As you know I lived in Canada and known Trinidadians who migrated there...

Honest opinion from a Trinidad citizen about S’pore

May 31st, 2015

A lot of what Amos Yee said about Singapore and LKY is spot on. But most Singaporeans are too brainwashed to realize this. I was born in Trinidad, an island in the Caribbean, grew up in Canada and lived in many countries in Asia, including 10+ years in Singapore. Once I attended a talk given by BG Lee when he was still DPM. He was talking about such great accomplishments for such a small country but I thought to myself, I know of a country that has similar or better accomplishments.

Trinidad is a multi-cultural population with Indians about 50%, Africans 35~40% and rest of the population consisting of English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Syrian and Jews. It has only a little more than 1.3 million people, so the population is only about less than one-third the size of Singapore.

Trinidad has a Nobel prize winner while Singapore has no other famous people except LKY.

Trinidad has world famous singers, including Nicki Minaj and Billy Ocean, Singapore nothing! Calypso came from Trinidad, so did the Carnival and Steel Bands.

Trinidad won two Miss Universe and one Miss World, Singapore nothing! And this so infuriates them that they said the contest is rigged against Asians, but India, Thailand, Philippines and Japan have won these contests many times before.

Another interesting fact is that, different races have represented Trinidad in these contests; Blacks, Indians, Chinese and Whites. It is not considered strange. In Singapore, you basically have to be Chinese to make it in beauty contests or modelling. Sometimes, a token Indian might make it to Miss Universe but rare, and the result is still the same, zilch.

Trinidad is one of the smallest country to ever qualify for the World Cup (back in 2006), Singapore is not even close. Trinidad footballers include a world famous player named Dwight Yorke.

Other famous athletes include Brian Lara. At his peak, he is considered the best cricket player in the world. Also, we have Olympic gold medal winners, while Singapore produces nothing.

As for food, everyone says Singaporean food is great. It is good but KL or Penang or Bangkok are better. I think it is the Westerners who say Singapore food is so good because they can’t handle the authentic Asian food. Trinidad food is on par with Penang. It is so good, especially the Indian food there.

The main claim Singapore makes is, it is rich and yes, its Per Capita Income is very high but so is its Cost of Living. But Standard of Living does not seems so great with the wide income disparity and large number in poverty. In Trinidad, people make less than half of what a Singaporean makes but they can own their own house (landed property) and their own car (usually Japanese mid-size car). They are also very happy, shown at its best during the world famous Carnival while in Singapore, you get arrested playing music during Thaipusam! Trinidad has a bigger land mass than Singapore but it is still a small island, a dot on the map but people can easily buy cars and houses. And all seems to have a nice garden, while Singapore is stuck with SBS buses and rude taxi drivers. No wonder they are the most unhappy people in the world.

In Trinidad, it is Trinidadians who live there, they are not overrun by foreigners.

But most importantly, both became independent around the same time. Singapore in 1965 and Trinidad 1962. Trinidad has had successful transfers of power, you can vote out a political party in free elections. In Singapore ….. *sigh*

Like I said, I worked in Singapore because I wanted to stay in Asia as my wife is a Thai. She wants to be near her family and Singapore is an easy place to live and work. When not working, I prefer to go to Penang or Bangkok and will eventually retire there too. Singapore is just too expensive and crowded and not as much fun as other places.

But BG Lee thinks Singapore is #1.

bo ram