Culture Shock! Singapore: Singapore

Rating:
Summary: A Very Limited View
Review: I read this book on my one-way flight to Singapore 4 years ago, and took it as dogma... unfortunately, it was a highly oversimplified and utterly narrow view of a very modern, unique society. I lived, worked and taught college there for three years, and later realized it was a bad idea to rely on an American expat wife for insightful cultural and business advice!

Rating:
Summary: Eyes wide open!
Review: This book was recommended to me as a 'must read' by a friend who had already done the expat thing in Singapore. The other review of this book nearly decided me not to bother with it by dismissing Craig as just an expat wife. I'm really glad I decided to give it another chance as I am keen not to make too many blunders when I relocate to Singapore. It's impossible to summarise all the nuances of a complex and sophisticated society in the pages of such a slim book, but Craig manages to simplify what is a fairly scholarly exercise on cultural naunces and encourage the reader to adopt a positive attitude to surviving cultural dislocation through mutual understanding, communciation and respect. She herself admits that many of these cultural mores are in a state of flux in Singapore (as they are in any culture), and the book is now seven years old ­ a long time in such a rapidly progressing society. However, I am certainly pleased to take her advice about keeping my mouth closed and eyes open when I arrive and I hope to end up enjoying and respecting Singapore and the Singaporeans as much as Craig obviously does. Had my friend read the book BEFORE she went to Singapore many of the problems she encountered may have been avoided and her experience there much more enjoyable.

Rating:
Summary: Helpful, But There's More To Know (And Other Books Can Help)
Review: This is a useful book for knowing how to behave at a local cocktail party or with your local business clients. But when I lived in Singapore in the late 90's I found it did not explain the aspects of Singapore society that actually caused me amd my family "culture shock" - rude crowds, unpleasant public behaviour, and the unexpected reaction of Singaporeans to their efficient, but not exactly pleasant government. I and other expats supplemented this Culture Shock guide with books like Stan Sesser's *The Lands of Charm and Cruelty,* which had an extremely helpful account of S'pore and of "the irrational fear which even the best educated Singaporeans feel towards their government." This is certainly something we experienced. Sesser helped us understand this attitude of our neighbors/acquaintences and made it possible for us to know how, politely, to talk with them about matters other than simply small talk (I would have liked to have known about that from the Culture Shock guide to have saved my guests pain). Sesser's book also goes into good detail about how the Malay and Indian minorities feel like second class citizens in Singapore, something we also heard from them, too. I also recommend Chinese writer Bo Yang's *The Ugly Chinaman & the Crisi in Chinese Culture* for understanding the centuries of history that have produced the dominant Chinese culture of Singapore and the heavy emphisis on "saving face" in any and all situations, even at the expense of what Westerners might call "accurate description." Ian Buruma's book *The Missionary and the Libertine* contains a fascinating account of Singapore called "The Nanny State of Asia," with more about the dissatisfaction (on the quiet, of course) of many Singaporeans towards the police state government of Harry Lee Kuan Yew, to the extent that sadly many skilled and talented Singaporeans chose to leave S'pore for new lives and careers in the First World - all this we found to be true. Paul Theroux's *Saint Jack*, though a novel, contained a surprisingly accurate take on many actions and attitudes to be found in Singapore today - of both long-term Western expats and local Easterners. Christopher Lingle's *Singapore's Authoritarian Capitalism is a kind of "bible" of Singapore's unpleasant underside, usually considered the "twin" of Harry Lee Kuan Yew's 1800 page autobiography (perhaps auto-hagiography is the better term!) You can't buy it in Singapore. Francis Seow's *A Dissident in Lee Kuan Yew's Prison* shows what happens if you open your mouth.

Of course you can have an interesting stay in S'pore and complete a successful year or two stint in your career, before returning to the West, as we did, but the books above will I feel prepare you for the real Singapore more than just the Culture Shock guide - which, ironically, doesn't deal with culture shock at all. The real S'pore is a successfull city-state with many of the pluses and problems of a Arab Gulf oil state - Kuwait for example (where I lived, and which S'pore reminded me of - the plus side {clean toilets, modern garbage collection) and the negative (police state with a mean kick if you're a local). It's sad, because a less megolomaniacal government would have a lot to be proud of in Singapore's clean squares and efficient public transport, in a region better known for corrupt, run-down dictatorial dumps.