One of the things that really jarred with my Banana-sensibilities when I went to Singapore was the lack of diversity awareness. The most striking example came from perusing apartment rental ads on a website. I came across one that explicitly stated: NO INDIANS OR CHINA CHINESE. Another specified, NO KOREANS. I'm not used to this level of blatant race discrimination. I guess it's a different country with its own society and values. I know that similar things happen in Japan, according to my sister, but it unnerves me to see these things written in English.

 

Do I really want to live in a society where it's considered okay to discriminate like this?

 

The odd thing is that most Singaporeans consider their society a peaceful one where everyone lives in harmony. According to the taxi driver that took me to the airport, he loves the country because here he can live and not feel like a second-class citizen. The day before, whilst viewing apartments for rent, the real estate agent showed me, "...a storage cupboard [about the length of a single bed] at the back of the house, by the kitchen. You can use it to put things, or some people have a live-in maid that sleeps here." I guess even first-class citizens need a second-class to feel good about where they are.

 

Perhaps I really should be looking at things differently: they may use English, but they do not have values akin to most of those who speak English as their first language - or at least in the societies that I've grown up in.

 

Driving along Little India to look at the Deepavali lights at night, the streets teemed with Indians celebrating, attending festival rehearsals and the local temple. The roads were very crowded and slightly dangerous for pedestrians and cars. My Singaporean friends made jokes about how difficult it was to spot the Indians in the dark. I could imagine similar white people in UK or US saying that about black communities - I don't think it's okay, though.

I contacted someone advertising a room for rent, enquiring about the nature of their pet. He replied,

"I have a small Jack Russell terrier to guard the house."

 

Against what? Thieving fairies? Scaredy-cat robbers?

One of the dance music tracks (Architecture - Terry Francis) I own has a little sample of a voicemail message, "5am in the morning...and I'm calling you, like I said I would." I presume she was jet-lagged; as I am this morning. I cannot sleep past 4am. This happened the last time when I flew from Japan to the UK - and I guess I have another week of this to look forward to when I get home. Great, two weeks of jet-lag - just what I need.

 

Oh, in case you didn't know, I'm in Singapore. I'm ostensibly here for a job interview, which is this morning. But I'm combining it with a weekend and a day of leave. It's not that often I get flown around the world. It's been great catching up with Singapore-based friends and former colleagues. There's a lot of money and investment pouring into life sciences. It looks like they're having difficulty recruiting people to fill all the vacancies - I guess there's a perception that Sg is not exactly cosmopolitan central when it comes to lifestyle.

 

Singapore used to be called a shopper's paradise, but really, what the giant malls offer here you can get anywhere in the US, UK or Australia with ease. Globalisation of retail culture is truly evident: there's Topshop (and Topman), Marks & Spencer, GAP (Singaporeans were very excited that the first GAP franchise opened last weekend), CarreFour; even a Harvey Norman.

 

As the well-travelled globetrotter I am (I wish), I found it disappointing to be faced with so much sameness and mediocrity in terms of retailing. There's not the wealth here to support a store like Selfridges - I love their furniture section. The 'quirky' unique goods are only known to locals and a tourist gets faced with more this insipid global capitalism.

 

The last time I visited I enjoyed the Far East Plaza. If I'm free on Tuesday I will attempt a visit and perhaps pick up something nice. Leon needs a new Pink Elephant t-shirt.

 

With my look towards Singapore as a possible career move, I've got a weekly Google News search on that country. You all know my love of the English language, it's words and it's wonderful quirks. You also know how picky I can get on the detail of language.

 

Lee Kuan Yew - bless his fading glory - is in the news for his rather inappropriate remarks. I think it's times like these when he is "speaking freely" that he truly reveals the giant chip on his shoulder. Back to language, he launched a "Speak Good English" campaign in an effort to eradicate Singlish and replace it with proper English. But it would seem that he could take some lessons too. Spot his mistake:

 

"They are successful, they are hard working and therefore, they are systematically marginalized, even in education."

 

What other successful and hard working people do we know? Hmm...how about the Germans. Are they systematically marginalised, even in education? I think Lee meant to use 'but' instead of 'therefore' - ah, the vagaries of conjunctions.