8/22/2014

The money mind of robotic Sinkies


Good news that Zouk is given a 3 year conditional extension. Zouk is an institution to the young and beautiful. It is part of their lives. Many grew up with Zouk and have fond memories of the nightclub. Their memories would last another 3 years before being wiped away completely when its lease expires. It would be moved to a new place, just like everything in this island.
 

Moving, moving and moving under a regime of demolition and reconstruction. Everything must be brought down and rebuilt. Every place must draw in the crowd to justify its value to exist. Sentosa is undergoing an expensive renovation to spruce up its attractions to draw in the crowd. Orchard Road has done that quite successfully.
 

Those parks that are not drawing in the crowd will have to buck up or make way for new attractions. Top on the list are the Chinese Garden and the Japanese Garden in Jurong. They are quite empty, not drawing in the crowd. What a waste of space. Some of the people that grew up with fond memories of the gardens did not think so and feeling a sense of loss. Their memories will disappear with the demolition of the parks. They want to make it better, with more money.
 

They are expecting the gardens to be like Orchard Road and Sentosa, and Zouk. They want to pack them in. Has anyone seen what the Japanese Garden is like? It is created in the concept of Zen, spatial and serene, for people to seek refuge away from the hums and bustling of a hectic and vibrant city life. The gardens are meant to be that way, peace and tranquility for those who wanted it to be that way. Those who love the bustles of the city and remain in the city, stay away from the gardens.
 

The Sinkie mentality is about crowds, the more the better. The trains must be crowded to be profitable, and a measure of success. The parks must be filled to the brims to justify its existence. The lack of visitors or too few visitors means the park must go or renovated, refurbished and new attractions added to draw in the crowd.
 

Sungei Buloh is probably in jeopardy. The only crowd they got were the uncles and aunties from the community centres and RCs that came by the busloads. And they would chatter and clatter all the way. Some would blast their radios or mobile phones for the birds and animals to enjoy. You know that they are in the reserves from a mile away.
 

If they are not visiting the reserves, the place would be too quiet. I hope no one is trying to build more artificial attractions like plastic dinosaurs and hippos in the river to attract the crowd. The reserves are meant to be that way. They are sanctuaries for the birds and animals, to be protected from the rowdy crowd.
The Chinese and Japanese Gardens and the Botanic Gardens are also meant to be that way, sanctuaries of peace and quite, solitude and silence. Must they attract all the Orchard Road crowd, the Zouk type, or those who enjoy the crushed in the trains?
 

Please leave the gardens and the parks and reserves alone. They are the last few places for those who need some sanity to retreat to. Thank you. Don’t always think of money and more artificial attractions like Sentosa and those in the Garden by the Bay.

Kopi Level - Green

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you RB for voicing out. I believe many Singaporeans feel the same way. Not everything must turn to money making venture.

Anonymous said...

Not everything must be brought down or moved. Take that holy place at Oxley Rise. Does anyone dare to bring it down or move it? Not even the heritage crusaders dare to declare it a holy site after the old man expressed his "wish" that it be left alone after his death to enhance it value.

Anonymous said...


YES! RB is CORRECT!

YES! RB is CORRECT!

YES! RB is CORRECT!

Anonymous said...

Building, demolishing, rebuiding.

Where else can such a small island create so much jobs for so many interior designers, renovation contractors and factories making all the bits and pieces for the next demolition job. The only problem is that we are creating sloppy work that is probably going down the slippery slope. Just look at the MRT built recently and the first NS line. Breakdowns every other day, every other way from nuts and bolts to wiring issues. And Singaporeans have to take it or leave it because the authorites tells us that we cannot expect no breakdowns of the MRT.

This is also one way to push up cost and demand for spaces. Everything must be looked at from the point of making money. We are not called Singapore Inc for nothing.

Anonymous said...

Anon 9.21am .....You Are Correct Too!

Anon 9.21am .....You Are Correct Too!

Anon 9.21am .....You Are Correct Too!

Anonymous said...

Please leave the gardens and the parks and reserves alone. They are the last few places for those who need some sanity to retreat to.
RB

Hahahahahaha.

Please lah, Sinkieland is not the place to talk about all these.

Sinkieland is the place for smart people (whether Sinkies or foreigners) to make money, or to park money, or both.

U want gardens, parks and reserves and need sanity to retreat? Please emigrate or be domiciled elsewhere.

I doubt those rich, despite their big landed property, are even domiciled here unless needed to, eg MPs and ministers.

Anonymous said...

Can not lar. Every inch that does not make money must make way. U realize that in sg all roads are kerbed so u can't do an illegal park and fre almond roadside like in other countries. Tiok Bo?

Anonymous said...

Part 1:

Rb // The Sinkie mentality is about crowds, the more the better. //

Rb, Bo Tiok!

It's the " SINKIELAND leegime mentality ".

Old man said previously when the casinos were announced that every major city has a certain buzz, sight and sound like Hong Kong, New York, London.

So, SINKIELAND also needs a lot of buzz --- to appear "VERY BUSY ", "VIBRANT" , "A LOT OF HUMAN TRAFFIC ".

But are all these for real or a false facade to create an image of vibrancy, "always very busy", "huge human traffic volume "?

Anonymous said...

Tiok

The Istana should make way first. Also the holy place at Oxley Riae that Anon 9.10 mentioned.

Ubin's natural setting will go one day, that is for sure. It is just a matter of time. The vultures are circling overhead, waiting for the signal, despite the denial and assurance.

I have never set foot on Sentosa since it became commercialised. I used to bring my kids there during school holidays, in the early 80s,to enjoy the natural environment. Now, most are gone and some have become exceedlingly expensive to visit.

Anonymous said...

How to leave the gardens and parks alone when they want to have 6.9 million or 10 million population? The garden with running track at my mum's flat was developed into blocks of flats. I saw some gardens or small fields in matured estate being developed into blocks of flats. Sigh...

Anonymous said...

Hi RB, Speed here. I was at the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve last Saturday with my grand daughter. It was quiet and we enjoyed the tranquility. We met only a handful of visitors, some monkeys and 2 photographers, who obviously enjoyed the peaceful reserve as much as we did. Good place for photography.

Hope they do not renovate the reserve and make it into a theme park. It would be a shame if they destroy the tranquility of the place.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

Hi Speed, glad you enjoy nature. Yes, beware of those who have grand ideas. Look at how they turned our island in the sun, Sentosa, into a monster of theme parks?

I have not been to Sentosa for ages. Would the Maldives and Mauritius be turned to theme parks as well to attract visitors?

Anonymous said...

Would they be building swings for the monkeys in Bt Timah?

Anonymous said...

@ redbean
"Everything must be brought down and rebuilt."
- Not true.
- PAP must not be brought down and rebuilt.

"Every place must draw in the crowd to justify its value to exist."
- not true
- some old men no need to justify their value to exist.

Anonymous said...

Talking about the old man, it looks like he is still on track in 2016. Recent appearances at parade and dinner suggest he is telling us he is back.

Perhaps they needed him to deflect the blows in the heat of the election rallies and also to get some sympathy votes.

Question is - will the stunt work?

Anonymous said...

Uncle Chua, totally agree with your article. These govt people has no sense of what nature is suppose to be like. Their mind if fill with $$$ only

Anonymous said...

Part 2

The crowd, buzz, sight, sound, peak hour crush at Vivo Level 3/ Basement 2, Harbour Front, Bugis Village, Commonwealth, Causeway Point, Tampines, Bedok, Peninsula, etc etc can be misleading.

There can be crowds, buzz, sound no doubt but how much quality is there, what percentage? Can we do better than that to make SINKIELAND more liveable yet with critical mass quality?

For example, it is not exactly encouraging to see places in Bugis St with rental arguably at many thousands a month yet shop tenants selling clothing at $10 for 3 pieces?

And there is buzz, sight, sound .......

Can we do better than that?

b said...

The parks will have to go to make way for housing if more people are imported into this island else the housing price will be more unaffordable. Parks can be incorporated into buildings. Istana should be demolished to incorporated into a mega shopping mall.

Anonymous said...

He is worth more, dead than alive. He can move 5% more votes , if suddenly drop dead and elections called immediately.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

RB, please lah dun sabo.

I'm one of those "uncles" who really enjoys the serenity of the parks and nature reserves in Singapore. This harkens back to my existence in Oz where we have lots of parks and reserves, and a land of fat, heart-diseased and diabetic lazy sloths who only go outdoors to buy beer, pizza a lotto ticket or place a bet at the <a href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabcorp_Holdings">TAB.</a>

I enjoy them all: McRitchie, East Coast, Pierce, Bk Timah, Ubin, Sg Buloh, Mandai, Botanic Gardensi...especially during the week where sometimes I can count the other people there on both hands.

So let those youngsters enjoy themselves in Orchard Rd or places like Zouk, and spend their sugar-daddy money in Pangea. Good for them.

If other people want to visit the casinos and blow their dough -- let them.

<b>In fact, the govt should give 55 year olds their CPF in full, but in CASINO CHIPS, which the uncles can only cash in at the casinos.</b>

Please dun tok cock about the govt demolishing the parks lah. Singapore has some of the best parks and reserves. National Parks Board is one of the best stat boards -- they do a helluva job!

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

P.S. One place I am REALLY PISSED OFF about is Sentosa. Until the day I die I curse those motherfuckers from fucking up Pl Belakang Mati -- rich is history, verdant in flora and fauna....and now??? WTF. They even built a fucking bridge and put a monorail!

I used to go Belakang Mati by bum boat with various friends and occasionally with girlfriends. We'd go to the south of the island and swim and picnic COMPLETELY NAKED. I've fucked girls on the beach, under the trees and in the British gun turrets.

And then one day some govt idiots decided to "develop" Belakang Mati, first sigh was changing the name to "Sentosa" because "mati" is a hard sell ;-) Then came the cable car and golf course.....the beginning of the end.

Sentosa ===>>> epic fail! Demolish Sentosa. Bring back Pulau Belakang Mati!!

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

Mati hard so sell. So matilah lagi hard to sell. Tiok or not?

Although you are more sober today, but still had problem understanding what I wrote. Dyslexic?