Economics Part 3: Standard of living

The cost of living is a worry for many.

For all households, the main items responsible for the higher cost of living were food, school and tuition fees, and medical treatment fees, SingStat said. This meant that the consequences of a high cost of living in Singapore are poverty which mainly affected the low-income group. However, some of the middle-income group also do feel the pinch because they’re not entitled to the benefits and yet they feel the full blow of increases in the cost of living. Becuase of the high school fees In Singapore, non-Singaporean will also suffer from studying in Singapore because they are not subsidised further by Singapore government such as the Edusave Account, Kindergarten Fee Assistance Scheme (KiFAS) Elderly who suffer from illnesses may be unable to afford the medical fees due to the high cost of living. Fortunately, schemes such as the Medisave scheme, Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS) will help the elderly to have affordable medical cost.

The "C" Word: E and C week

On Term 1 Week 10, I went to 3 different places- Masjid Sultan & Madrasah Aljunied, Little India and Kampong Glam. This journey had deepened my knowledge with other religion culture and had cleared some doubts I had experienced before this EnC week.

“Experiencing another’s culture may open doors that were previously closed...but the choice to walk through those doors is entirely up to you”

The most impactful lesson

The most impactful lesson was probably the first time I walked into the Madrasah Aljunied Al-Islamiah. I still remembered that there were many boys wearing their uniform, standing and singing a Malay song. Initially, I thought that there would only be 1 song, but I was wrong. The boys consecutively sang for 3 or 4 songs which lasted for a good 3 to 4 minutes per song. After walking around the boys, I realised there were also girls at the back of the boys singing together with the boys. The girls were also wearing the classic attire with the hijab on their head. The songs they sang were definitely loud to be heard. I initially thought of these songs as their school songs as they were standing in front of the principal and most were standing straightly singing the song in pride in the morning. I had many questions such as wondering what songs were they singing, why were they singing the songs and do they not feel tired standing for so long. To get my doubts answered, I asked one of the teachers there and they said that the songs were part of their prayers and that they had to sing the songs daily without fail in front of the principal. This made me realise they were very respectful of their own religion as they followed their daily procedure without fail although standing up for a long period of time will be very tiring with an addition to their head to toe uniform to add on and this made me very respectful of them. Compared to me, I frequently complain about the hot weather Singapore has to offer and my uniform but I am still not wearing the full-body attire the girls have to wear to school and standing so long. This makes me very ashamed of myself for grudging about everything when someone out there was experiencing tougher conditions than me.

Main objective

•    To expose and learn about the different cultures and practises of other races.

During my learning journey, I learnt about the Malay and Indians are common in the generous use of spices such as Garlic, Coconut, Cinnamon Dried Chili to flavour their food. The Malay cuisines are also influenced by other cultures such as the use of soy sauce in the Malay dish, Daging Masak Kicap (Soy Sauce Beef).

Dried Chili

My visit to the Masjid Sultan had also deepened my knowledge about the customs and beliefs of the Muslims. By visiting the Masjid Sultan Mosque, I learnt that the Muslims believed in everyone having a chance of contributing to the society -the rich contribute gold for the two gold painted domes while the poor contribute glass bottles for the black ring at the base of the dome. Women were also treated equally such as in a mental relationship, women have the rights to retain her last name and any money that she earns belong to her alone.

I feel very guilty because I initially had thought that the minority races are very inclusive. However, they were actually the opposite by the shows of different religions were accepting to each other such as the usage of soy sauce in a Malay dish. They also try to make people feel included by not leaving the poor out and letting everyone have a chance in contributing.

Improvement for the programme

I felt that the trip to Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple could be improved. On that day, we had to walk about 15 minutes there in the blazing hot sun with only occasional stops and some stops were not even in the shade. I had to walk quickly and it was almost impossible to take photos. On arrival, vague instructions were given and around one-third of the class did not enter due to religious restrictions. We were only given around 6  minutes to explore the temple when the visiting hour ended. The whole procedure was very frustrating because of the limited time, long tedious journey and I were sweating profusely. I feel that there could be better time management or if the journey is really impossible to complete, I suggest that the trip to Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple could be cancelled and other nearer sites could be chosen to replace it.

Conclusion

As a student in River Valley High School, the chances of interacting with other races students are extremely low, resulting in our weak knowledge of other races culture and misunderstanding can occur very frequently. Fortunately, with this learning journey trip, I get to be exposed to their culture and differences and managed to clear my doubts. Although I was very reluctant to go on this learning journey, I kept an open mind so that I could learn something instead of wasting my time there.

Economy (Part 2)

What are the lessons the Suzhou Industrial Park has to offer?

1. We must be cautious of who we make friends with and investments. For example, the China-Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park went into debt when China had suddenly built a competitive new park-the Suzhou New District Industrial Park and ended up losing an average of $23.5 million a year.
2.As long as it is a win-win situation, it does not hurt to share ideas with other countries and grow with them. E.g.New York, London and Paris are not threats to Singapore but mutually complementary parts of a globalised world.

As a small country,should Singapore continue to share her development experiences with other countries?

Yes, Singapore should continue. Singapore have developing experiences, other countries have resources to help us. Exchange, is it not a win-win situation? Countries can prosper together. One for all, all for one. Since Singapore has very little land area as well, we can collaborate with other nations to provide us with the land and in return tell them some developing tips. Singapore can never survive alone and need strong relationships with other countries. 

Economy(Part 1)

Why do you think it is important that Singaporeans are not complacent and why the relationship with China is important?

As Singaporean is a small little red dot, we cannot be complacent and must strive for excellence because such a small country can be abandoned and left out by major countries such as the United States of America. We will have to remain competitive and develop faster than any nation so that we can survive in this competitive world and not cease to exist. Furthermore, there are many issues that can only be addressed with the cooperation of other countries to solve the issue. One such issue is terrorism. As the threat terrorism is close to home but the country who is developing the terror is further away from home, and Singapore have limited resources to fight against terrorist, we are dependent on more developed countries to help us. Hence, Singapore must remain humble and build strong relationships with other countries so that Singapore can remain in a safe position for peace and harmony and we can tackle issues with other countries, increasing support for Singapore and at the same time decreasing the burden of Singapore to tackle issues. Many Singapore criminals have been successfully captured in other countries due to the strong inter-relationship with neighbouring countries such as the famous capture of Mas Selamat Kastari in Sudaki, Malaysia.

Why is the relationship with China important?

Adapted from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-04/who-is-most-dependent-on-china

As you can see from the graph, Singapore economy is largely dependent on China on GDP. With us knowing that China is one of our largest influence on Singapore's economy, we must ensure we maintain the strong relationship with one of our largest trading partners. If China dies, Singapore dies. Hence, the relationship with China is important as we rely a lot on China.