How mad is this place? Singapore

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Who knows how many people there are in Singapore? No one knows. And I mean that literally. The government may have some idea but today they said that 20% of the people who do NS are not native Singaporeans. So it stands to reason, if 50% of the people are men, 20% of the population are non-native and 100% of the non-native population must make up 40% of the citizens of Singapore. It seems to be simple maths.

Unless they are only accepting boys or if parents are only making their male children citizens.

OK, maybe 30% - since maybe a few of those parents are actual Singaporeans.

This means that the government thinks that they have managed to engineer 30% of certain PAP votes.

There are a few very interesting things I have discovered walking around Singapore.

Firstly, there is a mind boggling array of types.

You have what they love calling the 'heartlanders' - people who stay in HDB flats. They are the salt of the earth, the people who - to be honest I don't know the jobs Singaporeans work in. All the menial jobs are not done by them, not the nurses. I think teachers are still Singaporean. Policemen I think. But what do they work at? No idea.

They aren't waiters, they don't staff shops - all shops are staffed by foreigners. From India, Malaysia, China. I think our bus drivers are from China. Let me think...do they work in manufacturing or finance? No idea...

There are the older population. I think that around 25% of the population is older than 50 years old, maybe more than that. Maybe even 30%, possibly 40%. There are in fact so many old people in Singapore I see them all the time - and they all seem quite immobile. Many walk very slowly. People who appear my age actually appear to be quite old. Like life has worn them down.

I watch the people take the train and the bus - all heartlanders. They get on at housing estates... and where do they disappear to? And who works in all those office buildings? So confusing. All that space... for what? Before they made those buildings did they do a cost analysis of who would be using them and what it would take to keep them running?


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