Chanced upon this site and I cannot help but feel that this person grok something about Singapore--at least the Singapore that I know and call home:
At the end of the day, its not my home country and my feelings of loyalty are, at best, stretched. But I can’t help but feel that Singapore is misunderstood. Singapore is the quiet girl in the class who gets straight As in the exams, but is never really popular in school because she is such a prude. Yet she tries really really hard to be the cool-kid. Her parents tell her that she should “seriously” have fun! Yet, they tell her that grades are all that really matters. The poor prude girl is really confused. Could anyone have known that beneath the pristine doll-like image, there is a silently troubled child, with a complicated and sullied inside, every bit as human as anyone can be.
People don’t see the real Singapore - the real Singapore doesn’t exist in the tall financial centers or the huge malls or the parliament buildings, where they make us believe democracy has some role to play. Singapore is not limited to the yuppies who aspire to buy the latest Porsche or the Armani-aspiring corporate mogul-wanna-be who couldn’t care less about what happens around them, as long as they get their 5 (or is it more now?) Cs. Thats just what is presented to the outside world. In fact, even many Singaporeans see themselves through those tinted shades.
If you want to see the heart and soul of Singapore, wander not through Millenia walk or Suntec city, but through the narrow roads of China Town or Little India or Arab street, or even the little parks around Bishan or Ang Mo Kio. The fat lady who sells you the Char Kway Teow or the little girl who brings you the ice kacang at the hawker centers, has a story to tell, if only if you had the time to listen. Singapore is not a land of boring, law-abiding people who don’t think and who work and walk like machines - its a place with as much life and emotion as any other, if only you would look beyond the surface.
I can't stop thinking of them... ...
1 comment:
So that quiet girl in our class, is her name Molly?
Grok- also see the Science fiction novel Stranger in a Strange Land. I always thought that was the origin of the word, 'grok.' Was I wrong about that?
take care
CM
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