Poverty in Singapore: A Brief Discussion of an Real-World Issue

Poverty in Singapore is thoroughly discussed among contemporary academics within and without Singapore. Singapore is frequently commended for rising above its counterparts in the Southeast Asian region with its strategic diplomatic strategies, foresight in nation building and strong leadership among the old guard. Singapore's resilience allowed for its economy to grow rapidly since its early days of independence but as the nation grows, many fall through the cracks.

Teo (2018) has been lauded as one of the most influential academics in the poverty discourse because of the ethnographic research she has done to shed light on the lived experiences of Singapore's poor in the past decade. The Singapore state has done well in hiding its poverty; providing generous subsidies towards public housing, allowing public rental housing to be an option for the lower working class and the constant ethos of meritocracy does result in a nation that is 'seemingly' flourishing. However, many academics discuss the problem with Singapore's constant meritocracy rhetoric; it disables those that do not have the means to carry themselves out of the poverty rut and allows those that do have the means and the head start to acknowledge that their successes were contingent on their efforts and not of the benefits handed to them since birth. This is problematic because Singaporeans do recognise, acknowledge and indeed internalise that meritocracy is the 'cure-all' for poverty. However, alleviating poverty in Singapore requires far more comprehensive policies on the part of Singapore's leaders than just the rhetoric of working hard.

Another problem with poverty in Singapore is the fact that the poor might not consider themselves as poor but middle-class and this is the same for the upper echelons of society as well. Having such ill-defined categories is problematic because firstly, those that are poor would not seek help because they do not feel deserving of such aid and on the other hand, the rich will feel that it is unfair for their high taxes because they consider themselves to be middle class and do not consider all the benefits that come with being from the elites.

Lastly, poverty is not an entirely visible facet of society in Singapore. As mentioned earlier, the Singapore state does well in hiding its poverty by providing large grants for public housing. Statistically, Singapore has an ultra-low homeless rate but some scholars argue that the numbers MSF provides are drastically underestimated. Indeed, with Jalan Kukoh (while will be discussed in later posts, this post was done last admittedly), it was hard to see the poverty from the streets of Clarke Quay. This resonates with other areas of the poorer housing estates in Singapore as well. For those that are curious, Queenstown hides its poor HDB rental flats among landed bungalows and condominiums as well, one just has to try to find Mei Ling street with great effort, among all the luxury Queenstown has to offer.