Comments on: Singapore more attractive than Hong Kong, says expat

By: kong

kong — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 08:21:07 +0000

oh not to foeget that Singapore due to its proximity to equator is typhoon/hurricane/tornado-free and natural disaster free and also papparazi-free (wink).

By: kong

kong — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 08:08:42 +0000

Approx 13 years ago LKY made a comment about Singapore been better than HK, he drew lots of criticisms from HKers, my HK friends spew venoms at him, at that time I think both can argued until cows come home but both has its pros and cons, I would call it a tie. Today Singapore is on it's own league, even many western countries cannot be compared to Singapore apart from the above ranking index mentioned Singapore is also he the only Asian country with AAA credit rating from the all big 3 (in the past this may not be an important measuring yardstick but recently seeing the mighty European and US falls to its feet with the debt crisis issues, many US Cities together with Greece, Portugal, Spain, become a butt-joke, Singapore is consider the the highly developed nation with top 3 of the highest per capita GDP (in PPP terms) it has the the highest standard of living in asia , safer and cleaner, one of the best passport in the world due to less retriction on the travel visa especially to US and many other countries. HK on the other hand is going down with the unrestricted flow of mainland Chinese to its land, runaway property price, while Singapore gov is taking measures to stop that but Hk gov hands are tied ( I think many HK will agree with me on this one) even some of my HK friend would like to migrate to Singapore frustrated with the way HK gov handling the mainland issues, this is irreversable for HK now is part of China and without China, HK will not prosper like it's now. HK has higher influence in its soft power, the celebrity power, world famous richest people, famous cusines but Singapore is catching up with Jet Li, Gong Li and many other starts becoming Singaporean and it's own home start like Stepheni Sun and JJ lin. In a nutshell I agree with the writer that Singapore is a better country than HK now.

By: OW

OW — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:16:01 +0000

Did we forget that Military service is compulsory for children of expats in SG! I think that this knocks SG out of any possible competition with HK. It free and open for the parents, but closed and North Korean for the children!

By: Calvin

Calvin — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 04:05:13 +0000

“Hongkongers who think they know it all, and criticise and comment on almost everything and anything.”
That is so HK yet I think every other people also think they know it all.

By: HK could do worse if independent

HK could do worse if independent — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 03:42:16 +0000

Hong Kong’s economy actually relies a lot on mainland’s cheap products,manufacturing bases,investments and central government’s favoured policies(which is to some extent at the expense of shanghai’s economic development).An example of HK benefiting from mainland’s help is that Hong Kongers don’t need to worry about NS as servicemen are all recruited from mainland,whereas singaporean teenagers do.so i admire singapore’s complete independence and i am afraid that contrary to what Kevin C posted,HK could fare worse in many aspects if independent

By: Been therer, done that

Been therer, done that — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 06:13:52 +0000

Hi folks,

I’ve lived in HK 1995-2002,
I’ve lived in Shanghai 2002- 2009,
I now live in SNG 2009 – present

In a nutshell my advice to anyone about each city is as follows:

HK a great place for young ambitious career people – you will sacrifice living conditions

SH a great place for opportunities – it truly is the next frontier although you need to bear with the Chinese way of doing biz …

SNG a great place for a young family to balance life and career; probably boring for teenagers and young professionals.

By: Kevin C.

Kevin C. — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 16:36:08 +0000

I’m an HK living overseas, but I admire Singapore for its well-rounded and educated opinions compared to HKer’s narrow-mindedness. There are lots of strengths in Spore over HK, whose weaknesses were initially built in the post-war era on a low-quality base of face-obsessed Cantonese immigrants/refugees, which is why we get the lack of educated behavior, etiquette, English abilities/thought and depth relative to Sporeans.

Having said that, I agree with you that there is no better equal to Hong Kong than Singapore. I think that it’s an honor for HK to have a well-respected rival such as SG and I greatly admire Singapore and love how it’s also mutual from Spore’s side as well. I truly hope that HK could go off as an independent nation, and forge a federation with major political, economic, and social alliances and union with Spore, as an equal!

Having lived in HK in the 80s, SG is very nostalgic to me in that the kids on pingtoi’s (shared balconies) back in HK, had hairstyles, darker-toned skin color, clothing, and slippers, and their residential environments, look strikingly similar and nostalgic, but SG appears cleaner, organized, clean air (= brighter environment) They are like the nicer HKers of southeast Asia.

I have found that I draw greater similarities with Sporeans that I meet and learn about, which makes me apathetic with the Sporean’s point of view, often to the extent where I would agree with their point of view much more than the HKer’s.

IMO, Singaporeans are in some ways cooler than HK and Japan because Spore is an independent nation that is not linked up to China like HK is. Japan’s accelerating downhill. Sporeans are proud of who they are, which is absent in HKers.

Sometimes I think to myself, it would be so cool if I were Singaporean instead of HongKonger!

By: Another singaporean

Another singaporean — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 01:24:54 +0000

Hey pg do get your facts right… Singapore is actually quite stringent on diesel vehicles. Our diesel tax is really high here, that’s why you font see many diesel cars(which by the way is better fir the environment that a lot of people believe). Singapore has also made it mandatory that diesel taxis and buses must meet euro 4 pollution standards, which is why many of our old crown comfort cabs are dissappearing. There are very few cities in the world with
A density like singapores and maintains a relatively low pollution level.

Whether hong kong or Singapore is better is of course a personal thing…both have their charms…singapore was a bit more livable than hk maybe 10 years ago but since housing prices has been going up,many singaporeans find it a bit of a struggle, which is part of the reason why we are seeing a bit of resentment from singaporeans…

By: leng zai

leng zai — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 07:19:54 +0000

i am a singaporean and i feel so proud to have a hk girlfriend. i use improper english and it is usual in sg.

kudos to koolstorm, those singaporeans who look at rankings publicised by the media is just too daft. by definition of media in singapore, it is of utmost propaganda and bias.

in sg, i find myself too constricted and cannot put forth my potential and creativity. in sg its all about certificates.

kudos to YC, i find hk much more interesting base on one sole fact. their entertainment industry!! the best example in contrast to state-owned mediacorp who hires robotic humans to act. it shows that hk is much more liberal and enterprising. mind you, hk has over 7 million people and sg has over 5 million. hk has a strong economy, and has resources that gives an edge to sg’s economy.

can’t say for other people, but mostly all my friends want to migrate. too mundane, too competitive, too stiff. not my ball game.

i personally never go hk before but my near two decades in singapore is quite unbearable for me. i just want to say hk will be a good choice to find an alternative residence.

By: Go Back to Europe!

Go Back to Europe! — Sun, 15 May 2011 08:33:08 +0000

As more and more arrogant Europeans move out, HK just gets better and better.

Sorry you’re not intelligent enough to conduct business in a language other than English, and maybe some other irrelevant Euro language. In time, Mandarin will replace English as the principal business language (in SG too), and then your English-centric perspective won’t matter too much.

The restaurant scene isn’t more advanced and lively, it is just more western in style and therefore familiar with what you’re accustomed. Anyone who has spent so much as an hour out of Central and Midlevels realizes the HK food scene is incredibly dynamic.

Singaporeans are great people living in a fabulous city. I feel bad for them that they have to you there. Then again, you no doubt spend 95% of your time with other uncultured white people, so they probably don’t.

By: Hong Kong

Hong Kong — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 10:08:26 +0000

Simon Morliere. Why did you chicken out and not responding to so many negative feedback towards your ridicules comments towards HK people? How many millions of HK people do you know to generalized “most Hongkongers just a bunch of empty vessels, and definitely NATO (no action, talk only idiots”? Proof what said is true or apologize to HK people.

Btw, thank you for leaving HK.

By: YC

YC — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 07:37:52 +0000

Well, I was born in HK and I’m living in Singapore now.

I think both places have pros and cons.

Expenses in Singapore are way too much higher than in HongKong. Just look at the price of no matter vegetables or branded stuffs. They are more expensive due to GST (it seems like it will increase again). Look at all the taxes, COE, ERP all the money that people have gave. And all the electricity, water bill are all rising, even taxi fare, bus fare as well.
Expenses in HongKong are way lower than Singapore, except the restaurants, but if you cook your dinner every single day, it will be cheaper, HKD$10 you can get 500g of vegetables, in Singapore SGD$2.50 you can only get a small pack of veggie.
Because we have 7% GST. and HK doesn’t have GST.

Singapore is no doubt cleaner than HongKong for sure. But safer? I will say it’s almost the same, there are many cases of thief and all, just that it will not be reported in the news, recently there are gang fights and all, so it will not be as safe as used to be.

Singapore is a place for living after retirement when you can relax and live in a slower pace area. Hongkong is crowded, the pace is faster. Singapore is too boring for teenagers and growing adults. We are just students and Sentosa is too expensive for us, Universal Studio is too small and they only have roller coasters, it increased their ticket price to $70 which is one day pay of my part time job.
The place for leisure in Singapore are, East Coast Park, USS, All the shopping malls (but they always have the same shops, there are 4 or 5 levis outlet in one orchard road.) How boring can it be.

I’m leaving after my NS and come back when I retire, which is 60 years old.

By: bubba

bubba — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 18:56:16 +0000

singapore’s gpd per capita beats hong kong now. the cards are on the table.

By: PG

PG — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 08:47:49 +0000

Don’t compare Singapore to other Asian countries , it keeps comparing itself to western countries . I will tell you from a few years of experience here , Singapore is not the clean proper place government publicity or naive expats say it is . Everything from air pollution to noise and rubbish is worse than a lot of countries I have lived in , and the laws governing certain types of pollution are inexistant , basically because it might affect GDP .
Singapore may have been good up to about 5 or years ago , today its gets worse. One example is diesel engines , they allow very old diesel engine technology to be used and sold in SIngapore , and that creates a lot of polution . Apart from noise pollution which is basically not monitored , pollution is also how much waste you generate , and from that point of view , Singapore is very high on the list of polluters , not only from consummer products , but the building industry .
Basically no Singaporean will contest the governments figures , why , because they have to think only work and money , and no it appears until you die , as you will never be allowed to retire .

By: fluid137

fluid137 — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:19:44 +0000

am singaporean, and lived in hk for the past year,but before that in tokyo for 8.5 years.. singapore is definitely more liveable than hong kong.. i stay in hk mid-levels but rather stay in singapore hdb flats – more of a relaxed feeling….hk is definitely more polluted/dirty and it makes it depressing.. also although new territories / kowloon looks like there is more to do, its not really that different… of course singapore vs tokyo, i miss tokyo a lot..

By: Singlisher

Singlisher — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:57:57 +0000

This expat is still laughably naive about Singapore, so I wish him good dreams still in his Singapore honeymoon. Before long, he’ll soon realize his worst nightmare that yes, Singapore is also a NATO country, and worse, one which uses its housing market as a gambling casino. I doubt he’ll have much in his expat packages to cover his expenses here. Have a good dreams in Singapore!

By: Boid

Boid — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 05:38:35 +0000

Dear Concerned:

I’m an American living in San Francisco, on the cusp of moving to Asia, and find your comments to be insightful. I have an opportunity to move to Singapore or Hong Kong – I did some quick research on Dengue and found that:

1) The government of Singapore does not hide statistics – in fact it publishes them and makes copious suggestions on risk mitigation.

2) The prevalence of Dengue and severity of adverse health impact is a material issue I was not aware on over a dozen previous trips to the city. It is a disconcerting reality of life in a tropical climate.

Hong Kong certainly exudes an energy that is alluring and reminds me of my time in New York and London, but I agree with others who have posted here – depending on the stage of life you’re at, the things you value, Singapore may indeed be more appealing to those of us who are thinking about raising families rather than partying the night away in LKF and other classier parts of town.

I find that much of East Asia now compares favorably on a tax basis with my home country. Even though I will be subject to an outrageous tax on income living abroad as long as I maintain my citizenship, as a matter of principle I will do whatever it takes to avoid subjecting more than half of my income to taxes (combined federal, state, FICA, etc. burden – prior to property taxes – for high earners in the US). Tax issues are a material determinant of where talent will migrate – Hong Kong is slightly better than Singapore, but both are paradises compares to other great cities of the West, including NYC, SF, and London.

Bottom line – you have it good in both places… both are world class cities, well positioned with proximity to the countries that will drive world GDP growth for decades to come.

By: Maex

Maex — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 03:19:24 +0000

forgot to click to notify me of follow-up comments on this post via e-mail ;-)

By: Maex

Maex — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 09:33:56 +0000

Hi everyone,

I’m from Austria and I’m living and working in Hong Kong for almost 2 years. Today the head quater of my company made me the offer to move over to Singapore to face a new challange, so you can imagine that the above conversation was highly interesting for me.
I enjoy staying in Hong Kong a lot and I can’t share the experience of the author about the Hong Kong people. To me most of the people were friendly, in fact I made quite a cirlce of friends here in Hong Kong. What I’ve got to admit, is that the polution is also quite a burden for me, especially because I’m a kid out of the Austrian mountains where the air is incredible fresh and clean. ;-)

As much as I enjoyed reading the above statements as much I would appreciate some more information out of the hands of singapore experts.

* what about the daily living expenses comparing to Hong Kong (food, MTR, taxis, laundry, accomodation – resp. monthly apartment rates (90sq.meters) electric and water expenses, ….
* taxes? What is the percentage which should be calculated
* is a car usually required, what are the cost (taxes, insurance, parking space,….)
* how easy is it to get a working permit
* what languages should be known (… is english enough?)
* what else is crucial to know about singapore

thanks for your help,

cheers
Maex

By: jason

jason — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 05:39:19 +0000

move to america or cananda.