The Lion City: A Singapore Primer
You’ve probably heard of Singapore. The light-up trees. The three skyscrapers with the weird flat thing on top that looks like a ship. The chewing gum ban. A lot of people at IE have been there, some have lived there, even fewer are from there. I am, to quote local rapper ShiggaShay, “Born ’n raised Lion City kia” - ‘Lion City’ being the rough translation of our original Malay name, Singapura. Coming overseas, I seem to have made this odd pastime of correcting people about our happening Little Red Dot (a proud local moniker referring to all you’ll ever see of us on a world map). The thing is, national branding is supremely high on Singapore’s agenda. People are meant to have a very specific image before and after they’ve been there. It’s not necessarily a bad thing (goodness, no, it’s done so much for us) and it’s not necessarily all lies. But it can lead to many inaccurate assumptions. So I’d like to correct a few of the ones that I hear very often, once and for all!
1. No, chewing gum is not totally illegal. This is the stereotype that I’m most asked about here in university. So let me clarify with finality: importing and selling gum - but not chewing it! - was banned from 1992 until 2004, when a free-trade agreement with the US meant gum for “therapeutic purposes” (e.g. teeth whitening) could be legally sold. The whole point of the regulation in the first place was cleanliness and hygiene. There’s a social cost to dirty streets in a heavily populated metropolis, after all (I remember how squicked I was the first time I saw a London pavement, ack). Us schoolkids used to occasionally get gum from others who’d brought a stick or two back from Malaysia or Thailand, and as long as we threw it in a bin or didn’t stand masticating in front of a police officer, literally nobody cared. But here’s the thing about forbidden fruit: nobody cares once it’s not forbidden anymore. So in conclusion, if chewing gum was completely illegal in Singapore, I wouldn’t have seen a wad of it lovingly attached to the seat in front of me at the cinema a couple years back, now, would I?
2. No, we’re not part of China, and we’re not all Chinese. The first assumption is one of the most painful things to Singaporean ears. We’re situated at the bottom of the Malay Peninsula. As for the second part, well, we may have an ethnic Chinese majority now after centuries of immigration, but our indigenous population is Malay, and they’re still here, along with Indians from across the subcontinent, and Eurasians, and many other immigrants from around the world! Our four official languages (English, Malay, Tamil, and Mandarin) are based around these core cultures, and even our street signs can be a mixture of the languages. If I can draw the comparison, Singapore is, culturally and ethnically, a bit like the USA - you can’t look “Singaporean” any more than you can look “American”. We’re too much of a melting pot for that.
3. We’re kind of bad at democracy, but we’re trying. Another common - but slightly more complex - correction I have to make. Hey, I had to bring up politics (BIR student, after all). We are a single-party dominated state, but it is possible for other parties to get into government, and we do currently have two parties in parliament, even if the opposition has very few seats. There’s just a lot of semi-intangible barriers still in place, while one can’t ignore that our political economy sees a fair few jobs tied to the government. Also, if I’m perfectly honest, our political culture is pretty apathetic and hung up on a tradition of complaining without actually doing anything, even on a grassroots level. It’s especially hard to combat the apathy because despite some pitfalls the ruling party’s been doing a pretty solid job for the last 52 years. Things are changing though, as they should! Thanks to the Internet, grassroots initiatives get more exposure, and people - especially the youth - are exposed to more ideas and debate. I must confess that I probably have a lot more faith in our society than many of my fellow countrymen, and that is definitely something to be aware of when you talk to other Singaporeans. We’re not known for our patriotism (even if I am, among my classmates…). But honestly, who in the world likes their own politicians anyway?
4. We don’t all hang out with David Beckham on Friday night. Many people associate Singapore with bright lights, fast cars, celebrities, and skyscrapers, and when most people talk to me about my country, it’s about what money can buy. Thing is, like pretty much every other metropolis, that’s just for the so-called 1%, geographically and demographically. Most Singaporeans live outside the city centre, in areas called the ‘Heartlands’, because the city is too costly for most average people. They work long hours, send their kids to school, live in public housing that they may not even own, and take the bus or train to work. Like in other big cities, many struggle to make ends meet; you find single mums working two jobs to make the extra buck, or elderly grandpas and grandmas with high medical bills collecting cardboard and selling tissues or phone cards to top up their income. It’s not often talked about, even domestically, because the country as a whole is efficiently run. I just want people to know it really isn’t perfect. As beautiful as Marina Bay is, and as much as most of us are proud of it, it’s really not representative. I strongly encourage visitors to go to the Heartlands! Speak to the uncle in the Japanese slippers in the kopitiam (foodcourt); listen to his story over a cup of kopi-o (black coffee). Speaking to the salt of the earth gives you such perspective and appreciation of what you have.
5. It isn’t just one big shopping centre. I’ve definitely heard this comment a lot! But my friends, we’re known as The Garden City for good reason, beyond the tourism ads - there are trees and plants everywhere. I’m occasionally surprised by the slight lack of trees in some European capitals, if I’m honest. We’ve got nature reserves and water catchments, we’ve got islands, even little reefs, and two famous families of otters in the Singapore River! We have wild pigs crossing major highways in the north. We have monitor lizards chilling around our water bodies. Also, contrary to what a lot of people say, it’s not boring. I suppose it depends on what you find ‘entertaining’, but I was born there and lived there for 18 years and whenever I return, my days are packed to the brim exploring new places and checking out exciting things - performances, exhibitions, old monuments, new attractions, celebrations from all our different cultural groups, community events, carnivals, parks and fantastic nature walks, markets, food (which needs an entire post of its own, honestly), and there’s always something I’ve missed! There’s still so much of the island left to explore and it’s always changing. I guarantee that if you search just little, you will never be bored. I never am.
6. As a general rule, we actually do speak proper English - Singlish is just more fun. English is the island’s lingua franca - we’re educated in it, we work in it, we use it basically everywhere - but pretty much everyone grows up speaking Singlish, a pretty iconic creole we’ve developed over the decades. It’s so distinct that you can be somewhere like Schiphol airport, and your attention is suddenly caught by a phrase that can only have been said by a Singaporean. It’s as comforting as home cooked food. Singlish takes the English language, messes with its grammar, then throws in generous amounts of Malay, Hokkien, and occasionally Tamil for good measure. It’s amazingly colourful and there are so many things that simply cannot be effectively expressed in the Queen’s English. Because of that, it’s generally really hard for foreigners to learn to speak, though not so hard to understand after a little while! Therefore despite what books or websites tell you, I beg you, please do not end every sentence with “lah”. Singlish is too intricate for that.
And there you have it! Six assumptions about my little island home that I’ve hopefully cleared up. I hope you’ll all get a chance to visit one day. It’s not perfect, but it’s place that I’m always happy to be.
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