Searched "incubus live" on google because they're coming on March 7th, stumbled upon this forum and read through a few posts. Now I feel driven to express my views because this seems like an appropriate place.
I am a 19 year old soldier-to-be so forgive me if I sound naive. I feel that Singapore is entering a stage that you can perhaps call "colonial hangover". This is a term that an Asian teacher in junior college used on me when I foolishly suggested that my British expat teachers were better.
Here in Singapore, there is a pervasive mentality of white-worship shared by many locals. In the city area it is not uncommon to see groups of asian and white people hanging out together. I have observed that usually, these asians speak in atrociously phony white accents. You'd think that the locals would be truer to themselves by sticking to their own accents, yet here they are falsely adopting foreign mannerisms right in their own homeland. This shows how formless and undefined the psyche of this nation is and how young Singaporeans would love nothing more than to adopt Western identities in terms of how they wish to perceive themselves and how they wish others to perceive them. I myself am certainly guilty of this to an extent and I adore certain aspects of Western culture, especially its music, literature and art. What exactly does it mean to be Singaporean?
My belief is that we should stop deceiving ourselves and acknowledge how white we here in Singapore are all becoming. We are a modern-day white colony. Most top students in Singapore face great pressure to make it to overseas institutions in Britain and the States. This illustrates how us Asians are forever embracing the White paradigm and unless we can offer a paradigm that is different enough and one that Whites are prepared to embrace, we will always be one step behind them. There will never be true racial equality in this world because of this and this is why the Singaporean government places special emphasis on racial HARMONY. But the kind of racial harmony that exists here in Sg is weird, to say the least. There is a clear class difference between white expatriates and locals. It is a very visible fault line in society that separates two groups of people in many ways. One group frequently enjoys the high life in upmarket areas like Robertson Quay, Clarke Quay, Orchard Road etc whilst the other group goes there occasionally and with a much thinner wallet. On top of this, local men have to sacrifice 2 years of their prime to serve national service, to ensure that we are ready to defend our way of life if need be, whereas expatriates and their children can avoid this whilst at the same time draw more from the land. Eventually we will have whites in government positions. Singapore's population is expected to swell to 6.5 milllion and a large part of this population growth will be fuelled by incoming foreign talent. Singapore's growth in the near future will also be fuelled by the tourism industry, evident in the development of the Integrated Resort and Singapore Eye and the refurbishment of Sentosa etcetc the list goes on. Imagine what things will be like 10 years down the road. I recently came back from a trip to Phuket and those of you who have been there may perhaps agree with me that it can be aptly described as a colony of Asians milling about to serve their white patrons in every way imaginable. Singapore is set to become a high class version of Phuket. On one hand I appreciate what the government is seeking to accomplish in its nation-building efforts yet on the other hand I feel that its all for naught, if we continue in this direction.
It'd be interesting to hear your views on these matters. Thanks.