The Singapore Exception

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Singapore | The Singapore Exception; To continue to flourish in its second half-century, South-East Asia’s miracle city-state will need to change its ways, argues Simon Long. Economist, July 18, 2015 (a special report)
http://www.economist.com/news/sp ... -miracle-city-state
(Singapore “faces two separate challenges. One is the lack of checks and balances in the shape of a strong political opposition. * * * Second, confidence in the PAP * * * has waned somewhat. * * * These worries point to Singapore’s two biggest, and linked, problems: a shortage of space and a rapidly ageing population”)

Note:
(a) "AT 50, ACCORDING to George Orwell, everyone has the face he deserves."
(i) " 'At 50, everyone has the face he deserves.'  George Orwell (last words written in his notebook)"
George Orwell. Encyclopaedia Britannica, undated.
http://www.britannica.com/biogra ... emental-information
(ii) He died at 47 of tuberculosis. The meaning of the sentence, "one of his best-known aphorisms," is unclear.

(b) "The view from the infinity pool on the roof of Marina Bay Sands, a three-towered hotel, casino and convention centre, is futuristic."
(i) Marina Bay Sands 滨海湾 金沙酒店  (2010- ; Developed by Las Vegas Sands; The complex is topped by a 340m-long SkyPark with a capacity of 3,900 people and a 150m infinity swimming pool, set on top of the world's largest public cantilevered platform, which overhangs the north tower by 67m)  Wikipedia
(ii) Marina Bay Sands / Safdie Architects. arch daily, July 26, 2010
www.archdaily.com/70186/marina-bay-sands-safdie-architects
("Sands SkyPark – the three hotel towers are connected at the top (200 meters/656 feet [55 stories high]) by a 9,941 square meter (107,000 square foot) park that brings together a public observatory, jogging paths, gardens, restaurants, lounges, and an infinity swimming pool")

The SkyPark and the pool within it are both curved in shape.
(iii) two Web pages from Marina Bay Sands' website:
(A) "We regret Sands SkyPark Infinity Pool is for Marina Bay Sands Hotel Guests only."  
(B) "Sands SkyPark Observation Deck is open to members of the public who purchase a ticket" currently S$23 for adults. (presently S$1 = US$0.73)

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(c) "Marina Barrage [keeps] the sea out of a reservoir built at the end of the Singapore River, which winds its way through what is left of the old colonial city centre."
(i) View the map in the special brief.
(ii) Marina Barrage  滨海堤坝
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marina_Barrage
(2008- )
(iii)
(A) Singapore River
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore_River
(three kilometers long from its source at Kim Seng Bridge to where it empties into Marina Bay 滨海湾 and finally the Singapore Strait; The mouth of the Singapore River was the old Port of Singapore, being naturally sheltered by the southern islands)
(B) Vernon Cornelius-Takahama, Source of the Singapore River. Singapore Infopedia, undated
eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_181_2005-01-25.html
(C) Kim Seng (Road)  金声(路)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Seng
(The Kim Seng Bridge on Kim Seng Road [is] the most westerly of the 9 bridges crossing the Singapore River; "In 1857, TAN Kim Seng 陈金声 [born in Malacca] donated $13,000 to improve the town's water supply * * * A road and bridge also bear his name")
(iv) The present-day Port of Singapore is due west of the old port. See Port of Singapore
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_of_Singapore
(“By the 1980s, maritime trading activity had ceased in the vicinity of the Singapore River except in the form of passenger transport, as other terminals and harbours took over this role. Keppel Harbour 吉宝港口 [there is an English Wiki page with a map]  is now home to three container terminals. Other terminals were built in Jurong [island 裕廊岛; a man-made island; Wikipedia: Jurong is probably derived from the Malay word jerung, which means a ‘shark’] and Pasir Panjang as well as in Sembawang [qv] in the north”)

* The Economist map is not incorrect by printing “Jurong” on the Singapore island. That part of Singapore is Jurong 裕廊 (as opposed to “Jurong Island”), and divided into Jurong West and Jurong East.  Singapore’s Pasir Panjang terminal is in between Jurong and Clementi, and across the water from Jurong Island.

(d) "One is in education, where its much-admired schools, colleges and universities have produced a generation of highly educated, comfortably off global citizens who do not have much tolerance for the PAP’s mother-knows-best style of governance. * * * The PAP’s second success that has turned against it is a big rise in life expectancy"

off (adj): "9: not used before a noun — used to ask about or describe someone's situation or condition [read examples]"
Merriam-Webster Learner's Dictionary
http://www.learnersdictionary.com/definition/off