Tag: Singapore
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The Art of Turning Gangsters Into Friends
I’d never known my grandfather. He passed away after shortly after I was born. Nonetheless, he lives on in my father’s stories. One of them was about how he befriended a group of gangsters. In the early 1980s, the Cheah family operated two shophouses in Singapore, specialising in curtains and interior design. My grandfather ran…
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Twenty Million Dollar Diplomacy
Singapore needs the world. The world doesn’t need Singapore. This is the heart of Singapore’s foreign policy. A tiny island surrounded by much larger neighbours, whose only resources are people and proximity to the Straits of Malacca, Singapore cannot afford to isolate or be isolated by anyone, least of all the great powers of the…
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Cham: The Dance of Masks
Yesterday, I witnessed a pair of traditional Cham dances at the Esplanade. Performed by oracular monks from Mangtro Monastery in Ladakh, India, the ritual dances were blessings and meditations, bringing peace to and removing obstacles from the audience and the island of Singapore. The ritual began with the preparation of the stupa. Representing the Buddha…
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The Death of the Singapore Dream
I grew up on the Singapore Dream. Study hard, get good grades, go to a good school, get a good degree, get a good job. Be a doctor, lawyer, engineer, some high-status PMET with an enviable pay package and guaranteed Central Provident Fund contributions. Then, and only then, will you be successful. What they won’t…
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Censorship Won’t Stop Fake News
Singapore is seeking to regulate fake news. For the past five days the Select Committee on Deliberate Online Falsehoods has held hearings on the issue, inviting experts, academics and media professionals to give oral evidence. Three more days of hearings are scheduled. As Mothership discusses, the thrust of the hearing is pointing towards a raft of legislation…
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How to Make More Singaporean Writers
Reading Sumiko Tan’s interview with Tash Aw, I am reminded of the questions that haunt the Singapore writing scene. How can we produce more writers? How do we get international recognition? How do we create, in Tan’s words, ‘international literary successes’? From my perspective, the answer is simple: Do not be limited by Singapore. The Culture Crush…