Well it would be good if you could answer my question on whether Singapore is looking to approve Russian vaccines and whether the people there are interested in Russian vaccines.
The Russian vaccine doesn't feature as strongly in public discussion probably because;
1) We historically do not have strong ties with Russia, unlike China or the Western world.
2) Russia isn't pushing the vaccine at the little red dot, they have bigger fishes to fry?
From my experience, many people there intentionally are proud of their poor command of Chinese as an indicator of (Westernized) upper class status. Rather like Hong Kong.
I do not know where you get your impression of Singapore from but I hope it is not from Crazy Rich Asians
There is a segment of the population that is racially classified as Peranakan (Straits Born Chinese) who are very much what you ascribe. Despite looking Chinese, they vehemently divorce themselves of Chinese language and culture. This stems from pride in their own evolved culture as opposed to one derived from everything anti-China (eg. Taiwan/DPP). It doesn't make the Peranakan world view automatically anti-Chinese however but it doesn't help either.
Communicating in
accented English as a sign of status was a thing while I was growing up but that is no longer the case now. Back then (in the 70/80s), Singapore wasn't quite as confident and travel wasn't quite as accessible as it is now. If your neighbours went for 2 week holidays in the US, they'd return with an effected accent and people will be like "wah, the Chans went to the US for a holiday leh"
Things are different these days. Travel no longer has the mystique it did. Singaporeans travel a lot. The portion of the population that has an oversea education is also significantly larger now. What was uncommon is now common. You come back from a holiday with an accent and people will just look at you crazy like the pretentious little twat you are.
The rich have never really worn their lack of Chinese language skills as a badge of pride, if anything, they are rich because they are practical. Whereas in the past they may have made sure that the children spoke good English and ignored the Chinese language the reality of the current times means that all the rich families are equally focused equipping their children with true bilingual skills.
Singapore is similar to Switzerland when declaring political neutrality in that, well, it isn't really neutrality if you look closely. They certainly aren't fond of Russia.
Singapore is hardly neutral. We are very much west aligned.
We recognise the realpolitik in our own backyard and have tried to maintain good relations with both China and the West. Whereas Lee Kuan Yew did a sterling job of 脚踏两船 (having a foot in both camps), the current crop of leaders are rather more inept (my view) or more west signalling and our ties with China has deteriorated as a result.
If you are Russian, then I hate to tell you that Russia does not feature strongly in the psyche of the typical Singaporean. Singaporeans are very apolitical, we do not care much for politics in general, especially not when you are a world away. The general attitude towards Russia is really very neutral as we do not view Russia as having any effect on the stability of our region, politically or economic. We view Russia more as a romantic travel destination than anything else.
I hazard a guess that the pro China folks are older like
@Hendrik_2000 because the younger people I interact with in Taiwan, HK, and Singapore, only like 10% of them are pro China. Of course there are way more old Taiwanese HKers Singaporeans fond of China than young ones because of the generation gap (more Chinese style education for people who grew up in the 70s or so).
Anyway I apologize if it sounds like a rant.
The older folks are majority anti-China as they emigrated from China with grievances (mostly) and lived through the 50/60s anti-communist era.
The younger folks are also more pro-West as our local media is western MSM derived and the western media has been kind to Singapore recently.
It is the folks in between, like myself, in between the older and the younger, who present the biggest group of cynical non-west aligned population who are more inclined to view China in a positive light.
To explain, in the 80/90s, Singapore was constantly being savaged by the western press, Safire, et al. The same key words, authoritarian police state, dictator, oppressed, everything you do you get fined, blah blah blah, was hurled at us frequently.
The thing is, I grew up in Singapore and I was always confused between what I read about my country and what I personally experienced. The Singapore govt then was a very hard nosed bunch and did what they did because "the ends justified the means". We were told condescendingly by our western counterparts that the end never justifies the means.
Roll around to the 2000s and the US is neck deep in their war on terror and are doing the same thing, violating rights everywhere. The one key phrase that jumped out to us is that the west says the threats justify their actions. #rolleyes
Cue the current times where we see China being demonised as a authoritarian police state ruled by a dictator amidst a sea of human rights violation. Thing is, we travel a lot to China and we recognise a lot of the same dichotomy of our childhood. Truly you cannot judge based on what you have read until you have experienced it yourself.
The old are too entrenched. The young lack the cynicism of their parents because they are bombarded by western media and haven't gone through the same epiphany.
No worries on "the rant". I hope I have shed some light on the little red dot and helped us understand each other better.
