🇸🇬 Singapore: The world's richest city | 101 East

[Music] Asian businessmen for example like to come here because we are an Asian city but we are also a global city at the same time is easy to do business always open to welcome the rich the wealthy the people who want to have the security and want to be feel good and comfortable Singapore is a playground for the mega-rich the place to park their wealth as people get more of bloon you want to look at more luxury items better homes but the cars at the arch as long as the flan is within the rules of law I think it's fine billionaires tycoons and big foreign firms have drawn here by the low taxes stable government and protected banking Lords that keep their accounts secret so I think Singapore will be the location where people custody their assets what the Swiss have done for many many years and unsuccessfully Singapore has simply taken that to another level but with the rising costs of living many Singaporeans are struggling we have one of the most expensive public housing in the world the core issue is that Singaporeans are finding increasingly difficult to compete for jobs under Andros on this edition of 101 eights we asked who really benefits from living in the world's richest TV [Music] there's no shortage of style or fun in the Sun at the Singapore Yacht Show counted at the gateway to Asia Solis visitor numbers have doubled since the show began three years ago surely Singapore air who is becoming one of the most important tabs so we have a lot of new clients and lot of new entrepreneurs and not a new net worth individuals which are Justin now thinking that a boat a yacht can be part of their looks we live in a sea of sails Alexandros Raley is selling this yacht for 5.2 million dollars your team can give you the freedom can give you the privacy and no any kind of luxury hotel can provide such a luxury and freedom in the same time is it also a status symbol it is also starfish in the same but surely forget jets and limos if you want to travel in style the dazzling array of super yachts are the draw cards here they can even be chartered for a cool fifty thousand dollars a week this provides you a platform to have the time of your life people are now becoming more aware of their surroundings and I would argue that Southeast Asia has some of the most beautiful coastline in the world Arthur tase marina hosts the Yacht Show on sentosa an island off Singapore's coast he also has his own yacht and luxury goods firm Arthur is showing around Malaysian gaming tycoon Lim coughed a there's more toys to buy here than just boats I think Asia is now developing into the next level of pursuing more leisured expectation it's probably the current continent where people are getting wealthier Singapore its position as a fun place to be by Auto where business converge these Richie events a part of Singapore's dramatic makeover from colonial backwater to economic powerhouse in just 50 years by throwing the doors open to super rich foreigners the country now manages 5% of the world's total private wealth making Singapore the world's wealthiest city based on per capita income it's very clear that the efficiency part the clarity that our government leaders have said that we want to position Singapore as the premier hub for everything to happen here relative to the site compared to India in China we play a very strategic role to be the jewel in the competition market some of the world beats hi Kunz with a presence in Singapore include Facebook founder Eduardo Saverin [Music] Australian mining magnate Gina Rinehart Malaysian entrepreneur on bing sang and prominent u.s. investor Jim Rogers the results of this chair has been tremendous it is that one of the big selling thought is this one over top seller right now some of Singapore's wealthiest business leaders think their homeland has a lot to offer Ronson is the founder and CEO of the massage chair manufacturer awesome international with an estimated net worth of three hundred and fifty million dollars he says Singapore's reliability and resilience to global shocks makes it an attractive base if you look at Singapore the last 3040 years and I think there's political stability and that has lead you know to a clear culture a clear vision very pro-business you know very effective the things here works since starting his business in the 1980s ron has expanded his range of lifestyle and health care products today 90% of his business is done overseas in 28 countries but he doesn't want to move his main office - it's cheaper base like Thailand I mean they have their weaknesses in terms of government to change the cups which impact there are in other nations in some way but there is another incentive why big businessman based their empires here in terms of taxes are in Singapore is one you know the fuel you know country like Hong Kong with low tax you know I think the government here believes that you know a competitive tax is important Singapore's corporate taxation of 17 percent at the highest rate is low compared with other advanced economies but looking at what's happening in the West particularly various countries in Europe looking at United States around the wealth transfer taxes or even just wealth taxes of any form those are getting seemingly more harsh by the month right every week there's an announcement from some Parliament about more taxes either envisioned or plan Mikolas Rambo's is the CEO of wealth X a startup company that gathers intelligence on rich individuals glow the major banks and corporations thousands of ultra-wealthy here 13 hundred or so Singaporeans themselves people who have businesses in Singapore but if you add to that the Indonesians who are here and have been here for many years the mainland Chinese the Europeans who have money sometimes 1st or 2nd generation there are thousands of people you know there's a reason that Singapore has the highest density of supercars in the world is because that money is all here in Singapore with half the world's economic output shifting to Asia by 2050 Chinese businessman Tom tang is looking to capitalize in Singapore his company the Rainwood group is affiliated with one of China's offshore oil giants but has expanded into selling lifestyle products like soft drinks golf courses and this luxury super yacht why Chinese the typhoon and moved to Singapore because there's a grid in a percentage of the population in Singapore and Singaporean we are actually a Chinese and so from s a Chinese investor we found lots of things in common do you think it is the Chinese influence that has led to this explosion of wealth I want actually completely denied on the point because of the population in China and now China is really having an open policy and there's a lots of you know the Chinese people in a migrate to Singapore acquiring property in Singapore is a ticket into a global business community in this year's night Frank wealth report on global properties 400 influential financial experts said Singapore will remain Asia's most important city for their clients are we can't really say Singapore is a huge market in terms of their populations Singapore is very easy for stepping to formally to your product because of the whole country's a system but in terms of the luxury market we actually taken a great advantage of the Singaporean these are connections to the world so we are still having a greater confidence young like many foreign companies Rainwood is buying heavily into Singapore's property market the company bought over 40 of these high-rise apartments at Hamilton Scott's one of Singapore's most coveted addresses you don't need to keep your Lamborghini Ferrari or in our case an Audi in the basement garage the best place to keep an eye on it is right here in the lounge room property dealer muhammad ismael guffawed is showing me around another luxury condominium called the sale where floor space is $2,000 per square foot other properties can be high as six thousand dollars despite today's gloomy weather the view of Singapore's business hub is impressive and increasingly expensive 25% of all private property transactions in Singapore are purchased by foreigners looking at the property prices in the next 10 years and extremely confident Singapore prices are going to stay stable and continuous growth simply because today the top four nations that invest in properties are ranked as Malaysia our immediate neighbor to the north followed by the Chinese and Indonesia and India and if you look at it they are all huge populations of a billion and hundreds of millions in Indonesia and a small percentage of them who invest in Singapore and that's why Singapore is always seen as in a goldmine for property investment foreigners are also snapping up waterfront properties on sentosa where long-term leases avoid investment restrictions but this influx of wealth has driven up property prices by 77 percent in the last decade to stop a housing bubble the government has increased stamp duty to 15 percent for foreign buyers this year it has already deterred from some extent I must say because the volume of transactions have somewhat drop compared to prior to these cooling measures and now by about 30 to 40 percent depending on some those locations but the good thing though here is is the prices today are very much muted in its growth and it in fact it become a buyers market because sellers are not able to demand prices as they did a couple of years ago when there wasn't such a cooling measure but while the rich enjoy a livable city praised for urban innovation many locals are struggling with rising living costs and job competition Nicolas Fang is a government-approved MP nominated by the public to bring independent views into Parliament the danger of the politics of envy is very high and I think that it's it's hard for some Singaporeans to imagine that there therein will be able to aspire to that kind of level of lifestyle or living the impact or the presence of wealthy individuals who may not necessarily be Singaporean it's become making itself felt in Singapore on a social level these feelings were obvious at one of Singapore's biggest protests against the government white paper proposing to increase the population by up to 30% in 2030 with immigrants making up nearly half of that 6.9 million population figure demonstrators said it would put more strain on public resources the white paper aimed to improve land use and infrastructure in a city-state of just 700 square kilometres the current redevelopments like turning this old cemetery into an eight-lane highway and housing estate prop many to question if growth is coming at the expense of Singapore's soul what we are saying we've got enough growth please government now it's the time to see the quality of the growth itself we don't want every place to be turned into a productive factory or office but perhaps it's time to let some other thing be just to offer a quality of life economist something would say Singaporeans have very different priorities to others living in nations crippled with job cuts and austerity what bothers them more now it's not about the jobs finding jobs it's about way of life it's about working condition it's about the whole point of living in Singapore now yes you have a job but it is the quality of life they're looking at do everyday local Singaporeans do they identify with it or are they a bit concerned about the way the country's changed a very good question if you come here every year you'll notice something different every time you'll probably find that the change is at a pace which probably would have left them behind what they can relate to really is their housing estate 80% of Singaporeans live in public housing including Jason Lim and his family he says the public property market is unaffordable because of inflation and competition from foreigners with permanent residency many of the middle class are saddled with huge mortgages that take decades to pay off I will be about 70 I can retire unless you know something miracle happens it's a lifetime thing while we have seen an inflation about you know about 100 percent you know already past ten years or so today cars in Singapore can cost up to three times more than their actual work because the government issues a certificate of use that expires within ten years Jason spends $800 a month paying off his car the scheme aimed at limiting car ownership to ease traffic congestion increases of family's debt for years besides that you did appear turbo tax insurance right and the maintenance I mean which they are pretty common and of course this course are not cheap all right the insurance itself can cost you a couple of grand as an audio-visual technician Jason has a reliable source of income but he doesn't think many of the middle class had the means to reach their ambitions people always also ship hiding come with quality life it doesn't really come hand-in-hand together and this time in Singapore right because like I say the middle income basically they've been able to meet their basic needs prominent bloggers young see young also lives in public housing he describes the middle class in Singapore as the sandwich class if you are low income there are some basic schemes available to help you but if you are middle class you don't qualify for any of these schemes even if your little public house that you bought has been increasing in value over the years it may just be an illusion because you may retire with hardly any money because all your money or your pension went into your public housing chef Betty Co Tia has just opened the fifth branch of his restaurant chain aimed at middle-class consumers he serves Western dishes with a Singaporean twist but chef Beni says affordability matters more his restaurants thrive during the economic crisis but now times are tougher we opened up a new restaurant in six twenty percent were actually closed down those gourmet restaurant I really well this is my observation unless you are Sarah Beattie chefs but before singaporean to start high-end restaurants very very powerful Benny wasn't always doing so well his reformed drug addict who went to jail a number of times now he helps others while most restaurants hire foreign workers Benny employs Singapore's downtrodden if they are able to get a job I think there's a good chance that they can actually reform and survive in this society if they come up from prison they say and they doesn't have a job most likely I would say that they'll go back to their always one of his shifts who in the scene recently spent time in juvenile prison he's noticed that life in the new Singapore is tough the prices are really raising I don't know what to expect in time to come but I'm definitely not living in Singapore no way I was actually thinking of places like Malaysia it's like two times cheaper the cook Wall Street flats has one of Singapore's poorest communities resident Sam su Rhema high estimate six out of ten people here are unemployed Sam Tsui earned 600 Singaporean dollars a month the equivalent of 480 US dollars doing odd jobs to provide for his wife and six children he's applied for other jobs like airport cleaning but he says the travel costs make it unaffordable we have the deduction of this one spot and cost of all my food I'll be back only reach my family about three to four hundred dollars the most I will waste a lot of times of flavor it took me about whenever I were to go and come back he set up an outrage group called per kick with other elders to address poverty on this estate they help people like set up into Yusuf find government services or jobs Sidda has heart problems and lives in this one-room flat with her brother who suffered a stroke together they received 280 US dollars in government assistance is it okay if legit this this group this up a group Ling you put it others service that can assist you with your economy let's see if we offer you some like like job the flower arrangement the group have had many successes in helping the community including forming a soccer team and a schooling program for young children it's helped stop late-night anti-social behavior like Lou sniffing I don't want to see the children lawyer in 10 or 15 years to be my neighbor over here I like to secure this even the current future I don't want them to be as it like me Google Street and underprivileged areas around Singapore don't have the grinding poverty seen in other parts of Asia but as corporate pay packages rise here wages among Singapore's lower classes have fallen by 10 percent over the past decade Youngjae hyung says a larger social net is the solution to income inequality the problem which Singapore is that we have so little basic social protection for the wing come we don't have universal health care we don't have pensions you know we don't have automatic welfare for people who are say disabled they're increasing the social net for those at the bottom means an end to low taxation the very driver bringing wealth there's definitely more talk now of given the income inequality that we're experiencing to have more safety nets for for the especially the lower income segments of the society but you know everything has a cost if you want to to do more in that sense then the money has to come from somewhere and I think the question that we're asking now is that I think points we need to pay higher income tax when it comes to the issue of a social net Ron simp can see both sides of the coin growing up in a struggling family of seven children he worked odd jobs from the age of nine to pay for university he sold door-to-door products worked on construction sites and waited tables at a noodle stand I think it depends on how your texture people I think it's okay to text people you know the which are mall which are making more money in the sense but it should not be a direct text you know like say it consumption tax is good you know it's okay to have more consumption text the sense it's okay to have more transactional text you know for certain levels of people in certain property sector I think that's fine but in terms of corporate tax and personal tax you do not want to drive the entrepreneurship away given the high quality of public services compared to the rest of the world Singaporeans say there's a culture of expectation that is often hard to navigate sometimes our Singaporean like the winged July there's some round to say that perhaps Singaporean I'm more pimp a lot than elsewhere they can be very patriotic and energetic about what they want Singapore to do which is good but at the same time they can be very demanding or what the state can do for them as well because the state has the resources to help them in the Asian century this island state has become a vibrant business epicenter delivering growth in an age of austerity but this success lies in causing more foreigners and the wealthy for our country there's no natural resources pretty much other than its own people I think this was unnecessary this decision that the government made a few years ago and it's something that has served the economy well foreigners will be part of our of our culture will be part of our lives for a long time and one of the questions that we are asking a Singaporeans now is can we live with this how do we accept this and how do we blend those two and make sure that people still remain happy and still feel a sense of being rooted to Singapore Singapore's Prime Minister once said an inclusive society is one where everyone benefits from the nation's progress has a sense of belonging and a real chance to move up the challenge is balancing these ideals and the pursuit of economic growth in one of the world's richest cities you

Channel: Al Jazeera English

Views: 1,368,205

Keywords: tax, corruption, 101east, singapore, China, aljazeera, al jazeera, aljazeera english, al jazeera english, aljazeera 101 east, 101 east singapore, Singapore: The World's Richest City, World's Richest City, Richest City, Jet Li, Richard Chandler, corruption-free government, private banking, world's ultra-rich, cost of living, 101 East, east, asia, rich kids, singapore richest city, singapore airlines, united kingdom, worlds richest city, human rights, 🇸🇬

Id: ESCk7pmuR4k

Length: 25min 0sec (1500 seconds)

Published: Fri May 03 2013

Reddit Comments

[u/Freckled]

Try this

[u/ModisDead]

Blocked Countries:
United States

[u/LaMuchedumbre]

Where marijuana possession means a death sentence.

[u/MikeBruski]

Abu Dhabi is actually the richest city in the world, based on equal fortune of the local population.

If you would take all the money owned by the around 300.000 emiratis living in Abu Dhabi and share it equally between them, then every one, from the 5 month old baby to the 98 year old grandmother, would recieve slightly over 17 million AED, or 4,7 million USD or 3,6 million EUR.

No other city of that size is close, including Qatar .In Singapore, the rich are the foreigners, the locals cant cope with cost of life, whereas in Abu Dhabi the locals have the cash and they love to splash it.

[u/[deleted]]

Regardless Singapore is far too hot to live in.

[u/knsdklsfds]

The complaint about the "poor" guy having to pay so much for his unnecessary car is funny. Why would you even want a car in Singapore, especially if you are struggling?

[u/MOX-News]

Why are so many AJE videos blocked in the US?

[u/[deleted]]

Singapore enforces the death penalty for possession of marijuana (and other drugs):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_Singapore

So basically North Korea + Dubai = Singapore. What a joke.