that wish to despoil their country. The problem over here in the US is that we coddle kids and are way to lenient on how we punish juvenile offenders. While the average American may think that the punishment does not fit the crime, the remaining factor is that the deterrent effect of caning keeps Singapore virtually vandalism free. Singapore also does not take kindly to motorists throwing rubbish out of their car windows, this to has a severe financial cost attached to it.
For an insight on Singaporean values I offer up this YouTube video.