Post-Singapore Syndrome
Posted by: Fats in: Fats, Vitamins & MineralsIt is good to be back home after an 8-day stay in Singapore. This is my second time to visit Singapore but the only time that I have had more opportunity to roam around. The last time I was mostly working at the NIE gallery in NTU, located at the far end of Singapore (where I could hear the sounds of explosions from nearby military training!) and staying through the generosity of a friend’s friend from Sri Lanka, in one of many apartment blocks at Commonwealth Crescent.
Edward shows appreciation for art at the Singapore National Museum.
The arrival home must’ve been quite a surprise for Trevor, just as I always feel a slight “culture shock” whenever I come back to Manila from a stay in the countryside, the “culture shock” of coming from a very laid-back, quiet, gentle, clean environment into a hurried, polluted, threatening, alienated city.
Trevor gives Edward a drink during a brief rest from our roam-about-town, right along Manila Street. 
The order, cleanliness and organization in Singapore, with touches of chaos in the smaller inner districts, presented us with heightened distinction of Manila’s chaos, disorder, pollution, and - for a westerner arriving from the airport - almost an uncomfortable non-communication with our cab driver. In Singapore, it was not difficult for Trevor to strike up a conversation with the cab river (it has been a bit more difficult for me, being Filipino, although almost all cab drivers in Singapore we’ve met always greet you when you open the door). In the Philippines, especially coming from the airport, most of discussion center on haggling for surcharges to the meter. But I should make clear that this is not always the case, as in one or two exceptions.
A very excited Edward finding nutmeg along the Spice Trail in Fort Canning.
As it turned out, we had to get out of the first cab we hailed from the airport who was bordering on “highway robbery”, asking for fare much higher than the airport taxi service. Coming from Zamboanga many years ago, I was too tired to argue with the cab driver who managed to rip me off a fare almost as expensive as the domestic flight to Mindanao!
Little India’s colorful architecture.
But there will be very difficult times ahead, it seems, for the working class in Singapore, according to our cab driver there, who was also not very happy about plans to build two large casinos in the country. While many Filipinos go overseas, including to Singapore, for greener pastures, our cab driver describes how Singaporeans go to US or Australia for the same economic reasons, but whose jobs have been taken over by cheap labor coming from countries like mine. Our cab driver said he would rather go to the Philippines or Malaysia. In fact, he has been to the Bicol region and recounts the pleasure of the relaxed life there.
The Sri Veerama-kaliaman temple, dedicated to the goddess Kali.
But such places are fast disappearing as the influences and claws of urbanism and “modern life” overtake the laid back cultures of many out-of-town communities. The developed city centres, in the meantime, are struggling for sustainability of their wasteful and unsustainable lifestyles.
The Sultan Mosque, and a high-rise building in the background.
I can feel for the urgency and desperation of our cab driver lamenting the casino projects. As much as Isrizal’s problem at the Urban Climate Camp. The presentations there were very good and varied, however, I was disappointed with the general attitude after the presentations, in particular, the non-response to Trevor’s challenge, which could have in fact been the opportunity to test the viability of the UCC process/gathering. Trevor’s challenge was simple - how can the UCC, at that very moment, address the very urgent problem presented by Isrizal, particularly the problem of the urban mindset threatening a small village ecology in Singapore? Indeed, as Drew remarked, “easy to ask but difficult to answer” which makes it very good test of the value, viability of and motivations behind holding such events/projects in the first place…
A lizard in Canning Park’s Spice Trail.
The (superficial) chaos we experienced in Little India was remarkable, reflecting very familiar experience of freedom in an unfamiliar place. When the temple dedicated to goddess Kali opened we immediately entered and witnessed again this organized chaos of food in trays being brought here and there, music playing, people offering and praying, one man almost jocularly chiding another for not praying hard enough! A truly familiar sermon in my own family! For me, Little India is a small-scale version of the chaos in Quiapo district here in Manila.
A grasshopper in Canning Park.
The visit to the Malay Heritage Centre was more disconcerting, a sad contrast to what I felt and saw in Little India - although the social life surrounding the Sultan mosque seemed alive, the Malay Heritage Center almost resembled the museumified heritage installations that numerous state institutions here in Manila have established, demolished and re-established over the decades. My experience in the Malay Heritage Centre re-calls of being in “life-stylized”, manicured and artificialized heritage in Intramuros, Manila, with the reality of urban poverty found in small pockets surrounding the fort.
A boat with a concrete mast, at the Malay Heritage Centre built in 2005.
The state can build heritage monuments and artificial villages, and private corporations can build cultural destinations and resorts, but it can only come alive if the people are politically, economically, ethnically and religiously free from restraints and oppression.
Some parts of Intramuros, Manila are actually livelier where poverty is recognized rather than ignored and covered by painted walls or advertising billboards. This recognition actually distributes wealth where there is scarcity - something that perhaps is taking place with the revival of the Pasig River ferry.
A tropical rainforest garden inside Changi Airport Terminal 2. I would’ve loved to see the cactus garden in Terminal 1. Maybe next time. 
Overall, the visit to Singapore was very good, with frustrations every now and then with the official events, but much appreciation for the organized chaos of short panel presentations and parallel events at ISEA, rather than a well-orchestrated and ordered sequence of events.
There seemed a much greater feeling of freedom in the chaos, and then a sometimes comforting feeling of security in the order of the host country. Coming home, these feelings are heightened all the more.
Edward attends the cyberfemminists panel at ISEA2008.
I’ve managed a bit of rest, some shopping to re-stock our refrigerator, some cooking, writing and even some crocheting again. It’s good to be home - back to the pouring rain - and hopefully soon another visit to Bohol, then anticipating yet another post-Bohol syndrome on our return to Manila. I guess it’s a syndrome of being alive.
