Hope Vote

I am a Singaporean.

I was not one until the age of 27. I first came to Singapore to study in 1981, age 13. By the time I spent more years here than my hometown and given a chance to become part of this (is)land, I did not hesitate.

I remembered we had to recite the pledge every morning before first class started in secondary school:-

We, the citizens of Singapore, pledge ourselves as one united people, regardless of race, language or religion, to build a democratic society, based on justice and equality, so as to achieve happiness, prosperity and progress for our nation.

Coming from the land across the causeway and being a minority in a racial based economy, these words gave me one of the most precious things in life – hope. They made me believe that if I work hard, I will be given the opportunities I deserve, regardless of how I was born. Meritocracy – the hope for upward mobility.

I think what has happened to me subsequently is similar to many ‘new immigrants/citizens’ (新移民) of this island in recent years, and I suspect to a large extents that of our ancestors decades ago as well. This island, has always been seen by many from lands of lesser fortune, an (is)land of hopes for a better tomorrow.

While much have been documented/commented about the ‘miracle’ the first generation leaders had created for this resource hungry island, until recent years, I have still been speaking of the awe on how this island managed to figure out a way to weather the biggest financial storm ever – we registered the second highest GDP growth in the world in 2010, even faster than China. From where I came from, there is no surprise that I shared the views on many policies as prudent and far-sighted for the continuing prosperity of this island:- foreign talents (it is a fierce competition in an era when human resources are globally mobile), establishment of Temasek and GIC (preserve the nation wealth with world class professional skills), knowledge based economy (economic restructuring and moving up the value chain), F1/YOG/IR (economy diversification), … In fact, I would even say that I think the government has done a splendid job in steering the ship for the couple of millions people through numerous storms and it would have no doubt continue to be the (is)land of hopes for them, and many outsiders.

Once I was asked by a foreign friend to describe Singapore. I likened it to the movies Alien quadrilogy – a creature which is not much to look at but should be admired for its survival instinct and die hard spirit. In our own term, i.e. Singlish, would be equivalent to ‘kiasu’. This, no doubt, has been deemed by me (and many) as a big hope for the continuing existence of an otherwise dismissible dot.

If you have been going to the rallies held by opposition parties in the past week, like I have, you can imagine my shock on finding the absence of hopes in the air. While much have been talked/reported/complained about the rising costs and increasing difficulties in daily life, the gravity of the matters finally dawn on me – a single with little financial commitment and easy going life style, that this is anything but (is)land of hopes for many.

It does not quite help that many new charismatic candidates have chosen to join the opposition parties for this election – which must have surprised every voters (read this, which I agree). While listening to these articulate opposition candidates putting their cases forward and the thunderous cheers that followed, it slowly came to me that the main cause of the absence of hopes may not be issues that have been widely raised:- foreign workers taking up jobs, runaway HDB price,  crammed MRT, sky rocketed ministerial salaries, …

It is in the replies coming from the government all these whiles, especially during rallies – many times matter-of-fact-ly (GDP, benchmarking with other countries, high ranking in international survey), other time threatening (if you vote for others then you will ‘live and repent‘, which I read as ‘we are the best government anyone can ever have and we have done the best that any governments could ever do so even if you are not satisfied, accept it and move on because life is a b%$#@’) , at times with regrets but never once offered a glimpse that alternate outcomes were humanly possible. One could not find hopes in situations where everything was beyond controls.

These are language of economic and language of fears, but not language of hopes. And it is the first time I seriously sense that there is a growing number of masses in this usually pragmatic/run-like-a-company/economic-driven nation, rejecting them. Our deeply entrenched pragmatism is likely to see another victory for ruling party – no one can even rule out another landslide win by them. Yet, standing in the rally crowd in a drizzling evening on a muddy field, I choose to believe that there are signs that we are learning to speak the language of hopes. At least, I hope.

Maybe it is due to the enthusiasms, sincerity and conviction of the opposition candidates. Maybe it is due to the more-than-i-can-read-and-superbly-written arguments on the social media. Maybe it is due to the decisions of many friends living abroad to return home this weekend for the voting. Maybe it is due to the fact that PM Lee was apologizing (many questioned his timing and real motivation, but I would choose to read it as ‘he finally get connected with the real ground and would set some changes going’, until proven otherwise).

Maybe it is because I feel (hope) we have begun a slow realisation that economic driven national policies are means to an (happy) end and not ends by themselves, as we search for the true meanings behind high GDP figure.

Or maybe it is because I feel (hope) that regardless of how glossy the status quo (some referred it as ‘track record’) may appear to the great majority, we (voters, ruling party, oppositions included) would realise that facing all the imperfections, sufferings and unhappiness in our society, the worst collective complacency we could have is to believe, or made to believe, that the life we have today is the best we could ever hope for.

In the beginning of one of the Alien installments, three aliens were imprisoned for scientific research. Two of them collaborated on assaulting the third one, killing it to have its acidic blood spilled and eroded the prison cage leading to their escape. Collective animalistic decision to ensure survival of the specie.  To me, what I heard in this rally are actually questions asked on whether sacrificing part of our kind in the process of securing the well-beings of the majority is the best path we could afford. Like killing the 3rd alien.

Are we looking at evidence of the starting of our evolution – from one that is totally survival driven to one that would help the weaker ones along?

Come this Sat, I’ll be voting for hope. For I believe no one will call a place without hope, home.

Been there. Done this.

I had been meaning to catch Old Places twice when it was aired via OKTO TV station. I failed both time for reasons I could not recall.

So when I learnt that Library@Esplanade had scheduled to screen it on 14Jan2011, I made a mental note to catch it.

I was late. Two friends visited Singapore for the first time and I felt it was my duty to bring them to sample Hainanese Chicken Rice before seeing them off in a cab to Night Safari.

When I walked into the library, the seats placed in front of the screen were fully occupied with many more people standing by the wall behind. After I managed to find a spot to park myself and got into the rhythm of the film, I took peeks at the audience – mixed age groups.

Places after places of Singapore were flashed out accompanied with voices of various narrators – these narrators responded to the creative team‘s calls for suggestions on what parts of Singapore hold their prompt memories. Like the audience in front of the screen, the narrators were of mixed ages and backgrounds.

I think this film will go down history as one of the most significant informal archive of Singapore, by taking snapshots at relations between the physical spaces and the people. That was what I thought as I observed the audience watching the film closely, imagining each of us constructing our own  relations with those places we recognised on the screen.

While many places were recognisable by most people (e.g. Tanjong Pagar train station), some were not. But all of them exhibited the evidence of time, and invoked in me the doubt on whether the memories they held would stand the test of time. One segment revealed to me that memories would not necessarily faded with disappearing spaces, but also with people moving through them. Narrator of Golden Mile complex, most likely much younger than me, walked us through the list of Thai activities that make Golden Mile complex buzzes these days.

My fond memory of Golden Mile Complex belongs to the 80s when it was THE place to catch all the popular mainland China films. Films like 高山下的花环、五朵金花、人到中年。。。