My weekly roundup of the best of my LinkedIn posts about Singapore Life
Chris J Reed
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Welcome to the latest edition of my Exclusive LinkedIn Newsletter which is a compilation of the best of my LinkedIn posts about Singapore that went viral this week.
But first you will notice that my main photo is that of the legendary YouTube champion Max Chernov and myself.
Max was kind enough to interview me for his excellent YouTube channel all about expats that have settled in Singapore and many of whom, like myself, have become Singaporean.
My interview will be out in the next couple of months and is definitely worth waiting for!
In the meantime these are my Top 25 favourite interviews that Max has done on his channel with expat/immigrant entrepreneurs, CEOs and executives who have either come to Singapore and become Singaporean, like I did, or PR or just created a home and business here or Singaporeans who have gone away and come back. They are well worth a watch:
It's a fascinating insight into expats executives and entrepreneurs who have left their "home country", created a business or a niche for themselves in a company here and settled happily in Singapore and have no desire to leave. Most are either PR or Singaporean like myself.
Here's a compilation of the best of my LinkedIn posts about Singapore life that went viral this week. Enjoy.
With 40% of our country's residents being foreign and that number growing every year we have no choice but to embrace immigration to grow our economy: "Singapore should help immigrants, foreign workers adapt to the country's social norms: SM Lee".
"Singapore should help immigrants and foreign workers adapt to the country's social norms to build a cohesive and inclusive society,” said Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
Speaking at an appreciation dinner held in his honour by organisations from Singapore's Indian community, Mr Lee noted that the issue of immigrants and foreign workers raises "political sensitivities in many societies".
"Singapore relies heavily on them to top up (its) population base and talent pool", he said.
"Therefore, we must manage the inflow and integration of new arrivals with the utmost sensitivity and caution, to ensure that the flows are balanced and sustainable," he added.
Mr Lee said that Singapore must, however, "also stand firmly against nativism and xenophobia, and welcome the new arrivals to become part of (its) extended family".
"We should help them to adapt progressively to the way we do things in Singapore, to our social norms and ethos," he said.
"It is an ongoing process. But gradually, with the passage of the years and generations, the new arrivals will integrate into the local community. Mr Lee added: "This is how earlier generations became Indian Singaporeans, and it will happen with this generation, and with new arrivals from other groups and places too."
Mr Lee said that this will enable Singaporeans to "sustain and enrich" their shared identity."This is the way to build a cohesive, inclusive society – connected to the world, strengthened and not divided by our diversity," he said.
Mr Lee made the remarks after reflecting on how people of Indian origin had "formed part of the Singapore story since the earliest days of modern Singapore".
"Wisely put by SM Lee and he's spot on.Without controlled, targeted, immigration we can't grow our economy due to our low birth rate especially amongst our majority Singaporean Chinese community.
So we really do have no choice and therefore need to make the best of it as a win-win but in a targeted way not just letting anyone in, only in areas and specialities that we need.
Singapore can pick and choose who we let in to help us build our country, given our size, our country's amazing attributes and aspiring qualities are a very attractive proposition to foreigners wishing for a new life abroad.
What do you think?
Link to my post and comments here
Singapore's FnB scene is not for the fainthearted no matter who you are or think you are: "Simonboy and Peter Yu's Singabola Chicken Rice shutters less than 1 year after opening".
"Local influencer Simon Khung (also known as Simonboy) and actor Peter Yu dipped their toes into the F&B market by opening Singabola Chicken Rice in June 2024.
Despite being in operation for less than a year, the hawker stall located in Yishun has shuttered for good. Simonboy has commented on Facebook about the closure:
"Yup, business is either fail or succeed! At least we tried!"After entering then I realised F&B is very, very difficult. Hence, I encourage everyone to support our local F&B owners!" He added positively that "this experience won't stop me [from] trying and exploring".
"There are plenty of people who were rich before they decided to open a FnB outlet in Singapore! Unless you really have a track record and you really know what you're doing it's a fool's mission, even if you are an, ahem, "influencer".
I'd never heard of him and clearly he was not influencing enough people to keeop the store open.
What do you think?
Link to my post and comments here
Shocking but not uncommon: "Cyclist dies after getting hit by bus at zebra crossing near Jurong West".
If you look at the photo the cyclist is ON the zebra crossing and the bus passed it which means that the bus driver wasn't looking for people on the crossing and the cyclist may have ridden across it and been hit.
When I used to cycle to and from the CBD from the East Coast this used to almost happen to me multiple times.
I got into many arguments with drivers, usually of luxury cars again, who seemed to think that the zebra crossing was an optional stopping place and not a legally obligated one for motorists!
They seemed to think that cyclists were not allowed to use it and assumed that if they hit us then nothing would happen to them because of course they were in a car!
They were probably right.Many times I took photos of these guys after they sped past me actually on the zebra crossing and reported them but nothing happened to any of them.
It seems like Singaporean drivers do think it's ok to kill cyclists on zebra crossings.But it's illegal and they should be locked up, it's murder.
It's intentional and should be stamped out.
What do you think?
Link to my post and passionate comments here
The same people who will spend millions on housing or thousands on watches will quibble at a $1 increase at their favourite hawker: "Singaporeans’ reluctance to pay more for hawker food is endangering the trade.
Is it reasonable to say that everyday Singaporeans rely on hawker food, hence it ought to be cheap amid high costs of living? Food writer Pamelia Chia weighs in. "
No. Every business is entitled to make a profit and Singaporeans should be supporting them not denigrating them for trying to do so and still charging extremely low prices for amazing meals.
"Implementing higher pricing is challenging for many hawkers. When hawker Douglas Ng raised his fishball noodle prices by 50 cents, his business dropped by 40 to 50 per cent.
How can we understand Singaporeans’ reluctance to pay for hawker food and the complex landscape of hawker food pricing?
According to former head chef Nurl Asyraffie Mohamed Shukor patrons at hawker centres expect fast, cheap and filling meals.
He explains: “A lot of people don’t understand my food and they ask, ‘why is it so expensive?’ They don’t understand the work behind it. For the chicken, I need to brine it for two hours, then marinate overnight. The whole process is very tedious but they only see rice, chicken, and salted egg on the plate and think it should be S$3.”
It appears that hawker patrons expect local fare to remain cheap, but are willing to spend more money on other cuisines. Is it a case of double standards?
While Singaporeans’ reluctance to pay more for hawker food could be attributed to internalised bias - where Singaporean cuisine must justify its worth, while foreign cuisines, such as Italian or Japanese, are priced without question - the issue is more complex.
Singaporeans perceive traditional hawker food as “everyday food” rather than an occasional luxury. While fishball noodles may require more work and incur higher production costs than aglio olio, for instance, one could argue that it is the frequent consumption, rather than its lack of inherent value, that drives consumers to demand lower prices."
Singaporeans should pay more for Singaporean hawker food because if we don't they won't be around despite being UNESCO heritage listed.
What do you think?
Link to my post and comments here
I have heard so many stories of this kind of treatment of domestic helpers (DH) and worse: "Domestic Helper In SG Shares Her Demanding Schedule; Has To Work Non-Stop From 5.30am To 11pm Daily.
She doesn’t even have time allocated for her to have her meals, shower, or take a short break."You will note that this schedule also includes Sunday which while technically illegal has a loophole which many Singaporeans (and expats) get around by paying the DH a nominal amount when really the DH should be resting and relaxing with her friends.Animals get treated in some Singapore homes better than DHs do.
"A migrant domestic worker in Singapore, Ria (her name changed for anonymity), recently shared a photo of her demanding schedule with the Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (HOME), a local non-governmental organisation that champions migrant workers’ rights.Ria’s daily chore list, printed on an A4 sheet of paper (see below), sees her day starting at 5.30am, when she makes coffee for her employer.
Following that is a never-ending list of chores, which include sweeping and mopping the living room floor and carpark, laundry, helping her employers prepare for their workday, cleaning the toilets and other areas of the house, spraying insecticide, and cooking.
She only ends her day after completing her last chore at 11pm.There are also another set of chores listed at the bottom of her schedule and she’s required to do an extra task each day, like changing the bedsheets and cleaning the cupboards every Saturday.She also has to clean a whole bunch of things like her employer’s bicycles and gym bag every month.
Ria’s entire day is mapped out with time stamps allocated for each task, but sadly, there isn’t a single window allocated for her to eat her own meals, shower, or even take a short break. According to HOME, Ria described herself as perpetually exhausted as she is required to adhere to the schedule strictly.
She also doesn’t get enough rest on her day off, which only happens once a month.“ She could only leave the house at 10am after completing chores and had to return by 4pm to resume chores,” said HOME."
Appalling treatment of this DH and this is unfortunately not uncommon.
What do you think? What can be done legally and politiclly, because ultimately the government can step in if they wanted to, to change the view that DHs are expendable and can work without rest?
Link to my post and comments here
We love having the world's best passport! "In 2014, a US passport was most powerful. Now it’s Singapore’s.
This year, American passport holders can enter 186 countries and territories without a visa. For Singapore it’s 195".
It all helps me visit countries around the world to watch metal concerts and do business seamlessly!
What do you think?
Link to my post and comments here
Lock him up and throw away the key: "Jail for man who threatened to crash plane before it departed Changi Airport".
8 weeks for this?
This is no joke, he threatened to crash a plane multiple times.
Now maybe he should be in IMH and not in prison but he certainly should never be allowed to be anywhere near an airport or plane ever again.
"An Australian man who stopped over in Singapore before flying to Phuket had his holiday cut short when the Thai authorities barred him from entering their country as his passport had a page of visas torn out.
Marli Curtis Philip Moncrieff, 36, returned to Singapore shortly before 1.30am on Nov 20, 2024, but was also denied entry into the country for the same reason.
About four hours later, he was escorted to an aerobridge at Changi Airport to board a Jetstar flight back to Perth.
Upset at the turn of events, he said: “I want the aircraft to crash and kill everyone.
”Moncrieff was removed from the flight. He later told his girlfriend who was with him: “If they put me on another flight, I will tell them I will crash the plane again.”He was arrested soon after.
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On Jan 15, Moncrieff was sentenced to eight weeks’ jail after he pleaded guilty to a harassment charge.Before handing down the sentence, Principal District Judge Toh Han Li stressed that the case involved threats pertaining to aviation security, and added: “Words can have serious consequences.
”The judge also noted that Moncrieff had made the threats on more than one occasion."
A serial offender at this means at some point he's going to try and do it so better for everyone else if he's never allowed to travel on a plane again!
What do you think?
My post and comments here
Well we do love being No.1! "Singapore tops global innovation ranking of over 70 countries".
"Singapore has been named the world’s most innovative country, taking first place in a ranking of nations based on wide-ranging indicators such as workforce education level and new business creation rate.
It overtook the US to top the latest Global Innovation Scorecard, a biennial ranking of 74 countries and the European Union by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). The US trade body has been tabulating the scorecard since 2019.
Out of 25 countries that were named global innovation champions, Singapore received the highest composite score, a jump from its 15th position in 2023.
CTA said its scorecard measures countries on the basis of their political, economic and demographic realities to see how well placed they are to fuel tech innovation, with the latest edition evaluating countries on a wider range of metrics than before.
While the 2023 scorecard had 40 indicators, the latest one had 56, comprising a range of data sources from agencies such as the World Trade Organisation, World Intellectual Property Organisation and United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
Singapore achieved top scores in four of the 16 categories measured: business environment resilience and data transparency; the pro-innovation nature of its legal environment; its friendliness towards start-ups and small businesses; and its tax policies for companies.
The Republic also scored well in other categories, such as the ethnic and immigrant diversity of its workforce; openness to telehealth and cross-border data flows; and broadband speeds."
Amazing for our tiny city state to be top off this illustrious list of countries.
What do you think?
Link to my post and comments here
Why only a fine? "CEO fined over Singapore firm's failure to recognise S$16 million loss in financial statements.This gave an inaccurate picture of Miyoshi Limited’s financial health, says the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA)."
So why such a low fine?
"The chief executive officer of a Singapore manufacturing firm was fined S$22,400 (US$16,400) on Friday (Jan 10) over the company's failure to recognise a S$16 million impairment loss in its financial statements.
According to the charge sheet, Miyoshi Limited’s executive director and CEO Andrew Sin Kwong Wah had laid out the financial statements for the year ending Aug 31, 2019, before the company at its annual general meeting.
Miyoshi failed to recognise the S$16 million loss on the investment and overstated the value of its net assets by the same amount, said the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA).
This meant Miyoshi Group’s financial statements in the 2019 financial year were "materially misstated" and gave an “inaccurate picture” of the company’s financial health.
Had Miyoshi recognised the S$16 million impairment loss in its FY2019 financial statements, the group’s loss, before income tax, would have increased by more than 30 times to S$16.78 million and its total assets would have reduced by 19 per cent to about S$67.9 million."
So basically it's fraud!
As the CEO this guy is paid to be ultimately responsible so why was he not held to account?
A $20k fine for someone probably earning millions is pocket change.
Why such a low fine?Where's the deterrent here for other CEOs to not do the same thing?
What do you think?
Link to my post and comments here
This happens way too often because some employers here think that a DH's life is less important than cleaning the windows ????:
"Maid steps out to clean window, ends up stuck on 10th-storey ledge of Tampines block".
Well what's the worst that can happen?
She falls and you just go and get another one.....????????♂?
This is how these employers think.
The DH's life is worthless and expendable to them.
Like many things to do with DHs here it's technically illegal but never prosecuted and no one is ever held to account for treating their fellow human beings this way.
"At about 10.30am on Jan 13, a maid was left standing on the ledge outside a flat on the 10th storey of 848 Tampines Street 82.
Her body was pressed against the HDB block's facade as her hands held on tight to the window sill.
The maid had stepped over the sill to clean the windows.
"She has been very hardworking for the past eight months but we did not ask her to clean the windows. For some reason, she went to clean the outside of the windows.
"After cleaning the windows, the maid apparently could not figure her way back into the flat.
"She was quite calm at the time and stood outside for nearly an hour until the Singapore Civil Defence Force rescued her," said the employer."
Yeah right, she just had a whim to step outside onto the ledge of an HDB, risking her life, just to clean their stupid windows! ??????♂?
Do you think we were born yesterday?
She was clearly told to do it and now the employers are trying to cover it up.
It happens too often for this not to be the case.
What do you think?
Link to my post and comments here
What a waste of money, why are they still doing it? "Singapore Airlines extends title sponsorship for F1 for 4 more years till 2028".
Everyone who is an expert in sponsorship and marketing knows that if you sponsor an event for too long the positive brand awareness starts to decrease over time as you’ve saturated your market and your branding becomes wallpaper that people ignore.
Will SQ really get any more brand awareness with the F1 audience than they have done for the past 11 years by extending this sponsorship?
F1 audiences are pretty stable and loyal.
The chances are that the same people are watching the race each year. Surely they know about SQ after 11 years?
If they don't then that speaks volumes for the ineffectivness of their branding and messaging.
Althought this deal is only for the Singapore race clearly SQ are trying to appeal to a global audience but as more and more F1 races are in places that SQ doesn't fly to, Las Vegas and Miami for example, where is the ROI for people watching there to use SQ?
No one can fly from most of the F1 cities with SQ so what's the point? See below, 13 out of the 24 races SQ doesn't fly to so even if people in these locations did wish to use SQ they can't:
Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Monaco, Austria, Canada, Vegas & Miami, Brazil, Imola, Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Mexico, Azerbaijan, Hungary.
Were they forced to do it because Singapore doesn't have any other global brands that could have paid the money needed to sponsor the GP and they didn't wish to risk a competitor doing so?
"Singapore Airlines (SIA) has renewed its title sponsorship of the Formula 1 (F1) Singapore Grand Prix for four more years, it announced. SIA has been the title sponsor of F1 Singapore for 11 years – since 2014.
The extension of its sponsorship will cover the event this year, which is scheduled for Oct 3 to 5 at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, till 2028."
Money well spent or money down the drain?
I also laughed at this quote from SQ: "This extension underscores Singapore Airlines’ longstanding commitment to supporting the development of sports and tourism in Singapore.”
Yeah, right!
Name me any other sports that SQ sponsors in Singapore....go on, any.....!??????♂?
What do you think?
Link to my post and comments here
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Have a great weekend.
I'm off to Cape Town for my first concerts of the year and to see my team who are mostly based there and if they are not they are flying in from other parts of South Africa to meet up.
Who needs an office when I get to fly to Cape Town to meet my remote team in amazing South African restaurants and bars several times a year!
I also can't wait to see the double headlined concert of Green Day and The Offspring at the Cape Town Stadium (also called the DHL Stadium or Green Point Stadium!) on Thursday! ????????
The South African beers and wine will flow as "American Idiot" and "The Kids Aren't Alright" are blasted out by the bands to 55,000 adoring fans!
I can't wait to rock again in 2025!
Cheers.
Chris