I have come to admire Singapore in the course of two visits, this one being my second. Singapore has a rich and complex history that involves, of course, a significant European colonial period with all of its complexities and complications. In our visit to Port Arthur in Tasmania (which I neglected to mention in my last post) we were exposed to the insidious effects of "convict" labor as a means of colonial expansion. It was more of a bizarre social experiment where children and adults were sent thousands of miles for a variety of sometimes (perhaps most times) petty crimes like stealing a handkerchief. I'm sure there were real criminals among them but geez
Nonetheless, flash forward and I'm standing in the awesome Asian Civilization Museum in Singapore when our guide told us that the building had been originally built by Indian "convicts" brought to Singapore by the British. I then realized that my round the world trip is really a study in the implications of British colonialism since I will touch virtually all the commonwealth countries on my journey. Perhaps I need to add Nigeria to my itinerary.
More on the polyglot society of Singapore in my next posting.
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