The Lake of One's Being

29 April 2007

I am considering emigration for personal reasons. I am emigrating because I love long roadtrips, even though I have no interest in cars. Because mountains and cliffs and wide open beaches stir my soul. Because I want to see sparkly stars at night and fluffy clouds in the day right on the horizon. Because every place I hold close to my heart in Singapore is rapidly being torn down, redeveloped and upgraded into glitzy soulless tourist attractions. I am considering emigration because I want to be where being a little offbeat, weird, odd or downright quirky is acceptable.

Saw this off a blog (which appears inactive since last year) - a guy who has emigrated to Australia.
"glitzy soulless tourist attractions", the Integrated Resorts anyone?

I was reading this article the other day about how it's great that Singapore is building all these iconic new buildings and establishing itself as a vibrant, cool city, and yes I won't discount the fact that Singapore is a good place to live in.
But the main point the writer made is that Singapore does not seem to think so itself. There's a lot that the government aspires for Singapore - a dose of New York's gritty glamour, Paris's old-world sophistication, Shanghai's pulsing eclecticism, Tokyo's dizzying modernism, among others. Whatever happened to being Uniquely Singapore?

So cue the Singapore (after London) Eye, the casinos (the next Macau maybe?) and all the myriad of ways we keep pushing, pushing full steam ahead to be a truly 1st-world country.

At what cost, really?

And don't even get me started on the Minister Mentor, LKY's recent comment about how "if we want creative people, then we've got to put up with their idiosyncrasies as long as they don't infect the heartland" - creative people here referring to homosexuals whom he very generously allow, are "creative writers, dancers, etcetera".

Infect? Infect?!! Is he talking about lepers?
Should they all be shipped off to Pulau Bapok if they are not creative, and thus of no other economic value?

Seriously, this government and society is so homophobic, it scares the shit out of me.

For a good commentary on the issue, check this out.

Soulless? How about heartless too?

5:00 PM;

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