The Ang Mohs love you

Well, not exactly just the ang mohs but expats who work in Asia has voted Singapore as the best city to live.

Surprised? Not so for me considering the factors (eg climate, air quality, health services, housing and utilities, leisure facilities, infrastructure, personal safety and political tensions) that were used in the compilation of the survey results. Hmmm, so what's left out of this survey that could potentially affect our ranking - work-life balance (OT anyone?), political/social democracy? That aside, my British friends often praised Singapore for her clean, sunny state and some have verbalised their intentions to work in Singapore in the near future. I, too, would one day want to return to the best city in in Asia (not so much for the work though). Moreover, this is not a one-off "victory" for Singapore to hao lian about since the sunny island was also voted the best city last year.

So what's the real deal here? This is, after all, a survey involving Asian Expats, not working Singaporeans. While they might like it here, they tend to be transient as compared to a normal working Singaporean. Things that matter to a Singaporean might not be of relevance to an expat (eg education, democracy). Similarly, I would think London is a great place to work/live but not necessarily as a final destination to plant roots here.

Knowing how the press works in Singapore, here's the other side of the coin.