How the rest of the world sees Singapore

Since we are struggling to define what the Singaporean core is, I thought I would turn this around and see what the rest of the world thinks about Singapore. I am currently doing a production in the West End of London now with a big international cast and before that I was working on a TV project in Belgium. So as you can imagine, I have had many conversations since the beginning of the year about Singapore with my fellow actors. Many of these conversations start with, "I'm not from China, I have some Chinese ancestry but really, I am mixed and most importantly, I am from Singapore." So, I had the chance to find out what people from around the world think about Singapore,

Gardens By The Bay, Singapore

American, Female, 32: I have never ever been to Singapore, but I get the impression that people from Singapore are super smart. Like when I met Singaporeans at my university (Berkeley), they were usually the smartest ones in the class - super hardworking, super high achievers, kinda all work no play. That's the other side of it, I found them to be no fun, like come on - surely a big part about going to university is the social aspect of it: making new friends, discovering new cultures, exploring new options in life. Singaporeans were not really social creatures at my university, they kept mostly to themselves and missed out on the social aspect of university life altogether - which is a shame, but oh well, I don't know if they even realized what they were missing out on.

Of course, I do realize that the Singaporeans I have encountered at Berkeley are the super smart ones who have earned a place at a great American university - but the fact is, you do have a certain kind of education system... a certain kind of culture that places so much emphasis on education to make them want to work so hard and do well in their studies. Singapore is a relatively small country yet there seem to be so many Singaporean students in Berkeley compared to other nationalities. Oh and they all have a very distinctive accent. I can spot a Singaporean quite easily when I hear them speak. I admit I do struggle to understand them sometimes if the accent is very strong.

Polish, Male, 30: Is Singapore really hot, right? It is a tropical island where it is crazy hot all year round? I think that's kinda sad, it's a shame for kids to grow up there and not get to see four seasons and appreciate nature that way. I have met Singaporeans in London who saw snow for the first time this winter and for them, it was like a dream come true, they were playing with the snow like children whereas where I come from in Poland, we get so much snow in winter we don't know what to do with it but we also have very hot summers too.

The Singaporean people I have met in London all seem to have good jobs or are studying at good universities - you must be doing something right with your education system there to produce people like that. I also remember that Singaporean people are very proud to tell you that they are not from China, that they are from Singapore - don't take this the wrong way, but when we see you, we tend to think "aha, this person is Chinese or Japanese", we don't really know the more subtle differences between the countries. If someone said I was Czech, Slovakian, Croatian or Ukrainian instead of Polish, I wouldn't care, it's no big deal - but Singaporeans get really upset if you don't get their nationality right. Never call a Singaporean a Malaysian or Chinese.

What does the world think of Singapore?

Irish, Male, 44: I get the impression that Singapore is this super high tech place, where everything is so modern and everything smells of fresh paint. It is like this city out of a futuristic movie, except it is real. I have been there some time back and I totally loved the way I could understand everything in Singapore as it is English-speaking, compared to like in Japan or Korea where people don't really cater for foreigners who don't speak the local language.

It feels like a bit of a pressure cooker as well - people work so hard there, long hours in the office, it is fiercely competitive, kids there are under pressure to perform well at school and it's just so different from in Europe where people are just a lot more laid back about things like that, you know? I suppose that competitive spirit is not necessarily a bad thing as it gets people to work hard, but I wouldn't want to be a part of that system. It's not for me - Singapore is just a lovely tourist destination for me, but I don't think I would want to live in a place like that.

Tourist friendly but is it a nice place to work?

British, Female, 29: I spent some time in Singapore in my gap year whilst travelling around that part of the world. It is a very beautiful city, it's so clean - I love Singapore! Public transport works so well, the food is incredible and it is so tourist friendly. I feel so safe wandering around the streets at night - I wouldn't want to walk around Bangkok, Manila or Jakarta alone at night as a woman. I'd love to go back there and spend more time there if I had the money - it is also quite expensive compared to the rest of Asia, but I understand it is also one of the world's richest countries, right? I'd go back there when I have more money so I can get me a suite at the Raffles Hotel and do Singapore in style.

I understand that there are issues to do with censorship and press freedom there - I have heard my Singaporean friends complain about it. As someone who works in the creative arts, I think that would really stifle the careers of those trying to stage productions or make films there ... I don't envy them trying to work with strict censorship, gosh - it's like those writers in the days of communism in Eastern Europe, like in the German film Das Leben der Anderen. It must suck working under such conditions, right? I guess that's really bizarre for me to try to fathom... as it does appear to be such a modern city as you walk down Orchard Road, you wouldn't associate this kind of censorship with such a modern city. That's a real mindfuck for me. Oh and I remember the Singapore government whipped that American teenage vandal, I can't remember his name as that was a very long time ago but that's something I remember my sister talking about it as she went to Singapore in the mid-90s. She was telling us, "that's the Asian country where they whip vandals!"

Belgian, Male, 50: Oh yeah, I've been to Singapore quite a few times, usually on my way to or back from Australia where I have some relatives. Can I be frank? It's not my kind of place, I don't like it - don't take it personally, but unlike many tourists who never make it out of Orchard Road, I actually did take the time to wonder around those housing estates where real Singaporeans live and I found it really claustrophobic. I remember getting the MRT to this estate and I thought, yeah I wanna go see where the real people live and eat the food that they eat and experience the real Singapore. You know, go where ordinary tourists do not venture, off the beaten track as they say.

I got out of the MRT station and walked around, looking for something interesting - I don't know, like a park or some monument or anything of cultural or religious interest, but there were just loads of shops selling all kinds of things and food... Perhaps I had built up my expectations - like you can wander around somewhere like a small town in Thailand and then just stumble quaint little Thai temple that has been around for centuries and is still lovingly preserved by the locals who worship there. There was none of that in Singapore - just these very high blocks of flats. I was trying to retrace my steps back to the MRT station then I got lost, every block began to look the same to me. It's not like they were bad or ugly... but it just struck me that there was no character to any of these blocks and one had to actually look at the block number to recognize the block - how bad is that? I remember walking on to this street thinking, "I swear this was the way I came." Then I realized no, it wasn't for I eventually found my way to a different MRT station, but the two streets just looked so similar I couldn't tell the difference. Yet these flats are expensive I understand, so why do people pay so much for this kind of housing? You can buy a beautiful house in Belgium for so much less.

These flats looked monotonous to my Belgian friend.

In Belgium, yes we have some flats like that too, especially in Brussels but they're in the minority and in my home town, you would never have to check the block number of the building, you would be able to recognize individual buildings. No two streets are the same - whereas that was the impression I got in Singapore. So the rich people can have their fancy condominiums with gorgeous swimming pools and gyms - but am I right in saying that the bulk of ordinary Singaporeans live in housing estates with flats that resemble the ones I visited?  Yeah, I really don't want to spend my life in a place like that, sorry. When you cram too many people into a small place, that is the result.

33, French, Female: I have been to Singapore yes and I remember it well. Three years ago, I stayed there for a week with a Singaporean friend of mine whom I went to university with. Her family had a very nice house, they were rich and seemed very keen to impress me. They took me to see the most beautiful sights in Singapore, fancy restaurants and refused to let me pay. They seemed to have this obsession with Orchard Road and somehow made it a point to take me there, but hey, I loved it all and they were such great hosts. I thought, oh how kind of them... then one morning, I woke up early and overheard a conversation my friend had with her mother.

My French friend enjoyed her time at Orchard Road. 

Her mother genuinely believed that I was a stuck up French bitch who would look down on Singaporeans - that was why she was trying so hard to remind me that they were a rich family. She was worried that I wouldn't like the clothes she was wearing. What? Oh please, as if I didn't notice the size of their house, the maids they had or the big cars they drove - it's impossible not to notice how rich they were, yet this part I don't really understand. They seem to have a chip on their shoulders about white people looking down on Singaporeans and they just assumed that because I am French, I must be racist that way and look down on them. That hurts man, that hurts - it's like they assume I am racist and I have to prove that I am not? That's guilty until proven innocent! That wasn't fair, was it?

I remember my friend telling me all about how fun Singaporean hawker centres are and I really wanted to go experience one for myself - y'know, walk from stall to stall, seeing what other people were eating, smelling the different aromas and following my nose, trying all kinds of exotic dishes. But her mother was like, "no, don't bring her to a hawker centre, she'll think that Singaporeans are low-class." Hey, don't put words in my mouth please, don't tell me what I think of Singapore - I am quite capable of forming my own opinion! I did make it to a hawker centre eventually, I had to literally sneak away from the family one afternoon and I utterly totally loved it. I wanted to eat everything there, it was so amazing. I loved the food at the hawker centres, I would become so fat if I'd lived in Singapore.

No trip to Singapore is complete without the hawker centre experience!

I had to tell my friend I overheard that conversation and my friend apologized for her mother's attitude - she said it's the older generation who grew up when Singapore was a colony of the British and the white people had a different relationship with the locals then. I don't get it - why this insecurity? It's like the Singaporeans are proud of what they have achieved as a nation, but are not convinced that the rest of the world has noticed. You just have to look at the amazing skyline in Singapore to know how super rich that country is, one can't help but notice it - why are you still worrying about white people looking down on Singapore? Why? I don't understand.

Just to prove that I am not some stuck up French bitch, I bought her mother a really nice gift on my last day in Singapore - it was a beautiful gold necklace and it was a token of my appreciation to thank her for her hospitality. I knew her mother liked gold jewellery. When they were seeing me off at Changi Airport, her mother gave me a small box and said, "a little souvenir from Singapore, to remind you of Singapore when you go back to France." I was about to put it in my suitcase when she told me to put it in my hand luggage so I won't lose it. So I thought, okay... but I didn't want to open the box in front of her as that would seem rude - but the moment I got through passport control, I opened the box and good grief, it was a diamond bracelet. I got her a gold necklace, she had to outdo me and get me a diamond bracelet. No wonder she didn't want me to put it in my suitcase! I thought, it's so sweet of her to get me such an expensive gift, but I hope she didn't do it out of this compulsion to impress me lest I look down on her family!

Japanese, 35, Female: I have been to Singapore - a few years ago, in 2009. It is a very beautiful city, very clean, very efficient - I know a lot of Japanese tourists go there and there is a sizeable Japanese expatriate community there. It's great for me you know, to be able to experience another Asian culture without having to struggle on in another language. I went to Thailand on that same trip and had such a language barrier there as I obviously don't speak Thai but with just English, I had a great time in Singapore. Good food, great shopping and everything is so tourist friendly. It was very hot every day and sometimes when it rained, the humidity was unbearable - but luckily many places had air-conditioning and the evenings were a lot more pleasant. I liked exploring the city by night on foot. Boat Quay!

I am kinda wary about travelling to China as there are anti-Japanese riots in China every now and then, so China will have to wait till things truly calm down. Sure, I am aware of what happened in WW2 and I know that the Japanese invaded Singapore, occupied it for a few years until the end of the war. But you know, nobody really talks about what happened then in Singapore whilst I was there - they welcome the Japanese and I was a bit concerned like, "would there be anti-Japanese sentiments like in China?" Not at all! I see Japanese chain stores everywhere, sushi restaurants, Japanese goods in the shops, Japanese fashion labels, Japanese everything! I think Singaporeans have a very relaxed attitude about their relationship with Japan and that's really good - you're confident enough to deal with Japan at face value, unlike China... I realize it's a complex issue, but I like the Singaporean approach.

I'd love to go back to South East Asia, maybe go to somewhere like Bali or Cambodia and fit Singapore into that trip. I liked laksa, I want to eat an authentic Singapore laksa again and then treat myself to all those delicious local deserts.

Too many, usually older: Where is Singapore? Somewhere in China...?