Archived Articles

Simeon Mitropolitski is a Canadian analyst, of Bulgarian origin, and a former syndicated columnist with the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). He is the author of several hundred articles dealing with hot political and economic topics, both national and international.

He was part of the first group of Bulgarian intellectuals and students that began the opposition movement that finally put an end to the communist regime in this country in 1989, and in 1996-1997 participated in international observation teams during the elections in several Balkan countries - Romania, Albania and Bulgaria.

In 2002 Simeon and his family moved from Bulgaria to Canada where they live now in Montreal, province of Quebec. Simeon is a Master of Political Science from McGill University and a B.A. of Political Science and History.

Global Real Estate Project
News Index

Directories
  Int'l Realty
  US Realty

I was really surprised learning that Singapore was declared the best-managed city in the world in a survey, produced by one of the major global property consultancy Jones Lang Lasalle. Of course I never doubted Singapore was among the most developed areas in the world, but did this mean also the best-managed city? No doubt people who made this survey had more than enough reasons to rate the cities as they did. I won't blame the authors of choosing criteria in such a way as to produce the winner. I'd assume that the surveyors were honest people that wanted to help the businessmen around the world making easier their strategic choice. I won't try to denounce this survey, although I see many serious problems, making the top list looking in such a way. I'll just produce some additional facts that will, without many additional comments, make Singapore look more balanced in the eyes of the foreign expatriates.

First, Singapore isn't only a city; it's also a state. Usually the management of the big cities and the state they are located in are split, in Singapore they are fused. In most cities the city authorities ask the state government to implement some policies in order to facilitate the urban development. In the case of Singapore the local authorities implement directly the policies they need without loosing precious time on shuttle negotiations. Second, Singapore is by far smaller city (less than 4 million) than most of the other contenders in the survey. All other things being equal, smaller amounts of citizens, economic assets, and infrastructures are easier to manage than larger amounts. Comparing Singapore located compactly in one island with the much larger New York located in different administrative states and islands creates the false impression that the management success in the former unit comes from the managerial qualities of its leaders, not of the smaller assets they manage.

Third, to put it bluntly, Singapore doesn't fit very well with the notion of parliament democracy. Freedom House gives the city-state the status of "partially free" country. Given the scope of civil liberties, it can be argued that it's a half democracy, a half police state and that makes it part of different category than many other cities cited in the survey. Many offenses considered in other countries minor or even some legal activities in Singapore become illegal and are punished harshly. People visiting Singapore should be aware that littering, spitting, jaywalking, drunkenness, making false police report, and overstaying visa are considered serious criminal offenses and the offenders face jail sentences. The electronic media are full with reports about people sentenced to long jail terms for things that won't get the media attention in any Western country. Singapore has put together the modern with traditional corrective techniques, often using caning as principle or secondary penalty. And of course, last but not least, the drug traffickers get mandatory death sentences. The hearings are quick, the sentences when the offender face less than death are usually long, and there are no jury trials.

As real progress we should get the news that chewing gum was decriminalized. Until recently it was a criminal offense and the offenders faced fines or jail terms. Now quit smokers can have one in the pharmacies available by prescription after producing identification. That's the more accurate picture of Singapore, the best-managed city in the world. With so many exotic criminal activities it won't be surprising to feel like a criminal in Singapore, who knows, maybe the color of your T-shirt is offensive too? If not, then what about the T-shirt itself? Enjoy the best-managed city in the world!

--------------------

See also the directory of companies providing real estate services in, and general real estate information of Singapore.