The Staggering Gap between Singapore's Rich and Poor

Official statistics by the World Bank indicate that Singapore has the highest Gini coefficient in the developed world. The Gini coefficient is an abstract mathematical economic indicator that measures the extent of income inequality in a country. Yet one doesn't have to be an economics guru to understand the extent of inequality in Singapore. Simply by browsing the newspapers, Singaporeans have been exposed to a much more visceral and concrete demonstration of Singapore's staggering gap between the rich and the poor.

On Monday, the following article was published in my paper:

You can have this bungalow for $68m

This five-bedroom good-class bungalow in Ridout Road comes with its own pool and tennis court.

Reico Wong | Mon, Mar 12, 2012 | my paper

The record $39-million sale of a Sentosa Cove seafront bungalow to a buyer from India, which made headlines earlier this month, may have raised many eyebrows.

But it is far from being the most expensive prestige landed home on the Singapore property market - in terms of absolute price - at the moment.

Sources told my paper that one of the priciest residential landed properties up for grabs is a five- bedroom good-class bungalow (GCB) in Ridout Road, off Holland Road.

Its owner is asking for $68 million, or about $1,670 psf, for the property, which occupies about 40,000 sq ft of land. The large plot of land, on which two GCBs can be built, is sited on a slope and comes with its own swimming pool and tennis court.

Tuition Obsession: A Singaporean Dysfunction

Singapore is in some ways, a deeply dysfunctional society. You know so when you read mind-blowing headlines like this:

Parent pays nearly $6,000 a month in tuition fees

Maureen Koh | The New Paper | Tue Mar 6 2012

Her son is a straight A student in a top boys' school here yet this mother spends $5,800 a month on his tuition.

Her son, who is in Secondary 3, attends classes for English and mathematics at a premier tuition centre in Thomson once a week - two hours per session.

He also takes a 2 1/2-hour weekly Chinese class in a popular language school.

And he gets one-on-one tuition - each for about two hours - for physics, chemistry and biology with a private tutor.

All these classes are on top of the regular supplementary lessons that his school gives.

...To top it off, she pays people to do her son's homework when he can't cope with the combination of school and tuition assignments.

She pays $200 per hour if they have to swing by before midnight and $250 an hour when its later.