Competition in Singapore

Like most Singaporeans, I'm generally apathetic to Singaporean politics. In the past I used to be quite vocal against the PAP, but after living and studying in the US and in Europe, I realize that Singapore really isn't that bad: it combines the belief in free markets (like in the US) with a social safety net (of sorts) like in Europe (most importantly in insurance and healthcare).

I've come to terms with the fact that Singapore probably will not change politically. And honestly, as long as the PAP remains incorrupt, and as long as the government continues to govern well, and as long as the government does not interfere with my lifestyle, I have no qualms with living and working under the PAP regime.

That being said, I still feel that certain decisions should be made with greater transparency. Even though historically Singapore has been ranked no.2 on the Index of Economic Freedom rankings, I think there is still room for increased market freedom and competition in certain areas.

For instance, Singapore's public transport is regulated by the Public Transport Council, and they regulate the two main transportation companies in Singapore: SMRT and SBS Transit. A few years ago, I remember that there used to be plenty of private bus companies that would run their private bus lines: often these bus lines would overlap with the existing bus routes run by SMRT and SBS. This practice has since stopped, with the result that SMRT and SBS practically have a monopoly over their existing bus routes.

If you ask me, this route monopoly has resulted in an increased herd-like behaviour of buses. One is left waiting at a bus stop like a German U-boat commander in the Atlantic, waiting patiently only to suddenly have two, or sometimes even three (!) buses of the same route turn up. My feeling is that if the existing duopoly is broken, with individual bus companies allowed to compete along the same bus route, commuters will benefit from improved service due to the enhanced competition. We probably just need a single additional market participant for the market dynamic to change, much like the Singapore telecom market situation, where we have two giants (Starhub and Singtel) and a runt (M1) that keeps both giants on their toes.

Why do Singaporeans not question?

Over the years, I've noticed that Singaporeans have a tendency to rigidity. They tend to stick to things, and not change them even if the situation has changed. And they do this often without questioning. To me, this behaviour is almost like fatalistic lemmings who do not question their actions before running off a cliff with the herd.

What do I mean? For instance, a few months ago I was swimming early in the morning before I went to work. This meant swimming in my condominium pool at around 6am, as I had to be at work by 7am.

For a week or so I was undisturbed. Then suddenly one fine day, one of the security guards came over and asked me, "Hello, boy, which unit are you from?"

Me: "XX-XX. Why do you ask?"

Guard: "You are not allowed to swim in the pool you know."

At which point, I was quite incredulous: was my swimming disruptive to the public peace? The nearest block is about 75 metres away: for my swimming to wake up a sleeping person in that block, I would have to be as loud as a ship's horn while in the water.

It turns out that the pool is only open from some arbitrary time, like 7am. Swimming before that is not allowed, for "safety reasons", said the management. Which is a bullshit answer, because as a big sign there stated, any swimmer will be swimming at their own risk: the management is not liable for any mishaps. So they are already washing their hands off the individual swimmer's risk.

In which case, why can't I assume the risk of swimming in the pool at 6am in the morning? When we approached the management corporation, they refused to budge, and basically asked me to swim later, at around 7am. Which was the time I had to be at work anyway.

The problem was eventually solved by a change of my working hours (due to a work situation that cropped up), but this set me thinking about how rigid a lot of Singaporeans can be with regards to rules, even absurd and nonsensical rules, without question.

Worse, my experience has often been that when you confront people (especially Singaporeans) with questions about the status quo, they start becoming defensive, and just become disagreeable.

First shot

It all started with a play on words: how do you combine "inquisitive" and "vision"? Just add them together...

Thus, "Inquivision" was born.

The idea is to have a blog where I will post questions, queries and other ponderings, asking questions that sometimes are not asked, and suggesting ideas that (to my knowledge) have not been proposed.

Please feel free to leave your comments. Feel free to quote with attribution.