In a stark contrast to Orchid Road with its high-end department stores, the Bugis shopping area offers Singapore’s trademark mix of cultures and religions – there is the Buddhist Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple, Sultan Mosque, Arab Street, and the Malay Heritage Center.

But over the past two years, things have gradually changed. Liang Seah Street, which used to be teeming with street vendors offering Singaporean snacks, is now lined with Chinese hot pot restaurants. And catching the eye at all large subway stations are advertisements by a grilled fish restaurant chain that is headquartered in China’s glitzy border town Shenzhen.

“In former times you only had Chinese restaurants in Chinatown, now they are virtually in every shopping area; even the KTVs are all run by Chinese,” notes Linda Chern, executive director and head of residential services at the commercial real estate firm CBRE Singapore.

The Chinese factor has already evolved into an undercurrent with implications beyond Singapore’s cityscape, a development that the government does not dare disregard. This became most obvious from the speech that Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong delivered on Singapore’s National Day, August 21.

Forced to explain Singapore’s support for Ukraine

This year, Lee devoted large parts of his address in Chinese to explain to the Chinese community why Singapore blames Russia for the war in Ukraine, and why the city state stands on the same side as the United States. He made it a point to say that Singapore is not opposing Russian aggression because it is pro-U.S. As a small country, Singapore must take a firm stance "to maintain sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

“This was the first time that our leader had to explain his foreign policy to the people,” says political science Professor Joseph Liow, dean of College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Liow believes this should be taken as a warning sign.

He points out that Singapore condemns Russian aggression for other reasons than Washington, although the outcome is the same. The Chinese-speaking community in Singapore obtains news – be it the COVID-19 pandemic, the Sino-U.S. trade war or the war in Ukraine - mainly via the Chinese social media app WeChat. As a result, everything somehow becomes a conspiracy.

WeChat is widely used in the Singapore Chinese community (Source: Pei-Yin Hsieh)

Behind all this is the strained relationship between Washington and Beijing. The problem is that the rivalry between these two big powers has begun to affect Singapore.

The public gets news from both sides and has become very sensitive as a result. Therefore, Lee was forced to explain his foreign policy stance, something unheard of under his predecessors Goh Chok Tong and Lee Kuan Yew.

It was also the first time that Lee warned the public to be aware of fake or erroneous news on social media.

Liow, who has been doing research on behalf of the Singaporean military for many years, does not expect the situation to improve in the coming decade.

Who controls the narrative in the realm of Chinese language and culture

Singapore became aware of the aggressive nature of China’s “sharp power” some five years ago.

In 2015, China opened the China Cultural Centre in Singapore. In 2017, Singapore established the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre, eager to retain control over the narrative in the realm of ethnic Chinese culture. This year, Lee emphasized that the ethnic Chinese in Singapore no longer need to return to China but should put down roots in Singapore.

After national day, Lee reassigned his close aide, Chinese-language Press Secretary Chen Hwai Liang to the Singapore Chinese Cultural Center. Chen’s job is to oversee the development of ethnic Chinese culture in Singapore, and to conduct systematic research and introductions to the local Chinese culture

The dramatic changes at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy of National University of Singapore in recent years also highlight the Chinese factor in academia.

In 2017, Singapore announced the expulsion of Professor Huang Jing, a China-born United States citizen, and his wife. Huang, who served as director of the Centre on Asia and Globalisation at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, had allegedly used his position to “deliberately and covertly advance the agenda of a foreign country at Singapore’s expense.”

Sharp decline in Chinese officials training in Singapore

Yet, the school still displays a photograph commemorating the visit of Li Yuanchao, then head of the Organization Department of the Chinese Communist Party, in 2011. Li came to Singapore at the time to celebrate the launch of the Master in Public Administration and Management (MPAM) program, which is taught in Chinese. Before the COVID-19 outbreak, 90 percent of program participants came from China, making the school an important training ground for career track officials from China, alongside the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

Things have dramatically changed since. Associate Professor Lu Xi, a MPAM co-chair, points out that the Lee Kuang Yew School of Public Policy is the only graduate school the Chinese government still cooperates with. But over the past two years, high-ranking Chinese officials have not been able to get passports for overseas studies. Prospective Chinese students also worried that their careers would be at stake if they contracted COVID-19 while abroad. As a result, fewer than half of the program participants now come from China, and those who do come to Singapore are usually not from the top echelons of China’s bureaucracy.

Lu is currently working to rebrand the “Chinese Executive Education” program. “This is a program that has its foothold in Singapore, boasts the best connections with the local government and teaches highly efficient handling of government affairs,” says Lu. Starting with the new semester, the public administration course will cover supply chains, geopolitics, innovation in education, population aging, etc. to attract students who need to deal with the new international political and economic situation.

“The Singaporean government has its options when issuing visas,” explains Lee Huay Leng, editor-in-chief of the Chinese Media Group of Singapore Press Holdings. “We welcome family offices that bring investment and jobs, but we do not welcome the jetsetting crowd,” she says in describing public sentiment.

Ostentatious wealth disgusts Singaporeans

 Even the poorest Singaporeans can afford to rent a place to live. In fact, Singaporeans are not dismayed because the poor are getting poorer but because the rich are getting richer.

“The first generation of Singaporeans who got rich kept a low profile. If these newcomers flaunt their wealth too much, resentment regarding the wealth gap might grow stronger in society,” warns Lee.

Lately, people in the city state get the signs of outrageous riches rubbed into their faces. “On Orchard Street you see luxury cars every day, Bentleys and Lamborghinis;, there weren’t so many before. Nowadays you won’t be able to buy a Rolex even if you have the money,” says Chern.

At the restaurant, the locals immediately know whether the guests are Chinese or locals from Singapore, as they only need to look at the beverages on the table. The locals prefer to drink red wine, whereas the Chinese like to drink spirits like Maotai or Brandy.

Due to the massive influx of Chinese money, prices for luxury villas have also gone through the roof, reaching historic highs.

Singapore has around 2,800 so-called Good Class Bungalow (GCB) plots, the top category of residential real estate. To qualify for good class bungalow status, the individual houses must not have more than two storeys and cover at most 35 percent of the respective land plot, which must be at least 1,400 square meters and located in selected low-density areas. With their large gardens, lush vegetation, and manicured lawns, these properties offer privacy in an otherwise densely populated city state, and utter exclusivity. For wealthy Chinese, owning one of these sought-after luxury homes is a status symbol.

As Chern explains, Chinese nationals who do not have Singaporean citizenship cannot buy a GCB, but they can rent them. “In the past the rent stood at around 60,000 to 80,000 Singapore dollars [per year] but now it has gotten out of hand, rents have risen to 280,000 Singapore dollars (about NT$6.37 million),” she says.

Singapore street view (Source: Pei-Yin Hsieh)

Property agent Richard Lin of Propnex Realty Pte. Ltd. was busy last year trying to find objects for Chinese newly rich, most barely 30 years old. These Chinese clients are young and have no qualms about flaunting their wealth. “They have obviously already moved into one (luxury villa), but they still tell me to find another one for them,” reveals Lin. 

The Chinese typically pay for real estate in cash; they don’t need to borrow a single penny from the bank. Some remit the money from Hong Kong, while others cash out crypto currencies in Indonesia, and then remit the funds to Singapore.

Singapore on par with New York as most expensive city in the world

Over the past year, the housing market in Singapore took off, with both real estate prices and rents rising 20 to 30 percent. In areas that are popular with expats and foreign immigrants such as Central Area, Orchard Road, and Holland Village, the increases have been even higher. The Singaporean government has twice taken measures to cool the overheated property market, but the Chinese billionaires couldn’t care less.

“These people are waiting to obtain citizenship, to get an ID;, then they can buy GCB. In the coming five years, the price of GCB will continue to rise,” predicts Lin.

Last year, Singapore emerged as the most expensive city in the world due to soaring apartment rents and residential property prices, tying with New York City for the top spot, according to the Worldwide Cost of Living survey by The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

Given that Singapore boasts a high home ownership rate of almost 90 percent and only citizens are eligible to buy their government-subsidized rental flats, the average Singaporean is not affected by these developments in the high-end market. But people will notice the subtle changes in the city’s way of life.

This is a challenge Singapore’s fourth- generation leader will have to face.

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Translated by Susanne Ganz
Edited by TC Lin
Uploaded by Ian Huang