Spring Break
My Life Without Gum, Cars And Commercialism
Bryan Murphy
Issue date: 1/25/08 Section: Commentary
Ni hao from Singapore. This tiny little island - only 270 square miles, making it less than five percent of Connecticut's area - is quite the fascinating contrast to my Storrsian Motherland. For example, while the average UConnite is fighting the cold, cursing the administration and trying to get drunk, the average Singaporean is fighting the heat and humidity, adoring their administration (the People's Action Party has overwhelmingly won every Singaporean election since 1959) and - well, a lot of them are still trying to get drunk, but they've got to deal with their government's incredibly expensive sin taxes.
Maybe the Economics Department could take a little field trip to this tropical island, located at the 1 degree north latitude. It's quite interesting to see economic principles directly applied by a benevolent but all-powerful government. One has a sense that Lee Kuan Yew, the man who has been "Prime Minister," "Senior Minister," or "Minister Mentor" of the country since 1959 probably just doesn't like gum, alcohol, cars or cigarettes himself. If he did, maybe they wouldn't be largely banned (gum) or so heavily taxed (alcohol, cars, cigarettes).
Then again, maybe the man is just a hard-nosed genius. When one could probably pogo from one edge of the country to the other in a day, anyway, what real need is there for cars? Sometimes you kind-of wish George W. Bush had the guts to step up and slap some big ol' taxes down on large automobiles.
While I'm staring morosely at $45 bottles of Smirnoff - one liter only, not even a handle - and my mouth is hanging slack without its customary chicle additive, there's one thing for this American ex-pat to find solace in Singapore: the variety, quality and value of the food. Singapore abounds with "hawker centres" - tiny conglomerates of small food stands, each "hawking" a particular specialty, be it Thai, Indian, Indonesian, or the universally unappetizing "Western" food. While it sometimes seems that not much that's much good can be had for cheap in Singapore, one can always be certain of there being highly appetizing, competitively-priced food within a couple of meters. And it's not only just the hawker centres - their ubiquitous presence forces many restaurants to compete on the same level. As a result, we're talking full-on Indian meals, here, in an air-conditioned restaurant with naan, a couple of different curries, dessert, rice and soup for six Singaporean dollars - factoring in the exchange rate, that's $4.28 U.S. It's incredible - it's practically unbelievable.
Maybe the Economics Department could take a little field trip to this tropical island, located at the 1 degree north latitude. It's quite interesting to see economic principles directly applied by a benevolent but all-powerful government. One has a sense that Lee Kuan Yew, the man who has been "Prime Minister," "Senior Minister," or "Minister Mentor" of the country since 1959 probably just doesn't like gum, alcohol, cars or cigarettes himself. If he did, maybe they wouldn't be largely banned (gum) or so heavily taxed (alcohol, cars, cigarettes).
Then again, maybe the man is just a hard-nosed genius. When one could probably pogo from one edge of the country to the other in a day, anyway, what real need is there for cars? Sometimes you kind-of wish George W. Bush had the guts to step up and slap some big ol' taxes down on large automobiles.
While I'm staring morosely at $45 bottles of Smirnoff - one liter only, not even a handle - and my mouth is hanging slack without its customary chicle additive, there's one thing for this American ex-pat to find solace in Singapore: the variety, quality and value of the food. Singapore abounds with "hawker centres" - tiny conglomerates of small food stands, each "hawking" a particular specialty, be it Thai, Indian, Indonesian, or the universally unappetizing "Western" food. While it sometimes seems that not much that's much good can be had for cheap in Singapore, one can always be certain of there being highly appetizing, competitively-priced food within a couple of meters. And it's not only just the hawker centres - their ubiquitous presence forces many restaurants to compete on the same level. As a result, we're talking full-on Indian meals, here, in an air-conditioned restaurant with naan, a couple of different curries, dessert, rice and soup for six Singaporean dollars - factoring in the exchange rate, that's $4.28 U.S. It's incredible - it's practically unbelievable.
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