Happy Birthday Singapore!

Pix source: The Straits Times' National Day Special, which has many impressive pictures.

Singapore turns 42 today. It's another day of impressive celebrations with military-like precision. Everything appeared to happen on schedule, based on what we saw from our apartment and on TV.

The fighter jets roared past Marina Bay effortlessly, government leaders came on time in their pristine white, and the beautiful fireworks were well timed. Even the performances by the school kids went without any obvious glitch. Kit Chan's voice was stunning and moving.

But there was one flaw, as usual. Many Singaporeans still appeared to have difficulty in singing the national anthem, Majulah Singapura.

Singapore adopted the Malay song as its national anthem after it was booted out of Malaysia and became an independent nation in 1965. While Malay was more widely used then, it is no longer the lingua franca of Singapore today. Three quarters of Singaporeans are Chinese who are more comfortable with English and Mandarin. Even many Malays in Singapore are more conversant in English.

It's sad to see many Singaporeans still struggling with their national song. It's highly questionable whether they know the meaning of the lyrics even if they can sing or hum along. Some, including members of the ruling party, just stood stoically when the national anthem was played.

The solution is not to teach all Singaporeans to sing the Malay song. It's perhaps better to come up with a new national anthem in English. More people will be able to sing the song and appreciate it.

After all, many Singaporeans probably understood what Kit Chan sang tonight.

Additional reading:
Mr Wang Says So
Aaron Ng

Singapore Flyer

Mom noticed that some capsules are already installed at the Singapore Flyer, which will be the tallest ferris wheel in the world when it is completed by next March. Mom took the pix but it's not so clear with her mobile phone. Grandma had borrowed our camera.

You can see a live pix on the project developer's website.

We can't wait to try the ferris wheel but I'm sure the developer will bar dogs like me from boarding it although I'm very sweet and nice. And mom and dad will always pick up my poop. :-)

Singapore is not exactly the most pet-friendly place in the world. :-(

Faces

Some colourful images of actors at a Beijing opera by Uncle Fatso.

It's always fascinating to see how disguise is so prevalent in Asian art and culture. It's almost impossible to see the real face of the actors with all the make-up. In other Asian countries, masks play a big role in the art scene.

This is perhaps a sign of how Asians generally do not show their real self in public to help maintain harmony in society, unlike the more confrontational Westerners who generally like to impose their will on others.

Long marriages

Two of Asia's longest-serving leaders also have long-lasting marriages. Former Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad celebrated his 51st wedding anniversary yesterday. Another leader with a long marriage is former Singapore PM Lee Kuan Yew, who's been married to Kwa Geok Choo for 56 years.

Dr Mahathir and Kuan Yew were the longest-serving leaders of their countries respectively. Dr Mahathir served 22 years before stepping down in 2003. Kuan Yew served 31 years and stepped down in 1990. Former Indonesian strongman Suharto ruled for 31 years as well.

While Suharto and Dr Mahathir are both rather frail now, Kuan Yew still looks fit and sharp as ever.

Check out the Pioneers of Singapore series by the EDB Society/The Straits Times with Kuan Yew today. I'm still trying to watch the entire webcast.

S'pore's bubbly property market, part 2

Singapore's Minister of National Development Mah Bow Tan has said that the government will not interfere in the sizzling property market.

According to The Straits Times, Mr Mah said 'there's no reason to be alarmed.' Referring to sub-sale figures which indicate the level of speculation, he said: 'If you look at the numbers, it's quite a distance away from what we have in the mid 90s, particularly in 1996.'

'I think we try to avoid interfering in the market if we can and that's the reason why we continue to depend on broad dissemination of information even sometimes persuading various parties to come up with more accurate information and then collating them and getting URA and HDB to push out this info in a very timely and very comprehensive manner,' he said.

But he declined to say if the government will introduce more measures to cool the property sector.

This is pretty much in line with what Sophie argued yesterday. Sophie had said that the Singapore government will continue to allow the private property market function through market forces. But it may step in should prices hit the roof again.