Singapore Conscience in Transit
I am XenoBoy. I am the Political Savant.
Its the end of the year. Festive period for many, suicide period for many others. Its always a question of perspective. Which side of the mirror you're on. What the mirror reflects depends on where you position yourself.
Many issues stood out in 2005. The NKF is one towering issue. White elephants, failed Presidential Election, sedition in blogosphere, the Casino pseudo-debate, defamation in blogosphere, the hangings of Shanmugam and Nguyen. Events rippling delicately across the Singapore consciousness, eventually smoothed over. The Singapore Conscience preserved and intact. Anxiety filtered, iced and sweetened.
Singapore is Unique. Uniquely Singapore. We have our Laws. We uphold our Laws. We are the proponents of Asian Values, which determine our societal mores and we abide by our Asian Values. The Singapore Conscience is clear. The Singapore Conscience is transparent. The people believe in the Singapore Way of Governance. Belief that is not blind. Belief that is tempered by cynicism and rendered into witticism. Vented in the form of infinite sniggering allusions by Singaporeans at their own Government. Remarks heard everywhere in uniquely Singapore settings. They remain cynics with utter faith still in the Singapore Way of Governance. There may be moments of anxiety, moments of unhappiness, moments of depression. They remain moments in isolation. Disconnected and always disjunctured; moments which are never allowed to achieve sequence and relation. Such moments are smoothed away by the Singapore Ethic of sacrifice, hard work, practicality. Ensure that hard decisions are taken and are accepted. To survive. Asian Values. Singapore Values. Confucius Code 2.0.6. The teleos of Singapore History, good, better, best ... never let it rest. Singapore is Unique. Uniquely Singapore.
There is no such thing as Asian Values. If we accept Asian Values than we accept that NKF and TT Durai represents Asian Values of governance. Consolidation of power into a Wise Leader, a Wise Council, a concentrated group. We accept that the economic achievements of the NKF require hard decisions, ruthless decisions. We accept that the denizens who fall under the confluence of the NKF Council must bow when the wind blows. We accept paying top money and conferring unparalleled prestige for talent, only the best Mandarins for the courts. NKF is what happens when Asian Values are unquestioned.
Singapore is Unique. Uniquely Singapore.
In the collective consciousness of a Nation, there should be events, images, realms of memory which Time cannot erase. But yet they can be erased, if moments are not allowed sequencing, relation. Sequencing and relation can only be achieved by a Mind willing to do it. Minds are configured in an education system which promotes segmentation and compartmentalization. Where the Singapore Conscience is molded.
What is the Singapore Conscience? We are Small and if we do not unite behind our Leader the Other will come eat us up. The Other is always bullying us because we are Small. The Other is always trying to get behind our Defence. We have to stand Together against the Other. This is a Siege Conscience.
What is the Singapore Conscience?
I am gazing out of the taxi bringing me home. The bougainvilleas are whizzing past me. Changi airport, which I walked through with Gilbert's poem in my head, behind me. I pass through Changi where Nguyen was hanged. The CBD towers in front of me and I think of the 4 person CPF protest. I pass by an MRT station and think of Buangkok and the white elephants. I pass by temporary Newton hawker center and think of Singapore the straight A student. I see a SBS bus and think of Molly’s crusade against public transport. My Immortal, piano version, is playing in my Ipod. All these events flashing in my head tells me we are still struggling to make sense. A collective conscience in transit. I hope.
I do not feel unique, just coming home.
I am XenoBoy. I am the Political Savant.
Quotes of the Day --
"I'd love to walk away and pull myself out of the rain ... but I can't leave without You, I'd love to live without the constant fear and endless doubt ... but I can't live without You ..." -- Evanescence, My Immortal (Piano Version)
"I am, I believe, alone of all our race, the only man in human memory to have been shipwrecked and cast up upon a deserted ship." -- Umberto Eco, Island of the Day Before
Its the end of the year. Festive period for many, suicide period for many others. Its always a question of perspective. Which side of the mirror you're on. What the mirror reflects depends on where you position yourself.
Many issues stood out in 2005. The NKF is one towering issue. White elephants, failed Presidential Election, sedition in blogosphere, the Casino pseudo-debate, defamation in blogosphere, the hangings of Shanmugam and Nguyen. Events rippling delicately across the Singapore consciousness, eventually smoothed over. The Singapore Conscience preserved and intact. Anxiety filtered, iced and sweetened.
Singapore is Unique. Uniquely Singapore. We have our Laws. We uphold our Laws. We are the proponents of Asian Values, which determine our societal mores and we abide by our Asian Values. The Singapore Conscience is clear. The Singapore Conscience is transparent. The people believe in the Singapore Way of Governance. Belief that is not blind. Belief that is tempered by cynicism and rendered into witticism. Vented in the form of infinite sniggering allusions by Singaporeans at their own Government. Remarks heard everywhere in uniquely Singapore settings. They remain cynics with utter faith still in the Singapore Way of Governance. There may be moments of anxiety, moments of unhappiness, moments of depression. They remain moments in isolation. Disconnected and always disjunctured; moments which are never allowed to achieve sequence and relation. Such moments are smoothed away by the Singapore Ethic of sacrifice, hard work, practicality. Ensure that hard decisions are taken and are accepted. To survive. Asian Values. Singapore Values. Confucius Code 2.0.6. The teleos of Singapore History, good, better, best ... never let it rest. Singapore is Unique. Uniquely Singapore.
There is no such thing as Asian Values. If we accept Asian Values than we accept that NKF and TT Durai represents Asian Values of governance. Consolidation of power into a Wise Leader, a Wise Council, a concentrated group. We accept that the economic achievements of the NKF require hard decisions, ruthless decisions. We accept that the denizens who fall under the confluence of the NKF Council must bow when the wind blows. We accept paying top money and conferring unparalleled prestige for talent, only the best Mandarins for the courts. NKF is what happens when Asian Values are unquestioned.
Singapore is Unique. Uniquely Singapore.
In the collective consciousness of a Nation, there should be events, images, realms of memory which Time cannot erase. But yet they can be erased, if moments are not allowed sequencing, relation. Sequencing and relation can only be achieved by a Mind willing to do it. Minds are configured in an education system which promotes segmentation and compartmentalization. Where the Singapore Conscience is molded.
What is the Singapore Conscience? We are Small and if we do not unite behind our Leader the Other will come eat us up. The Other is always bullying us because we are Small. The Other is always trying to get behind our Defence. We have to stand Together against the Other. This is a Siege Conscience.
What is the Singapore Conscience?
I am gazing out of the taxi bringing me home. The bougainvilleas are whizzing past me. Changi airport, which I walked through with Gilbert's poem in my head, behind me. I pass through Changi where Nguyen was hanged. The CBD towers in front of me and I think of the 4 person CPF protest. I pass by an MRT station and think of Buangkok and the white elephants. I pass by temporary Newton hawker center and think of Singapore the straight A student. I see a SBS bus and think of Molly’s crusade against public transport. My Immortal, piano version, is playing in my Ipod. All these events flashing in my head tells me we are still struggling to make sense. A collective conscience in transit. I hope.
I do not feel unique, just coming home.
I am XenoBoy. I am the Political Savant.
Quotes of the Day --
"I'd love to walk away and pull myself out of the rain ... but I can't leave without You, I'd love to live without the constant fear and endless doubt ... but I can't live without You ..." -- Evanescence, My Immortal (Piano Version)
"I am, I believe, alone of all our race, the only man in human memory to have been shipwrecked and cast up upon a deserted ship." -- Umberto Eco, Island of the Day Before
posted by xenoboysg at 9:31 AM
6 Comments:
My goodness! You ought to be grateful that the customs didn't do a body check on you--just in case you brought along weed for your blogging inspiration.
now all the gahmen agents scrambling to hunt you down liao ... danger sial!
yo xeno, time for a drink liao, on me hehe
Interesting question. IMHO, the Singapore Conscience is not a theme which the gahmen would want to champion. We can talk about Singapore Pride, Singapore as a Nation of Firsts as these reflect a sense of achievement. But a Singapore Conscience presupposes a wrong, something to be redressed, eg. the German Conscience ref Auschiwtz, Japanese Conscience ref Second World War. A Singapore Conscience cannot exist as we are not allowed to be wrong. But like what Gilbert Koh hints in his poem on the hanging of Nguyen, there is still a sense of discomfort. Is this the Singapore Conscience? Can we ever see it in full bloom? I really don't know.
PS : Good writing XB
Brilliant writing, just brilliant.
thanks ahdokboy ... enjoy reading ur letters too!! Two years NS, juz read lots, believe yourself a cockcroach and it will pass.
molly! -- ur x'mas prez was confiscated by customs why the good stuff got thru hehe
anon wif long comment : yes, it is hard to define but perhaps it has to be defined. We cannot just always passively receive the regime messaging. It has to stop somehow.
dj -- will sms u, last few days busy busy and tired tired, lagging bad. hehe
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