Singapore: a social and political experiment

I have just landed in Hong Kong from Shanghai. Silly me, but I had forgotten that Google might not be fully accessible on the mainland. I had written this post right before leaving Singapore with the intention of editing it once I landed in Beijing. It didn't work out that way. It is now 9 days later and I'm able to access my blog again. One country -- two systems.

So therefore, I present you Singapore Continued.... (Stay tuned for China in the next few days.)

My first day in Singapore I wandered through the contemporary art museum and the national museum both of which adjoin Fort Canning, an important site for the British colonial army, especially at the time the Japanese invaded and occupied Singapore.

The contemporary art exhibit was fascinating as it featured dissident artists from Malaysia and Indonesia. This surprised me a bit as my naive impression is that everything in Singapore is sanitized. Well, I think that is mostly true. Except when they want to stick it a little bit to their neighbors.

One needs to look back historically and recall that Singapore and Malaysia were bound together as recently as 1965. And the conflict between the dominant Chinese population in Singapore and the poorer Muslim Malays continues to this day. Yet, I don't think you will find a dissident art exhibit by Singaporean artists. There are limits. They will acknowledge dissent among their rivals but you won't find much evidence of dissent internally.

This is a good moment to note that the stereotype of Singapore being a spotless city, where littering could bring the death penalty, is just not true. In fact, one can see various degrees of litter at different points in the city, most notably in the Malay section of town. This is especially true around the Malay cemetery which is part park and part burial ground. It is evident (at least to me) that the government is thumbing its nose at the Malays by leaving the public land around their neighborhood in a fairly seedy condition. It is certainly a contrast with the rest of the city where you see municipal workers sweeping up everywhere and the modern economy moving at a brisk pace. Not to leave a false impression here -- the Malay section of the city has its charm, including an ethnic heritage museum, a well preserved Mosque and a pedestrian area bustling with tourist shops. It was the bordering cemetery area, which is at a fairly prominent cross roads in the city, that I observed this rather perplexing scene. (I had actually remembered this same area being similarly littered when I was there a few years back but thought it was just an outlier of some sort.) But now I think it is to some degree a political and societal issue. I've tentatively concluded that the municipality intentionally leaves this park/burial ground in somewhat poor condition. When I asked the guide about it, she said the park always looked this way and then moved on to the next topic. Perhaps I will have a chance to learn more on my next visit to Singapore.

At the same time there is this vexing question of litter around this one area, you will find a tight knit and bustling Indian community doing its business and being economic leaders. And you will find a heightened recognition of the "Peranakan" community. This is essentially a recognition and respect demanded --and now given --to the various inter-married minorities which have evolved over the centuries whether they be Chinese, Malay, Indian, Europeans or others. And, of course, the Chinese are economic entrepeneurs almost like no others.

Well, I will leave it up to you to consider the question of how multi-ethnic and religiously diverse societies function in real life. I think Singapore makes a very decent, albeit imperfect, effort to to align and support its various ethnic and religous communities. You should have no doubt that this is a capitalist society to its very core. Just stop at any indoor shopping mall which you will find on virtually every block and you will see for yourself!