Singapore

From Gothpoodle

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Latest revision as of 03:12, 19 June 2010

Population: 12 million
Aspects: Very Stable, Repressive, Fifth Wave, City-State

Singapore has long had a well-educated population and strategic location, making the city-state one of the busiest ports, financial centers, and communications hubs in the world. For the first half of the century, the city’s prosperity was unmarred. Unfortunately, the rise of nanosocialism threatened the city-state’s existence, as the major states of Southeast Asia all fell to a new revolution.

Singapore enjoys one of the highest standards of living in the world, on a par with the most advanced nations of Europe or the Americas. As each new Wave of technological innovation has arrived, Singapore has always invested in the new industries. The city-state is currently a world leader in nanotech engineering, and has produced a number of radically innovative assembler designs.

Overview

Singapore society is unique. Its government is a functioning democracy, which is nevertheless one of the most repressive in the region. Its people come from a variety of ethnic backgrounds, yet ethnic tension is virtually unknown. Its economy is among the most productive on Earth, yet many of its citizens live in conditions of extreme crowding and economic desperation.

History

Singapore Island was inhabited as early as the 11th century. The name Singa Pur – “city of the lion” – was in use by the 13th century. The island’s fate was decided in the early 1800s, with the arrival of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, an official of the British East India Company. Raffles was a senior official on the island of Java while it was under British rule. Once Java was returned to the Dutch in 1816, Raffles went searching for a new anchor for Britain’s colonial empire in Southeast Asia. He found it in Singapore.

Raffles established a trading post on the island in 1819, and was able to make the venture profitable within a year. By 1824 he had arranged for the outright purchase of the island from the sultan of Johore. Immigration was rapid, led by Chinese who soon outnumbered all other ethnic groups in the settlement. Singapore became part of the socalled “Straits Settlements” along with Malacca and Penang; by 1867 the Settlements had become a British colony under the direct rule of the Crown.

Singapore had a remarkably strategic location, easily defensible and lying right on the Straits of Malacca. As world steamship traffic grew, it became a crucial port along the sea routes between Europe and the Far East. Rubber plantations were also developed, providing the city with one of its first major exports. By the end of the 19th century, Singapore was a bustling seaport and the world’s primary export center for rubber.

The era of peace and rapid growth came to an end with World War II. Japanese forces bombed and occupied the city in early 1942, and held it until the end of the war. Afterward Singapore returned to British rule, but the colonial government faced serious local agitation for independence and a fierce war against Malaysian communists. With the British Empire as a whole starting to crumble, the colonial regime prepared to depart. Home rule was first established in 1959, and Singapore became independent in 1963 as part of the Federation of Malaysia.

With the British colonialists gone, Singapore soon found itself at odds with the rest of Malaysia. The local population was predominantly Chinese instead of Malay, Buddhist instead of Muslim, capitalist instead of communist. By 1965 the city-state had separated itself from the Federation and was recognized as an independent nation. Its first Prime Minister was the charismatic Lee Kwan Yew, who had led the drive for independence. Lee Kwan Yew remained Prime Minister until 1990, and dominated Singaporean politics until his death early in the 21st century.

Singapore prospered in the post-independence era, using its well-educated population and strategic location to become one of the busiest ports, financial centers, and communications hubs in the world. At first local society was democratic in form, but in practice it was dominated by the People’s Action Party. The resulting government was often harsh and produced a strictly regimented community.

The 2020s saw considerable relaxation of political restraint, and for about two generations Singapore had a vigorous multi-party democracy. Unfortunately, the rise of infosocialism ended this political experiment. As neighbor after neighbor fell to the new ideology, Singapore began to feel itself an island besieged. Fear of invasion or memetic subversion led to the rapid rise of the new Singapore Unity Party. After winning an electoral landslide in 2067, the Party revived many of the old political controls. Infosocialist ideology was kept out of the city by police methods that were sometimes openly brutal. The citystate’s military, already quite strong in proportion to its size, was reinforced further.

As part of the new strategy, Singapore declared itself a “free city” that would remain neutral in disputes involving the nanosocialist bloc. In particular, when the anti-TSA trade embargo was imposed in 2077, Singapore deliberately avoided implementing most of its provisions. As a result, for over 20 years Singapore has been almost the sole supplier of leading-edge technology and equipment for the TSA nations of Southeast Asia. Singapore’s neighbors have come to regard it as too valuable to destroy and too difficult to conquer – a situation which suits the city-state perfectly.

Singapore’s position makes it a center for espionage and political intrigue, although such plots are rarely aimed at Singapore itself. The city-state’s military and security establishments are well-trained, equipped with cutting-edge technology, and frighteningly ruthless. Any scheme that threatens Singapore’s neutrality or its technological secrets is likely to meet a devastating response. On the other hand, foreign agents who wish to watch or scheme against each other may do so freely. Singapore is a major gateway for entry into or departure from the nanosocialist bloc.

Singapore Today

Singapore consists of one large island along with about 50 smaller islets. Singapore Island itself covers about 200 square miles, and supports over 95% of the citystate’s population. The total population of Singapore is about 12 million, close to triple its 2000 total. Urban development has covered over half of Singapore Island, pressing hard against the few remaining nature preserves in the island’s center.

The average income for Singapore residents is about $115,000 per year. The local currency is the Singapore dollar, which currently trades against the U.S. dollar at about 1.5 to 1. The typical resident is Wealthy and has Status 1. There is tremendous disparity between the highest and lowest incomes in Singapore – some of the world’s wealthiest individuals live in the city, but there exists a significant class of citizens who are Struggling or even Poor.

Members of the fringer class must take great care in Singapore. Street people and vagrants are subject to arrest, followed by hard labor or deportation. There is no social safety net, so an unemployed person with no independent source of income will soon find himself in deep trouble. Fear of losing one’s job or investments is common among Singapore’s middle class.

Singapore is extremely crowded. Population densities in the city center approach 200,000 per square mile, and can only be maintained using the full range of Fifth Wave technologies. Singapore is famous for its high-rise apartment buildings, supplemented by the Bedok arcologies built in the late 2070s. Land and housing costs in Singapore are excessively high, close to 10 times the base cost. Even very wealthy citizens are likely to live in a high-rise apartment (albeit a large and luxurious one) rather than a detached home. Most citizens are lucky to have more than one or two rooms to call their own.

Singapore maintains prosperity and social stability by way of a repressive government. The overall Control Rating is 5. Taxes are relatively low and economic regulation is light-handed; the government’s position has long been that what is good for business is good for Singapore. On the other hand, social control is often very harsh. Even offenses considered minor elsewhere (vagrancy, recreational drug use, pornography, vandalism, and so on) are punishable by steep fines, prison time, and caning. The police generally follow procedures designed to protect basic civil rights, but they have wide discretion to break those procedures as they see fit.

Singapore is officially a republic, and there are a number of political parties active in the country. However, the ruling Unity Party dominates the parliament, aided by a legal system designed to give it every advantage. Opposition politicians are handicapped by restrictions on their ability to raise money or gain access to the press. Those who are too vocal in their criticism of the government are subject to defamation lawsuits. Local weapons laws are quite strict, the equivalent of CR 6.

About 75% of Singapore’s population is ethnic Chinese. Other major ethnic groups include European, Indian, and Malay. Mandarin is an official language, and several other Chinese dialects are spoken by segments of the population. English, Malay, and Tamil are also official languages. Most residents are at least bilingual. Singapore has long had an enviable record of ethnic harmony; both open and repressive governments have managed to keep the city’s various groups at peace.

All but a few citizens of Singapore are genefixed; for decades, the government has strongly encouraged the use of basic genetic therapies. Some citizens are the result of genetic upgrades, the Alpha and Ziusudra templates being the most common. There are about 300,000 bioroids in the city, working in a variety of lower-class occupations. Local law protects some bioroid civil rights, but allows their indefinite indenture. Cybershells and other infomorphs are also fairly common, and have no civil rights whatsoever. The exception is for ghost emulations based on the personality of a former citizen; one copy of such a ghost is considered equivalent to the original citizen and has full civil and political rights.

Places

The Singapore River runs west to east through the heart of the city’s oldest districts. Most of the old government buildings are north of the river, while the densest commercial area is south of it. Naturally, with the city’s explosive growth over the past century, new centers of commercial and industrial activity have appeared all over the island.

Arab Street

North and east of the city center is the main Muslim district, centered on the imposing Sultan Mosque. The area is crowded with native Malays, Javanese settlers, and the descendants of Arab traders. It is traditionally a major textile district, and remains so even in the age of biotech and nanotech goods. For example, the Arab Street is one of the few places outside the TSA bloc that one can purchase traditional Javanese or Malaysian batik cloth.

Singapore’s police watch the Arab Street very closely, as it is a breeding ground for nanosocialist sentiments. A number of TSA agents and informers have been arrested here, but the authorities have no illusions that all have been found. Meanwhile, some of the city’s Muslims are more sympathetic to the Islamic Caliphate than to the TSA. Although Singapore officially has good relations with the Caliphate states, the authorities also keep close watch on their friends in the Arab Street.

Bedok

Bedok is a suburb of Singapore City, situated on the southeast coast of the island. The Bedok Arcologies were built here in the early 2070s, in an attempt to relieve Singapore’s crowding. The twin structures are each built on a rounded-square plan, about 3,600 yards on a side and 850 yards tall.

Almost half a million Singaporeans live and work in the arcologies. The “ark-dwellers” have formed a community of their own, with memes that are often at odds with those of the greater Singaporean society. A sense of arkdweller superiority is common, combined with a flavor of Transhumanism that is at odds with the strict controls imposed by the national government. These memes sometimes lead the arkdwellers to quietly but stubbornly refuse cooperation with “outsider” police and other officials. The authorities are watching the situation with some concern, although as yet they have been given no reason to take decisive action.

Bukit Timah Nature Preserve

Bukit Timah is the tallest hill on Singapore Island. Along the hill’s northeastern slopes is the Bukit Timah Nature Preserve, the last retreat of the island’s primary rainforest. Although forest reserves stretch for some distance to the north and east, these are all secondary forest, replanted after rubber harvesting cleared the area in the early 1900s.

Bukit Timah and its adjoining reserves are the heart of an ambitious experiment in ecological reclamation. Ordinarily the secondary forests would require centuries to recover their former robustness. Ecologists and biotechnicians are working to accelerate the process, hoping to recover a wide stretch of true primary forest within decades or even years. This idea is not unique – similar projects are taking place on a much vaster scale in places like Brazil and Indonesia. Still, the Bukit Timah project is probably the only one of its kind that is being pursued so close to a major city. Ecologists hope to not only bring the forest to recovery, but to learn how to help wild “microecologies” thrive even in the midst of a dense urban environment. Ecologists and city planners from around the world are already taking an interest.

Chinatown

It may seem strange for a city dominated by ethnic Chinese to have a “Chinatown.” Even so, the district just south of the river and close to the harbor certainly qualifies.

Decades of development have driven Chinatown rents through the roof, driving out many traditional shops and small businesses. As a result parts of Chinatown are thoroughly modern, the abode of expensive restaurants and shops. Still, much of the local architecture is painstakingly authentic. There are many Buddhist temples in the district, and here and there one can still find small “traditional” businesses (calligraphers, herbalists, incense-sellers, and so on). Chinatown remains one of Singapore’s most important cultural centers.

Not far from Chinatown are the Telok Ayer Towers, the tallest buildings in Singapore. The Towers are each 200 stories (over half a mile) in height, and provide both luxury residential accommodations and commercial offices. Some of Singapore’s wealthiest residents live in the Towers, including several Chinese traditionalists who prefer to remain near Chinatown.

Chinatown is known to be a center of Triad activity.

Johore Baharu

Immediately across the narrow Johore Strait is Johore Baharu, a Malaysian city which is intimately connected with Singapore. Johore Baharu has long been the capital of the Malaysian state of Johore. Since the rise of the TSA it has been doubly important, as the most significant point of contact between the TSA and the capitalist world.

Commerce across the straits has grown many-fold since 2080, promoting a local economic boom even while Malaysia’s overall economy has struggled with the effects of anti-TSA sanctions.

One effect of the boom has been a flood of immigration to Johore Baharu from other parts of Malaysia. The current population of the city’s extended metropolitan area is over 3.6 million – and almost half of that number have arrived since 2080. As a result, Johore Baharu is a hectic, brawling city, where glittering opportunity and terrible desperation exist side by side.

Tucked away in Johore Baharu’s streets is the second-largest office of Malaysia’s Defense Intelligence agency. Discreet efforts to penetrate Singaporean security are constant. Naturally, Singaporean intelligence and security assets are concentrated along the Johore Strait, and particularly on the causeway linking Singapore and the mainland.

Jurong

West of the main city is the suburb of Jurong. Where Singapore City is oriented toward commercial purposes, Jurong is the site of much of the island’s industry. The chemical and rubber industries have declined, giving way to advanced electronics, computers, industrial biotech, and minifacturing. The budding nanotech revolution is also making its mark; many research and production facilities have made an appearance in recent years.

Jurong is the site of a number of “startup parks.” These are places where the national government and various venture-capital firms maintain space for new companies. A startup firm can apply for laboratory or minifacturing facilities here, on very favorable terms. Once the new venture is profitable and growing, it usually moves elsewhere on the island, leaving space for the next newcomer. The system is connected to the SCTE (p. 110) and has been producing useful technological innovations for decades. Nanyang Technical Institute is located in Jurong, and also takes part in the SCTE.

Part of Jurong City sits on Jurong Island, just off the southwest shore of the main island. Jurong Island is largely artificial, the amalgamation of seven smaller islands early in the 21st century. It has excellent large-ship harbor facilities and is connected to the mainland by a causeway. Much of Singapore’s remaining Second Wave heavy industry is located here. The old petrochemical and rubber industries still exist, although they have changed a great deal with the introduction of advanced biotech. Today the petroleum and rubber that are brought to Jurong are normally used as feedstocks for the biotechnic production of useful materials.

Sentosa Island

Sentosa Island lies just off the southern tip of the main island, and is accessible by a short causeway. For over a century it has been Singapore’s foremost recreational area, packed with beaches, gardens, hotels, and theme parks.

Sentosa Island is controlled by the Sentosa Consortium, a corporation whose predecessor was founded by the national government in the early 1970s. Although it is completely privately held today, it still enjoys a close relationship with the state. Since the 2020s, the Consortium has been deeply involved in the development of digital and virtual technology as applied to modern entertainment. Today Sentosa’s theme parks use a dizzying variety of VR and memetic techniques to give visitors the richest possible experience.

The Consortium also operates a huge virtuality node. The available virtual environments attract tourists, gamers, and weblife from all over the world.

University of Singapore

The National University of Singapore is located about 8 miles west of the city center, in the Kent Ridge district. Almost 200 years old, it is known throughout Southeast Asia as a major center of learning. It has a distinctly pragmatic orientation – the strongest departments are the School of Business Administration, the College of Law, the School of Computing, the School of Engineering, and the Graduate School of Medicine and Bioscience. About 25,000 students attend the University physically, while several times this number pursue degrees via telepresence. Singaporeans naturally dominate the student body, but its enrollment is drawn from all over the world.

The Singapore government regards the National University as a “secret weapon” in the competition for economic and political advantage. The University receives large state subsidies, especially in those disciplines that support business and technological development.

The National University is also the home of the Singapore Center for Technical Entrepreneurship (SCTE). This very successful program supports promising lines of research by subsidizing new corporate ventures. Any faculty member or student (even an undergraduate) may apply to start up his own company with SCTE support. Students from the colleges of law and business also participate, and may become administrators in the new firms. The state offers venture capital, work space in one of the “startup parks” in Jurong, and a streamlined process for patent approval. In exchange, the state takes a minority share in the new firm’s ownership. All in all, with state assistance the University functions as an effective “incubator” for new businesses.

Current Events

The Singaporean government was recently rocked by an espionage scandal, in which the head of the country’s counterintelligence operation was discovered to be in the pay of the People’s Republic of China. The Unity Party leadership had hoped to quietly replace the traitor, but the story was exposed before any action could be taken to silence it. Public outrage has been volcanic; a “witch hunt” for other Chinese infiltrators may be about to begin.

Meanwhile, the fact that the spy scandal became public at all may indicate deeper troubles within the government. As far as the public knows, the story was uncovered by a maverick journalist who has since been placed under arrest for sedition. On the other hand, the journalist in question had neither the skills nor the contacts to develop such a story. The obvious suspicion is that the story was leaked by a senior government official, probably as an opening move in a power struggle within the Unity Party.

Singapore has several times hosted high-level diplomatic contacts between the TSA bloc and its enemies. Another such meeting is slated to take place this year, under the cover of a General Convention on Asian Economic Development. Official delegates will attend from Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, the United States, Vietnam, and many other nations. The public meetings are likely to be closely watched, but the backroom negotiations and espionage will be more important.

The Sentosa Consortium is in the process of integrating next-generation VR technologies into its virtuality node, attracting new customers from around the world. The Consortium is guarding details of the new technology very closely, using trade secrecy rather than patents to protect its advantage. There have been several cases of attempted corporate espionage, thus far unsuccessful.

Singapore police are beginning a concerted campaign to infiltrate and break up Triad cells in large sections of the city. Success has thus far been mixed, but there have been several sharp confrontations between police and gang members. It’s an open question whether the police will be permitted to be too successful, given the rumors of connections between some of the gangs and the government.