Notes from the East

Where to start?

I’m going to clump these by overall topic, but if I were more intelligent, or gave it more time (most likely both), I might be able to tie the whole thing into a cultural narrative. But, this is what you get. Perhaps I have mentioned one or all of these things before. Refer to the sentence above. If I were more intelligent or diligent about looking back I would know for sure.

Cars

To purchase a car in Singapore you must do the following:

Buy/Own a Certificate of Entitlement (COE). These are basically a license to be allowed to own a car. You have to have one—they are good for 10 years. The prices have been between $10,000 and $20,000 generally. This money goes right to the government. The prices have tanked lately because of the economy—down to $2 for the “smaller” cars (like up to 1600 ccs or whatever). The prices are higher for bigger cars. The idea to regulate the growth/number of cars on the road each year to about a 3% increase and they use an auction to determine the price that clears the market to do that—that is why when people are worried about jobs and the economy they do not bid as high and so the bid goes to $2 (which is unprecedented).

Anyway, you get your license to be able to buy a car; then, you have to pay for the

Registration and Import Taxes As no cars are made in Singapore you cannot get away from import taxes—of 41% of the value of imported cars. This amount goes to the government. You also have to pay $1,000 for Registering the Vehicle (a very minimal sum at this point). And, here is the whopper!!! When a car is first registered (whether new or used), an Additional Registration Fee (ARF) of 150 per cent of the car's Open Market Value is payable.

There are all kinds of toll roads and road taxes each year (like inspection stickers more or less) that add to the cost of operating a car.

But, to buy a new BMW 328 (A) (2.8cc) would cost you about $238,000—that is Singapore dollars. So at the current exchange rate it would be about USD$162,000! From a website I found a price in the US of USD $41,000.

To put this in perspective: if I took a cab every single place I go in a month and so did Leon and even Siena it would cost us at the most about $400—Singapore dollars. The bus ride from Siena’s school to our house costs me $0.67 and I believe its about the same to Leon’s work from here.

Crazy. I just cannot see where they get the money. I have heard that the loans are huge amounts and that often when you sell a car in three years or so you have to write a check to cover the shortfall between the resale price (especially for export) and the balance on the loan. Also, Singapore is the 2nd or 3rd largest exporter of used cars in the world—this from a country 1/100th the size of the King Ranch that does not even make cars! People love to have new cars and new phones—they change cell phones every 3 months or so and cars every three years.

Public Sector Pay

Apparently civil servants receive a 13th month salary as a bonus each year and also get Annual Variable Components bonuses (for CPI) and Growth Bonuses-w-hen the economy grows. They don’t get as much of the AVC and GB bonuses—or none at all when the economy is in the shape it is now (and expected to be for 2009).

The pay of the Ministers is very high. This is the way in which corruption is never allowed to take hold. For example, top officer holders (President and PM) get $3.1 million per year and entry grade Ministers get $1.57 million this year. However, this is a 19% cut from last year. The Members of Parliament get $190,000—down 16% from last year. Here is a direct quote from the venerable Straights Times:

“The pay of Cabinet ministers and top civil servants has been pegged to the taxed income of top earners in six professions in the private sector since 1994. Last year, an additional mechanism was introduced to link a “significant” portion of pay—close to 25% this year—to the performance of the economy, to allow for more rapid adjustments to changing market conditions…Since the pay formula was introduced, top civil servants and ministers have seen their pay go down several times along with the county’s economic fortunes—in 1997, 1999, 2001 and 2003.”

The Judiciary, the City-State, LKY and the Press

This excerpt will have to speak for itself:

Singapore's High Court has found the Wall Street Journal Asia in contempt of court for a commentary it published about the city-state in June and July. The court fined Dow Jones Publishing Co (Asia), a subsidiary of News Corp's Dow Jones & Co unit and publisher of the Wall Street Journal's Asian edition, 25,000 Singapore dollars (US$16,573)—the highest amount ever levied for such a case in Singapore.
Justice Tay Yong Kwang ruled Tuesday against the newspaper and two of its editors, three weeks after Attorney-General Walter Woon argued the editorials published in June and July questioned the judiciary's independence from Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and the ruling People's Action Party, the Associated Press (AP) reported. Not meting out punishment in this case would undermine the country's rule of law, the court said.
The letter to the editor was written by Chee Soon Juan, head of the opposition Singapore Democratic Party. The editorials and the letter "contained insinuations of bias, lack of impartiality and lack of independence and implied that the judiciary is subservient to Lee and/or the PAP and is a tool for silencing political dissent," Tay wrote in the ruling. "There can be no doubt that allegations of the nature mentioned above would immediately cast doubts on the judiciary in Singapore and undermine public confidence."
Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has condemned the ruling. "Even if the fine is not colossal, the ruling very clearly shows that Singapore’s judges have no intention of letting the foreign media express themselves freely about the country’s judicial system, which is lacking in independence," it said.
"Another Dow Jones publication, the Far Eastern Economic Review, has also been prosecuted in Singapore," RSF added. "The way this company is being hounded by the government and judicial system—which takes its orders from Lee Kuan Yew and his son, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong—is utterly deplorable. We urge the Singaporean authorities to stop prosecuting foreign news media."
A Dow Jones spokesman told RSF, "Dow Jones is extremely disappointed with the ruling of the high court and strongly disagrees with the court’s analysis that the editorials and letter to the editor constitute contempt of court. Also, contrary to what the attorney general has alleged, the Wall Street Journal Asia has not engaged in a ’campaign’ of any sort against the Singapore judiciary. We will in the future continue to defend the right of the Wall Street Journal Asia to report and comment on matters of international importance, including matters concerning Singapore."
The prosecution was brought by the attorney general, who said the editorials and the letter, published in June and July of this year, "impugned the integrity, impartiality and independence of the Singapore judiciary."
Denying any illegal intent on the part of the newspaper, its lawyer, Philip Jeyaretnam, said it had simply wanted to inform a readership that knew the difference between information and criticism. The letter was written by Chee Soon Juan, one of the leading members of the Singaporean opposition. It was an article about Chee that led the prime minister and his father, Lee Kuan Yew, to sue the Far Eastern Economic Review. The high court ruled at the end of September that the magazine had libelled the Lees ordered it to pay damages. The size of the damages award has not been released.
Exciting place to be living.

Movie Theaters

Seats are reserved.

There are whole food courts outside the theaters where you can buy all kinds of food and take it in. Somehow I have not found it very smelly as you would imagine. There are two kinds of popcorn-sweet (caramel corn) and salted (the normal kind), but no butter-lard!

Each theater has a restroom off to the side where the sound for that movie is on so you really don’t miss much. Its not just one bathroom its like the normal one you would have—3 stalls for women (I assume something of the like for men) and its behind a curtain that then leads to the doors so it stays dark in the theater—its very civilized.

Public restrooms

Other than (and probably even including) Japan, these are the cleanest anywhere in the world. Its really a surprise because Singaporeans don’t clean up their table after eating, the movie theater upon leaving, anything, but they do seem to keep a toilet clean.

Christmas Decorations

Yes. You complainers about Christmas starting too soon and being too commercialized in the US have no idea! The first Christmas tree in the mall was up November 5th. The entire main shopping district is more lit up than 5th Avenue and there is no qualm about a country of only 15% Christians having giant Merry Christmas banners all over. It is a shopping excuse and that is what really matters here.

We miss Thanksgiving in the US, but are going to do up a Singapore-style one here on Saturday with some friends—pool party, BBQ, some turkey and cranberry..traditional November activities.

Faith