Uniquely Singapore

I haven’t written much about Singapore itself in the blog, and I believe its about time. The official tourist slogan here is “Uniquely Singapore”, and many ex-pats use in a tongue-in-cheek manner to explain the locale eccentricies. To clarify, when I speak of Singaporeans, I mean the general population and the dominate atmosphere, not individuals. I have met some amazing and courageous individuals here, who recognize many of the phenomena that I will point out below, and try to change it.

For the most part, what I find frustrating is the total lack of out-of-the-box thinking. Singaporeans seem oblivious to the existence of the box itself, and are confused when one (usually me) points out that something may not be the best/most efficient way to do something. Another thing I noticed here is the high level of control. This is felt benignly, but felt none the less. While there aren’t storm-troopers and secret police all over, there is a sense of control (at least one that a paranoid lefty like me feels). The clearest manifestation of this are the crazy signs everywhere that tell you how things should be done. In the bathroom stalls there are signs to remind you to flush, on the sinks a sign to remind you to dry your hands with a towel (so that the floor remains dry, and nobody slips and dies), on the tress reminding you not to smoke, on the subway explaining that the 40,000 CC Tv’s are for your protection etc. etc. lets see some….


they do stink somthing awful


i think i need to pay


fair enough....


it realy is...

There is also a serious deficiency in humor, irony, and self-jest. Now of course there is the outside chance that I’m not funny, which is why people look blankly at me when I make a crack here. Yet the foreigners who happen to be there get it, and think its funny, so I’m pretty sure it is Singapore. You decide....


even the dead get finned here


What?!!


tell me this isn’t a giant phallic....

This is all without mentioning the upcoming World Bank/IMF meeting to be held without a single protester, who have all been neatly put on a neighboring island (Bintam), that just happens to be in a different country (Indonesia). And this strikes no-one as weird... Like I said, uniquely Singapore.