SINGAPORE “”mdash; So here I am, your friendly neighborhood
columnist, sick and stranded in the Far East as classes are
beginning. Oh well, I figure I can use the opportunity to offer
some cross-cultural commentary. After all, I’m a journalist.
And a lot has changed in Singapore since I was a lowly high school
student at the Singapore American School. It seems that recent
events have resulted in some pretty big lifestyle changes for the
tens of thousands of Americans living here.
Once famous for its canings and banning of things, this little
island metropolis is trying desperately to forge a new image for
itself as a racy, exciting and oh-so-cosmo town ““ a haven for
even the most discerning metrosexual. But in the post-SARS,
post-Sept. 11, 2001 world, Singapore needs much more than a face
lift.
In a 1993 issue of Wired Magazine, William Gibson called
Singapore “Disneyland with the death penalty,” citing
its pristine airports, endless rows of shopping malls and a
standard of living second to none in the region. But now, the
United States’ Asian ally needs to snatch back the amusement
park-like, fantasy-land image it maintained for decades before
Bush’s war on terrorism spilled onto its shores and sullied
everything.
Strengthened by the Xanadu-like image the country’s ruling
party had worked to achieve through decades of open economic
policies, Singapore has continued to modernize and grow. The
sacrifices in personal liberties, however, were many.
As everyone knows by now, the country’s ruling party has a
tremendous penchant for strict justice. Until recently, the list of
contraband included: Cosmopolitan magazine ““ for its
risqué sexual content ““ chewing gum, long hair on men,
bungee jumping and bar-top dancing. That’s right, folks: No
dancing on bar tops! So you can see what kind of society used to
exist in Singapore.
But hey, it worked. I spent seven years in the pristine fantasy
land, and heck, we could afford to give up Playboy, Cosmo, and yes,
even bar-top dancing for the greater cause of a safe, prosperous
way of life. But all that is changing.
Just as the real Disneyland and countless other U.S. theme parks
were forced to temporarily shut their doors following the terror
strikes, so too has Singapore been forced to adapt to the looming
threat of an attack on the foreign workers that are so vital to its
freewheeling, corporate economy.
As an example, when I visited my old high school I was shocked
to find armed guards patrolling the school with MP5 automatic
submachine guns. Imagine that at UCLA. Parents aren’t even
allowed to drive into school to pick up their children for fear of
car bombings. American teenagers in Singapore are forced to deal
with the very serious results of Dubya’s cowboy foreign
policy every single school day.
To some extent, this reality is also the fault of the government
here. The Singapore government has offered very public support for
Bush’s Iraq policies ““ making Singapore a prime target
for fundamentalist terrorism.
To their credit, the leaders here know what a pickle
they’re in. Hence, the facelift. Cosmopolitan, after a
10-year ban, will finally be back on the shelves come year’s
end. Bar-top dancing is also, once again, legal. (We’re not
talking topless here.) The most innocuous, yet strangely, the
biggest change is the lifting of the gum ban ““ but only
Wrigley’s gum. As a result of Singapore’s support for
the war in Iraq, Bush rewarded the country with a free-trade
agreement. Wrigley’s promptly took the opportunity to
pressure Singapore into letting it peddle its wares.
However good these changes appear, it all seems like a bit of a
consolation prize for the price our fellow Americans are paying
abroad. Who needs gum when there are machine guns in high
schools?
Forget Bush and bar-top dancing. I want to go back to the
happiest place on Earth … with the death penalty.
Dang is a fourth-year political science student.