Ghost Train to the Eastern Star

Singaporeans are intensely aware of their living like lab rats in this huge social experiment. It seems to make them melancholic and self-conscious and defensive.

Singapore is a real tinkered-with experiment—not the political con game of Turkmenistan, or the free-for-all of India, or the tyranny of Myanmar, or the muddle and make-do of Sri Lanka, or the neglect of Laos. Thailand seemed to me exceptional—a success because people were proud, loved their king, had a sense of unity, and had never been colonized. Singapore came into existence because the British colonized the jungly place. Having made it a class- and race-conscious island of clubs and bars, the British kept it as an imperial artifact until the Japanese invaded, during World War II, little skinny soldiers riding in on bikes, capturing the island, and humiliating the British for four years in diabolical prisons.

The Japanese demonstrated that British rule was hollow, self-interested, and weak. After the war, the British looked impotent and lost their will to govern. Singapore was dominated by Islamic, Chinese-hating Malaya, which became the Republic of Malaysia in 1963. At last, in 1965, in a lachrymose display, weeping on TV (but he cries easily), Lee declared the island's independence. He was humbled, because he had believed his destiny was to be Malaysia's prime minister, not CEO of this tiny island, more a corporation or a cult than a country. But he reminded Singaporeans that they were surrounded by enemies, and he invited the world to do business in his city-state. Foreign companies relocated here, invested their capital, and helped Singapore to become an economic success. It has flourished because it made itself useful to the great powers and to global business.

Because initiative is dangerous in an autocracy, Singaporeans are employees, not innovators. And because space is at a premium and the cost of living is high, Singaporeans marry late and, either through pessimism or procrastination, tend not to produce children. The birth rate fell so sharply in the early eighties that a government dating agency was started in 1984, to host matchmaking parties, to promote marriages and births. This agency, called the Social Development Unit, or SDU (known to Singapore wags as Single, Desperate, and Ugly), was a failure. While I was in Singapore in 2006, it was disbanded.

Over the course of my week here, I reacquainted myself with old Singapore friends and heard their stories.

One said: "My wife went to Australia. She was studying for a degree. But when she finished, she wouldn't come back. I went there and tried to persuade her. She said that she could never live here again, although she was born here. It wasn't a man. She just couldn't bear Singapore any-more.So we got a divorce."

One said: "Your student [and he named him] killed himself. Your student [and he named her] also killed herself. Suicide is a Singapore solution."

One said: "We never go to Malaysia or Indonesia, although they're right next door. The Muslims are crazy. They want to overwhelm us. They deliberately isolated us."

One said: "Life here is shopping and eating. Also 'What kind of car do you have?' and 'Where are you going on vacation?' When women get together they talk about clubs, investments, money, stock tips, and servants."

One said: "Do you remember [and he named two former students]? They got married, but when they split up she became a fanatical Catholic. She never goes out. She only stays in her flat and prays."

One said: "I bought a new car a few years ago. It cost me forty-five thousand dollars U.S. I first had to apply for a permit to buy it. In ten years I'll have to renew this permit, and that will cost money. Everything is regulated—buying the car, driving, access, parking. It's a fortune, and this is just a little Nissan sedan. But no one really needs a car here."

One said: "We never talk about politics, race, or religion. We never talk about the prime minister. We never tell ethnic jokes. We hardly tell jokes. Joking can be dangerous."

One said: "Yes, we're pushy. There's a reason for it—the Hokkien expression kia su,

'afraid to lose.' No one wants to be seen holding the short straw."

One said: "Remember [and he named a Singaporean]? He still hates you!"

One said: "Yes, it is a life without texture."

One said: "The big man [Lee] has erased the old Singapore. Singapore begins with him. He has obliterated the past. Though you can see the city had a colonial history, he has tried to erase it. That's your problem here, Paul—you're a ghost from the past."

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