Geography Now! SINGAPORE

Alright, sing poorly, if any of you watched my previous videos, you'll know that I had the incredible experience of visiting this country a couple of years ago. My Singaporean friends Nigel Ben and Kevin will appear again in this episode. I will say that I understand. Why is Singapore an internationally renowned fashion hotspot? It is a small country with a big ambition. It went from a few dilapidated wooden stilt houses and boat fishermen to literally a boat on top of three skyscrapers. Either way, one thing is for sure, Singapore is definitely not poor Singapore. It's my turn?

It's time to learn

geography

. Hello everyone. I am your host. Barb is welcome to the jewel of Asia. The only place in the world that gained its independence against its will. We'll talk about that later, but there is one thing you can do. On your own, get a Geographic Now mug, t-shirt, or drawstring bag at Geographicnow.com. It doesn't sell out if it's my brand. In any case, get ready because we are about to look at the world and find this gem of a nation in three two Singapore or Pulau Ujong anyway it is the only island city-state in the world something is clearly happening here so let's go to the first world the country is located in southeast asia, just at the southern tip of the malay peninsula to the west is the strait of malacca and to the south and east are the real islands of indonesia,

singapore

is made up of one main island,

singapore

, which makes up approximately 95% of the country's landmass, as well as 63 other smaller satellite islands and islets.

In fact, to this day Singapore has increased its land mass by 22 since independence through land reclamation. In fact, if you look here at the Tuas Peninsula, you can even see that it is currently being reclaimed every day and is expected to be completed by 2030. Here Jurong Island was actually an amalgamation of seven previous islands reclaimed in one and It is now used as an industrial complex in addition to Singapore Island, although only two other islands are residentially inhabited Pulau Ubin and Sentosa Island, otherwise the rest are used for other purposes such as military laboratories, wildlife sanctuaries, etc. .

Now the country doesn't exactly have official administrative divisions, but when it comes to building sections, there are five development councils that bring communities together mainly for the government. housing projects when elections approach, although they have neighborhoods of single member and group constituencies, these areas are allocated a certain number of seats in parliament to allow for a somewhat balanced representation of ethnic groups in the country , although the country is only about 725 square kilometers. in size, making it the 20th smallest country in area, they actually have a lot of air transportation, they have seven military airports and airstrips and two public airports.

If two. Everyone thinks that Singapore's Changi International was voted the best airport in the world for several years in a row. It is the only one, but if you go just 16 kilometers north you will find this small hidden airport. It operates flights to Indonesia and Malaysia, as well as private flights and a flight training school; Otherwise, the country has an incredibly complex and highly operational network. Of roads, railway lines and shipping docks, there are two bridges connecting to Malaysia over the Strait of Johor. The busiest one goes to Johor Baru city on Johor causeway bridge in the north and then there is the second link bridge, toll road which Entering the west side, people usually take this road to go to Legoland Malaysia, after Shanghai Singapore has the second largest shipping container port in the world, capable of transporting nearly 40 million containers a year from there, many other commercial ports are used for the public, such as the port center. and the marina bay cruise center now you can't talk about singapore without mentioning the mrt, the oldest, busiest and most expensive railway system in southeast asia.

It also has the world's longest driverless network and some of the world's deepest subway tunnels and Finally, a fun fact: Christmas Island and Cocos and Keeling Islands were at one time part of Singapore under British rule, but they were then transferred to Australia in 1957. Actually, as great as the airport is, back to Singapore's infrastructure is internationally renowned. Because they have very strict laws when it comes to things like car and home ownership, basically all cars must have an IU or in-vehicle unit, a device that is installed on the windshield and is basically a prepaid account to the that money is deducted when you drive under erp toll passes besides that, owning a car is quite difficult, as ben explains here, the government strongly advocates the use of public transport, such as buses and the subway, which in Singapore we call. call mrt and besides that, to regulate the number of car owners and the number of cars on Singapore roads, if one wants to buy a car, not only do we have to pay for the car itself, but we also have to paying for the certificate of ownership and that certificate that piece of paper can cost up to thirty thousand dollars and those thirty thousand dollars actually vary depending on the season because what happens is that this coe goes through a voting system and this coe lasts a ten year period after ten years you have the option to renew the coe for another five years or you have to straighten out the car and get a new car and get another new coe for another 10 years so crazy rich asians and ben on home ownership explain how it is done. work in singapore, what is the hdb?

If I'm not mistaken, I think 90% of the land here in Singapore belongs to the country. hdb is in charge of apartment construction, it built apartment buildings for the majority of Singaporeans to live in, so about 80 percent of Singapore's population and these flats or these apartments, we can say that we are owners, but technically it's for at least 99 years, but considering the country isn't even 99 years old, no one knows exactly what the end of the lease would look like, but yeah, and that's how we manage to keep everyone protected. Thanks Ben, this means housing runs easier and faster because you don't have to worry about bureaucratic issues like department approval or ordinance laws.

Basically, the whole point of real estate in Singapore is to buy. live, not really invest, yeah you will never watch one of those HGTV fin shows that air here, in any case it's time to move on to the famous places segment, the source of wealth, Orchard Road, has like the best Chinatown shopping with street market and Buddha tooth. relic temple and museum kampong glam with lane and sultan mosque little india with mustafa center and sri vira maka liaman villa halpar universal studios the night safari las ondas henderson jurong bird park marina bay sands and the infinity pool in the rooftop so many museums cemeteries and art galleries and probably the most iconic landmark, the gardens by the bay with the super trees and the cloud forest and the flower dome, yes those super trees are really cool, I was lucky enough to Seeing them when I visited, it's crazy how much emphasis Singapore puts on merging concrete with nature, which brings us to now Singapore gets its name from the word Singapore derived from Sanskrit meaning city of lions, although there are no lions here, No one knows exactly why it's called Singapore then, but the most popular theory comes from the Malay annals which claim that this guy sailed here and in the 13th century he was like whoa I think I see a lion is that not a lion, there are no lions in this part of the world that must have been a tiger not too late I already saw it already invented In my opinion, Singapore, so yeah, that's basically it.

In any case, Singapore with limited space comes with limited environmental responsibility. Here is the moving graph, first of all, since the country is highly urbanized. Singapore has lost about 90 percent of its historic forest and most of what remains. It is located in the Sun Gabulo Wetland or Bukit Timah Nature Reserve and the surrounding green areas in the center of the main island, speaking of which here you can find the highest point of Pukitima Hill at about 163 meters high , this notable area in the center of the country has the best-known freshwater reservoirs that supply the country's inhabitants, such as Mcritchie Reservoir, Central Water Catchment and Upper Celatar Reservoir, however, it is this, the Lower Pierce Reservoir, which is the source of the country's longest river. the kalang river, which is more like a controlled stream that flows about 10 kilometers to the largest body of fresh water. the marina bay reservoir, which is actually fed by five rivers.

This reservoir alone supplies around 10 of the country's freshwater needs. It started in 2008 with salt water, but then within two years they desalinated and drained the remaining salt water. The freshwater bay is separated from the saltwater sea only by a narrow dam called the Marina Barrage, only about 10 meters wide. Note this guy here, the Pandan Reservoir to the west contains more water and surface area, but the water is not transportable and is used to service the industrial sector, as the island is only about a degree away. and a half north of the equator. They have a rainforest climate with relatively uniform temperatures throughout the year.

However, for nine months of the year they experience two monsoon seasons, between November and March and from June to September, they also have an average humidity level of 84.2 and it is not uncommon to rise to 100, especially on rainy days, yes, pretty rainy in fact there's even a saying for rain because of sweat either way you'll get wet it's like florida i'm like florida man i think so keith you're a florida man but what's it worth as the As the country becomes more urban and developed, they are trying to preserve as much nature as they can, which is kind of a challenge, I mean, it's like skyscrapers are springing up everywhere.

What are you going to do? One very creative way they have been doing this is through the tactic of fusing their concrete and steel foundations with hedges. of flora what the hell am I doing with my hands to explain more guess who's back noah how about I'm back let's get to it with singapore the very continuity of your country depends on the balance they've taken many steps to integrate vertical greenery and As much space as it takes possible, you can see this in many places like the Oasia hotel in downtown, which literally has vines growing all over the outside of the girl, plus there are actually some small plots of land designated for agriculture, mainly in the northwest quadrant of the country. here are more than two thousand farms averaging about two and a half acres each;

However, they invest heavily in the financial technology business and services sectors. The country places great emphasis on encouraging entrepreneurs with free trade policies and easily accessible government subsidies and funds. third least corrupt economy with low tax rates, in addition, all workers under 55 must donate 20 of their salaries to the central welfare fund, which is a social savings fund like a pension, employers give 17 of their profits So in a nutshell these are some of the main factors that made the country so prosperous so fast and speaking of fast here comes our animal correspondent gary harlow here we are with poppy hollow now with a country that has more Of 90 urbanized one you would think that animals would have no way to thrive here, but you are wrong and don't forget due to the climate, Singapore can still be home to more than 60 mammals, almost 400 species of birds and around 110 reptiles, 30 amphibians, Most of the animals live in one of five established nature reserves, four on the main island. and one in Palo Alto, the most common mammal you are likely to encounter are the long-tailed macaque monkeys.

If you're lucky you may come across one of the incredibly rare ash pangolins that are highly protected and in certain areas of the west you can find performers anyway. of all these real animals, the national animal of the country is the simple lion, a fictional creature that is half lion, half fish, speaking of legendary creatures, we return to noah gildemaster, the master of the guilds, thanks gary, tell caleb, I say hello to you and with that is the At that time, all of you hungry people have been waiting for food. Singapore takes food seriously. Let's put it this way.

Some people come to Singapore just for the food. I usually take this segment on but Singaporean Kevin knows his food so I'll pass this on to Him Kevin take it so here we have an incredibly rich history of mixing different flavors from our different ethnic groups and some of the best places to try This is what we would call a seller center.traveling A hawker center is basically a large food court that is filled with many stalls or carts for people to choose different foods from some of these small places even have Michelin star ratings. There are more than 107 hawker centers in Singapore, but the largest is the Chinatown complex food center which houses more than 260 mini stalls.

Next time you come to Singapore you have to try some of our local food, the one we are most known for is laksa, chicken, rice, rojak, chocolate, hokkien, beef, chicken, clay pot, rice, chen dole, ice, kachong, roti prata, by the way, no one here really. drink a murdered singapore is basically a tourist you can do thank you kevin yeah, a lot of fusion with singapore let's discuss more about that in the next segment, why thank you sir noah? in the words of fiction writer william gibson, singapore is like disneyland with a death penalty it is brilliant it is beautiful it is clean it is efficient but in some ways it comes at the cost of strong restrictions in some authoritarian and technocratic protocol this puts singapore in a strange state of similar prosperity at the cost of certain social commitments is a difficult topic to address because there are many layers that go into this and I suggest you talk to a Singaporean if we want to know more besides that, everything works in four four clearly, you will realize that there's nothing here, I'm just using It's sad, I know we'll get into that in a moment, but first, the chart Singapore has a population of just under six million and is often ranked number one or two for the country with the lowest fertility rate in the world.

With only about 0.9 children per couple, it also holds the number one spot as the most competitive economy in the world, with a place in the top five countries with the highest GDP per capita and the largest group of people in the country identifying as ethnically Chinese, but keep this in mind. The number also includes an undetermined percentage of people who mix with Chinese such as the Purana Ken. From there, the next largest group is the Malays, around 13.5. Note that this category may also include Indonesian immigrants who register as Malays and the third largest group are Indians are around 10 percent, mostly Indians who speak Southern Tamil and Malayalam;

However, please note that this registered category may also include individuals from the wider Indian subcontinent from other countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. From there, the rest of the population are other groups, mainly Eurasians, Caucasians, and Japanese. Koreans, Filipinos and Vietnamese use the Singapore dollar as their currency, which by the way is linked and interchangeable with the Brunei dollar. They use the type g plug and drive on the left side of the road. Remember that they were once a British territory. It has four official languages, each of which belongs to the main ethnic groups, they are Mandarin, Malay, Tamil and English, no one does this, why is it a four for me? and technically there is a fifth way of speaking in English, which is like a Creole English that mixes all the languages.

Well, here are the guys explaining, so in Singapore there is a local slang called Singlish and Singlish is basically English that incorporates elements of Chinese or Malay like the one we use as emphasis before or after a sentence, for example, the weather is so hot laughs, look how, because of a lot of these terms, you go online and check. It's okay, I'm very tired. Another way to speak English is by mixing the different languages ​​that we have here in the country. Man, where it's in English it's Mandarin, everyone goes bang. a mix of hokkien dialect and also malay language now when you buy food from hawker center and you are not going to be able to eat there and you need to take it, you can tell uncle that you need uncle want chicken rice please thank you to everyone now, in a way where they can see Singapore as a triethnic or plurinational country, something like Belgium with the Walloons and Flemings or Bosnia and Herzegovina with the Serbs, Croats and Bosnians, in reality Bosnia and Herzegovina is not The best example because all three are basically the same, but you get the point and the country is calibrated to preserve this social structure, as if you were required to record your ethnic group on your documents and passports.

This has been like a snub. inconvenient for some people of mixed ancestry like the Puranakin, who are like descendants between Chinese and Malays and are like their own unique ethnic group; However, these days, more people are mixing ethnic lines and giving birth to biracial children, this has led to them adding a mixed race option on paperwork in 2011, which adds a whole new dimension to society and yes , here is Nigel explaining a little more that today the four most common languages ​​are English, Malay, Chinese and Tamil, now these languages ​​can be seen on street sign advertisements and public notices we also have dialects which are spoken but unwritten languages ​​in school students are taught the importance of racial harmony and we also have a day that celebrates this diversity our history began with the Malays as the first inhabitants of China, India Europe and other countries began to settle at the beginning of the 19th century.

When it comes to housing, it is quite natural that people want to live in a community where their neighbors speak the same language and share the same culture, but to avoid ethnic enclaves an ethnic quota was established. implemented for public housing so a certain proportion is allocated to each block which is called the percentage of Malays, Chinese Indians and other races and by doing this none of the three main ethnic groups were disadvantaged. All races are now represented in every neighborhood. Thanks Nigel, yes, the race. Unfortunately this also means that depending on your race it could be easier or more difficult to buy a home depending on the location.

It's a strange thing that no one likes to talk about, but everyone knows that race can be used this way. In Singapore, it's the way it is, anyway, all of this is obviously enforced through the government, which is a sort of strict semi-autocratic one-party system called the People's Action Party. They have been the dominant party since they won by force. independence against their will, that was just after the British left in 1959 deliberately wanted to unify with Malaysia, but then it was like, seriously, you were imposing a 20 income tax increase on my tax contribution and you had imposed the boomi putara politics, quite a sketchy guy, well this is Malaysian territory and you wanted to join our federation and even after we agreed on a level of autonomy you still had the gall to be a little indignant, that's not possible, no, because Listen, if you look at the face, it's okay, that's all.

I'm kicking you out, vote no in parliament, I just wanted to negotiate different terms, what are you doing? No, no, it is with great sadness that I must announce that our little island has now gained independence. A bit of an exaggeration, but literally Lee Khan, you were sad during his In the ad, he was even quoted as saying it was a time of anguish, but anyone who has faith, the nation is also quite confused, plus the largest group is Buddhist in About a third of the country, the second largest group is actually Christian at almost a fifth. of the country's population and from there Islam is in third place with about 14 of the country, again at number four, about seven percent are Hindus mostly from the Indian community, so yeah, that's okay my part, anyway, now it's time for The sports part usually the art replaces this segment, but he's literally driving back to Los Angeles, he's coming home and, as you know, he can't film while he's in a car, so we need a substitute, which means we'll need someone to help him. come in i guess it'll be you ian yes i'm going for the sports part the sports part with ian as a small country that puts more of a cultural focus on business and finance sports are usually left aside with less national priority However, everything from bodybuilding to badminton can be found here as far as competition, your football or soccer team, we are four time AFF championship winners.

Hey otherwise you can watch native 2 sports like foot volleyball or sepak takraw yeah oh wow you got it and the native salat martial art of Indonesia and Malaysia are usually here as well as being an island nation although the Swimming and water-related activities have always been his specialty. Nothing was more glorious for the country when Joseph Schooling was able to not only compete but beat the man he admired. michael phelps in the 100 meter butterfly event at the 2016 olympic games we still love you michael phelps you are amazing good thanks for having me sorry you're not here good luck driving uh but respect the speed limit thank you the good thing about Singapore is that all the people bring something to the table that everyone can enjoy on a national level, enough from me, although it's time to hand the reins to our culture correspondent, random people from the party hannah, it's good to be back, yeah, just like I mentioned Singapore is a diverse country, but there are some things that unite them all.

It is said that all Singaporeans have the five big fears. kia sue, that is, the fear of missing out. fomo psc, that is, the fear of death. kia bo, the fear of having nothing. fear of the government and kia bor, that is, fear of your wife, are you afraid of me or are there no answers? No, I think it's probably a good thing. I don't want you to be afraid of me. That's why Singaporeans are known for having two favorite pastimes. and choping hate missing something it's sad that if there is a long line it has to be for something good you don't even have to know what the line is for and chope is the art of securing a seat during meal hours in restaurants. a mad rush, every man and woman to reserve a seat, people usually put down cheap personal items, like a packet of tissues or a pen, to claim a table, we totally do it here because of the way colonial ties with the British that can notice.

Much of Singaporean culture is English, for example, many people may choose to give their children English names. Additionally, much of the traditional architecture is a fusion that combines British and Asian touches. None better exemplified than the shop-style houses of the 20th century, these narrow houses. The structures are known for having covered walkways called five-foot paths to help residents stay dry during rain while shopping. Certain festivals are also celebrated by everyone, such as heritage and food festivals in July. Their version of Black Friday is called the big Singapore sale where things go. up to 70 off I would like that and you can't forget their national day on August 9th which commemorates their independence.

Singapore also somewhat has a culture of appreciating discipline. Crime rates are very low in Singapore, partly because the ramifications can be severe and corporal punishment. it's common and accepted even in schools, sometimes Singapore is called the good city because you can get fined for certain things like, oh, I thought that meant okay, well, you can get fined for eating or drinking on the street, playing music tall and bothersome in public, chewing or selling. chewing gum unless prescribed also technically Singapore does not have complete freedom of speech, even when they hold debates in the speakers corner in the park in Hong Kong, they have to register the topic with the government before speaking and are still monitored, however , the country is moving along quite well even in the midst of these seemingly harsh policies they want to keep order and for them the best way is to do it this way, the Singapore way, the only person who will never be in order is Keith, so here there's Keith's music segment.

Ok, disclaimer, by the way, I love funkadelic. They are an amazing band George Clinton is an amazing keyboard player because of the fair use law, don't sue, that's my comment. Goodbye, Singapore's musical culture is special because it takes influences from the Chinese Malays and Indians of the early 20th century. Opera troops would set up and perform in music clubs or during festivals. The art has declined in recent decades, but some performances can still be found, especially at the Chinese Opera Institute or the Chinese Theater Circle near the center for the Malay community. It is not uncommon to hear performances by ensembles called dondang and keron, which are usually performed at special events and weddings for the Indian community.

South Indian raga ballads are not uncommon and North Indian dances are usually also seen at special events in a more contemporary sense, although in the '60s I basically had a band of Beatles wannabes, you know what. I mean, just kidding, those artists started experimenting with bilingual lyrics and pop music and bands like Crescendos and OctoberCherries for a time, in the 1980s and 1990s, inspired a new genre. by Taiwanese country music called xingyao swept Singapore today pop music has become a more progressive genre with many artists singing in English, they even won the first and only season of you know, Asian Idol.

I could only imagine Asian Simon Cowell haha, recently a lot of metal bands. like Iron Maiden Slayer and Dream Theater have made Singapore a stop on international tours, leading to a new interest in metal among angsty teenagers. In any case, the most important place for musical performances today would be the s blond located right in marina bay. in the center, okay, that's it for me, my name is Keith and as you can see, we have these wonderful t-shirts with teeth. You can wear this shirt on a train and maybe even on a plane later, thanks Keith and Hannah, and now famous people, let's just rush through historical and political figures like these, there are a lot of actors like these, remember that Jet Li obtained citizenship.

DJ Kygo was actually born here too and for the authors, you know the guy who wrote Crazy Rich Asians and there's a lot more and talking about. Crazy, rich and Asian, let's talk about Singapore's diplomatic outreach. Singapore has virtually no conflicts with any other country and today they have diplomatic relations with 189 countries for what it's worth, although they know how to play the global chess board pretty well to be one. a member of the community of nations that, of course, opens its ties with 54 other nations around the world in treaties of shared cooperation, generally other English-speaking nations get along with Singapore around the world, from Africa to the Caribbean and back to europe this means of course the uk is a close ally they have a mutual defense agreement called the five power defense agreement which includes australia new zealand and malaysia they are the fourth largest investor in business with high levels of share ownership many singaporeans also study abroad in the uk or even have family and live in the uk united states is a great partner with a free trade agreement and the military cooperates frequently singapore air force has a detachment at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona and the US Navy can use the Singapore Air Force.

The ports of China and specifically Hong Kong are very close friends, obviously, since the majority of the population of Singapore is of Chinese descent, mainly from the southern parts of China such as Fujian, Guangdong and Hainan, together, China and Hong Kong are also the largest trading partners, reaching around 100 billion dollars in revenue, however, relations fluctuate depending on how much interaction Singapore has with Taiwan. Singapore has military facilities in Taiwan and in 2004 they suspended bilateral relations when the former prime minister took a private trip to Taipei, Hong Kong, although he is friendly. like the cousin across the sea, as they were both former colonies of the United Kingdom and have very similar structures in the way they operate with business and government.

India of course is also a close friend, not only due to the diaspora population of Indians in Singapore but with huge economic ties as well, in the 90s, India started the look east policy in which they decided to expand its commercial, cultural and military ties to Southeast Asia, so it is probably safe to say that the countries closest to Singapore would probably be its fellow ASEAN members. specifically malaysia and indonesia now with indonesia and malaysia there is a sort of beleaguered mentality from unfavorable past events like the '63 Borneo conflict that Singapore was dragged into, but overall they have moved on and moved forward, the three countries operate at Along the Strait of Malacca is the world's busiest trade choke point, so everyone has to work together.

Indonesia is the third largest trading partner and in 2005 signed a memorandum of understanding. Many important resources come from Indonesia and many Indonesians get along well with Singaporean Malaysians as they have very similar cultures, Malaysia on the other hand is like the divorced wife who decided to stay in a business relationship. They are the second largest trading partner. Each country can cross borders and immigrate easily. Malays often have families. On the other hand, Singaporeans who marry each other love to cross to Johor to shop, where everything costs about a quarter of the price it would in Singapore and, in general, the awkwardness of the breakup is practically non-existent until the day of Today, the three countries are solid. together, by the way, I just realized that one of you sent me this hat.

I should have used it throughout the entire video. In conclusion, with Singapore, it's all about balancing, you know, infrastructure, nature, culture and the future with the right amount of trading compensation and Discipline is the way they do things here. Stay tuned. Slovakia is next.