Comparisons between Singapore and Sweden

A Swedish man 'Angmolia' who moved to Singapore, made a series of YouTube videos comparing Sweden and Singapore.

The videos are worth watching to get a perspective of what the daily reality is in like in Sweden and Singapore.

I think the second video raises a most poignant situation - where an Swedish ambulance refuses to go into a neighbour without a police escort. And the result is that a life is lost. That is a unimaginable, and most people would find it unacceptable as well, situation in Singapore. We would be demanding the Govt's collective heads if such a situation were allowed to have set in here.

In any case, it is always good for us to gain a broader perspective of what daily life is like in other countries. This gives us a better appreciation for the things which Singapore is doing right by her people.

But it would be very naive and simplistic to say that Singapore is the perfect country. We are not.

For example, littering is still a chronic problem that has to be tackled. It is only because of the hard work by our army of cleaner that our streets and sidewalks are clean and pristine.

And we still have people who think nothing of tossing rubbish out of their windows on the Nth floor of their flat, not realising that that their trash could hurt or even potentially kill someone on the ground, nevermind the fact that they are dirtying our living environment.

There are many things that Singapore can, and should be doing better. But deciding how we go about improving Singapore has to be done with a broader perspective of what life is like abroad - both the benefits and tradeoffs of their choices , and an appreciation of what Singapore has that is good and what our constraints are.

Sweden and Singapore are often used as examples in the political debate, but no one has made a comparison of daily life there before. Since I have lived and worked in both countries I can give examples from real life.  

In this part I focus on the market and its place in daily life. I cover housing, food, domestic chores, and other topics.

links and references:
https://bostad.stockholm.se/english/
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-sweden-uber-tech-idUSKCN0Y20WN

Published on Aug 26, 2016 

Singapore and Sweden compared part 1: the market

One of the starkest contrasts between Sweden and Singapore is how much more clean, orderly, and safe Singapore is. This difference wasn't there just a few decades ago, but it continues to grow with the accelerating disintegration of Swedish society. 

In this episode I take you on a tour around the cities and show you examples of what I mean. 

Please be civil in the comment section. It's fine to disagree with both me and each other, but I remove all comments with derogatory words, regardless of other merits.

Published on Feb 12, 2017 

Model Cities part 2: Public Order