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A man who lived in a Singapore forest for 30 years
- lovemenot 5y agoThe news here is that there's a forest in Singapore. I thought the space inside Changhi airport must be the only jungle left.
- Ducki 5y agoActually there is TONS of forest in Singapore, it is literally a city in a garden.
- notahacker 5y agoPlenty of forest, but relatively little forest away from well marked trails, urban developments and authorities that don't think people should be living in forests.
- refurb 5y agoIndeed. “Urban forest” is probably the best descriptor. To give you a sense - Golden Gate Park in SF is 5km wide (East to West) which is 10% of the width of the entire island of Singapore.
- 55555 5y agoGo look at Singapore on Google maps. There doesn't seem to be much, and all of it has marked trails. Are you sure there's "tons"? I admit I thought it had much more.
- Gigablah 5y agoThere's one beside my flat, even. https://media.karousell.com/media/photos/products/2020/12/2/telok_blangah_towers_premium_h_1606884358_be0b1ea2.jpg https://media.karousell.com/media/photos/products/2020/12/2/...
- jb1991 5y agoThere is quite a lot of natural forest in Singapore, although you’re never far from the roar of a highway.
- thematrixturtle 5y agoSingapore has very little primary forest left, it was almost all cut down for plantations in the British colonial era. But since independence they're done a pretty decent job of reforesting, and in the tropics it doesn't take long at all to go from a field back to an impenetrable jungle.
- czcar 5y agoYep, wild monkeys, civet cats and monitor lizards are regulars outside our living room window in a fairly dense wild rainforest.
- andi999 5y agoHad a big green snake in downstairs in the garden.
- esyir 5y agoMuch to the disdain of virtually every male between 18 and 20 in Singapore, there remains a large amount of jungle in Singapore. Muddy, sticky, often stormed in jungle.
- sdeframond 5y agoI assume your are referring to the land used by the military?
- esyir 5y agoPretty much. Most of the conscripts will rapidly realise that there is still plenty of jungle in Singapore.
- odiroot 5y agoSingapore actually has surprising amount of nature (for a dense city state). Big forests are in the north but even in the south there's this coastal hiking trail that mostly stays within the jungle, with occasional parks/gardens etc. It took me more than 4 hours to walk it all.
- jonathanstrange 5y agoThis is supposed to be heartwarming story but I'm personally a bit shocked that this 79 year old man now has to share a 1-room flat with another man (after 30 years of living alone) and has to work as a driver and doing some other low-wage jobs to sustain himself at that age. Give this man a garden.
- refurb 5y agoThe Singapore government’s attitude is everyone has to contribute to the best of their abilities. If you’re destitute, HDB will rent you a cheap 2 room apartment for $20/month. But you will have a roommate and you’ll be expected to pay your rent on time. The universal healthcare is paid for out of employment contributions (heavily subsidized for low income folks) and each visit costs money. If you’re destitute you’ll get an even higher level of subsidy, but you’ll be expected to pay some token amount. Cant afford that? Appeal to the hospital which has a special fund which can help (after a thorough determination of your financial status).
- AlchemistCamp 5y agoHe's already 79, which is older than the average man in a rich country lives. How about when he's 89 or 99? Is there no retirement age?
- philliphaydon 5y agoThere is, but its difficult to gague if people work to live or live to work when they reach retirement. Alot of the taxi drivers are really old. But speaking to them I've had a couple say they retired, got bored and took up taxi driving. While others say their CPF is too low and they need to continue working to support their family.
- baybal2 5y agoSing pension funds last at most 15-20 years for most of people of his generation without white collar job. People are expected to only "semi"-retire
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- hownottowrite 5y agoThis story is so incomplete. I hope someone actually does a deep dive on this man’s life some day.
- cryptica 5y ago> "Mr Oh was stopped by officials and found to be trading without a licence" The guy is living alone in a forest and he still can't escape the collective insanity in the few brief interactions he has with society. Trading without a license... That's BS... Soon you will need a license to take a shit.
- thematrixturtle 5y agoIt is generally not in society's best interest to have random people squatting on the sidewalk selling random foods, which is why basically every developed country has a licensing system.
- choko 5y agoThat might be a partial reason why licensing is required, but if we're being intellectually honest, taxes and fees play a very large part (larger?) in why a society (read: government) enacts licensing laws. Surely safety is a factor, but it's unfair to have a licensing conversation without acknowledging the cynical side.
- cryptica 5y agoI do not agree with this. Some level of chaos adds charm and authenticity to the place. Not allowing people to do what they want (provided that it doesn't physically hurt anyone) is a suppression of freedom and culture. One of the most wonderful things about south east Asia are the people selling random things on the sidewalk. Life is chaos and we should embrace it, incorporate it, not hide it.
- ValentineC 5y ago> Not allowing people to do what they want (provided that it doesn't physically hurt anyone) is a suppression of freedom and culture. One of the most wonderful things about south east Asia are the people selling random things on the sidewalk. I don't think it makes sense to treat the various countries in Southeast Asia, which differ on some fundamental values, as a whole. The social contract for most Singapore residents supposedly trade individual freedoms for physical and economic safety.
- eezurr 5y agoRelated story: A Maine (US) hermit lived in the forest for nearly 30 years. https://www.gq.com/story/the-last-true-hermit?printable=true https://www.gq.com/story/the-last-true-hermit?printable=true And the related HN post https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8205993 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8205993
- FooBarBizBazz 5y agoAlso Masafumi Nagasaki: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBtBePnUOZU https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBtBePnUOZU
- thefz 5y agoI remember reading this when it came out and from time to time I catch myself thinking about this man's life in the woods.
- ErikAugust 5y agohttp://trimread.org/articles/68314 http://trimread.org/articles/68314 Reduces page load from 6 MB to 45 KB.
- jwuphysics 5y agoI noticed you posted trimread on another post (from CNN) so I wanted to mention two things: (1) on this site the images and captions have vanished, and (2) on the other post, several links have [Trim] appended, which made it slightly harder to read.
- lgvln 5y agoConsider me surprised since it is _illegal_ to be sleeping on the streets/“homeless”
- ValentineC 5y agoStrictly speaking, it is illegal [1], but not a crime punishable with a fine or jail term. [1] https://sso.agc.gov.sg/Act/DPA1989 https://sso.agc.gov.sg/Act/DPA1989