Singapore-style passions: When the struggle for a parking space becomes the main news of the day
A small disagreement can become surprisingly prominent news in Singapore. One example involved the very serious business of reserving a parking space without a car.
Mothership reported that a woman stood in a busy Chinatown parking space to reserve it for a car with Malaysian plates. The article did not establish the personal story I had originally imagined for her, so I will not invent one.
I did not find standing in the space especially terrible, although many drivers clearly disagreed. What interested me was the resemblance to Singapore’s culture of “chope” — reserving a table in a cafe or food court by leaving a small personal item on it. I have seen people use a phone, a bag and even a wallet. Others normally respect the sign and find another table. A parking space, however, follows a different set of expectations.
But it turns out that such “reservation” of parking spaces really irritates people in Singapore (and not only). Here’s how witnesses described the situation:
A witness described the woman as standing with her hands on her hips and waving away cars that approached the space. Commenters argued about whether the behaviour was merely inconsiderate or actually illegal.
The Malaysian number plate also became a focus in some comments. A few took an ugly “outsiders taking our spaces” turn, which had little to do with the parking etiquette being debated. For me, the interesting part was the collision between two informal ideas of reserving a place — not the driver’s nationality.
Such are the passions in Singapore.