As a sailor’s daughter, I had often heard colorful stories about Singapore — it has one of the world’s busiest ports. It is also a major international financial hub of the Far East. A lucrative business and tourist destination, the country — slightly more than 3.5 times the size of Washington, DC — has beckoned to me on more than one occasion.
I decided to track the pulse of the country — from 9,664 miles away — and there was no better place to find it than explore its blogosphere. I used Global Voices Online, an international blog aggregation community, as my map to this foreign world.
Reading the blogs featured on Global Voices Online, it quickly became evident that the overarching topic was the downward spiraling economy and rising unemployment numbers. Bloggers offered opinions on everything from the social impact of the financial crisis to survival tips to cope with the global downturn.
One blogger writes:
“The recession contradicts Singapore’s reputation as a “safe haven” for global investors. In recent weeks, Singapore’s economic fundamentals have been exposed to be less than solid: inflation has worsened and income gap is rising. Job losses will affect Singapore’s migrant workers.”
Another blogger talks about unemployed foreign investment bankers flocking to Singapore — and driving their salaries down.
It was evident. The economy had not spared Singapore either. In fact, it was one of the first Asian countries to be hit. Exploring the international blogosphere does serve as an effective eye opener.
Take a look at some of the most talked-about topics on Singapore’s blogosphere. The size of the words indicate the frequency with which they are mentioned.
While most of the featured blogs discussed the recession, the Singapore blogosphere also revealed some very interesting — and varied — posts. One post discusses concerns about media owners using the Copyright Act to selectively strangle and silence the Singapore blogosphere. Another blogger shares her views on how the Merlion, Singapore’s national icon, has been desecrated over the years. One particularly irked blogger writes about why Singapore cannot succeed in the Arts just yet.
Surfing the country’s internet waves was not only fascinating but extremely informative as well. I learned that Singapore was ranked the 10th most expensive city in the world and it was also credited with being the most the most wired country in the world.
There is a treasure trove of information out there and thanks to the bridge bloggers I found on my sojourn, I will definitely be tapping into the international blogosphere more often.
As for migrating to Singapore? I think I’ll wait the recession out.
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