Singapore trades freedoms for a liveable city. Hong Kong is trading its freedoms for nothing

Singapore is clean, convenient and meets its citizens’ housing needs, although political free speech is limited. Hong Kong has none of the benefits, and its edge in personal liberties is rapidly eroding

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Singapore’s pristine and spacious public housing puts Hong Kong’s to shame. Photo: Roy Issa

Michael Chugani

Michael Chugani is a Hong Kong journalist and TV show host

Published: 9:01am, 18 Apr 2019Updated: 9:03am, 18 Apr 2019

Hong Kong or Singapore? The debate rages over which is better. Let’s end it here and now. I was in Singapore last week after being away for years. First impressions matter. The taxi driver who took me to my hotel chatted cheerfully throughout the ride.

We talked politics, housing and quality of life. Out of curiosity, I asked what would be an appropriate tip. He politely replied he was fine with a big, small or no tip at all.

During my stay, I bet myself I would come across at least one grumpy taxi driver who would refuse to take me where I wanted to go. I didn’t. Hong Kong’s taxi associations should arrange education trips to Singapore. I asked one about Singapore’s much-lauded public housing and he volunteered to show me the oldest one.

Images of the squalor of some of our older public housing estates went through my mind. Instead, I saw freshly painted blocks that could easily pass for private housing in Hong Kong. Singapore’s public housing estates have a spacious feel, nothing like the cramped concrete jungles here.

And guess what? Very few flats, private or public, had unsightly laundry hanging on windows or balconies. In Hong Kong, even multimillion-dollar harbour view homes have laundry drying on balconies or from windows. What’s the point of paying big bucks for a view, yet blocking it with underwear?

The exterior of apartment blocks in the Yue Kwong Chuen estate, in Aberdeen, Hong Kong, with laundry hanging out to dry. Photo: Felix Wong

I was told Singapore has a rule that requires buildings, public or private, to be painted every five years. Using front balconies and windows to dry laundry is discouraged. Private residential buildings are architecturally superior to even our luxury residential estates, which normally consist of square blocks so close to each other they look like giant walls.