Culture and History in Singapore

Singapore has enormous potential to be one of the most interesting countries in the world. It has an interesting history, an incredibly rich and diverse culture, a populace that cares deeply about its motherland.

But from its independence in the 1960s, the country had to squarely face two serious threats: the threat of racial/religious tensions, and, for a tiny island nation with barely any natural resources, the threat of obliteration.

And so, Singapore had to rise up to meet these threats. And rise up they did. Singapore's miraculous transformation from third-world to first-world in just two generations is one for the books. And although the different ethnicities that comprise its multicultural population keep within their own groups, as a whole, the society gets along with one another.

The economic progress and social harmony came at a price however. Young Singaporeans are encouraged to speak English rather than their mother tongue (Malay, Tamil, or one of several Chinese dialects). Entire ethnic neighborhoods, with their local color, have been torn down to make way for Western-style shopping malls and office buildings. And in candid conversations with Singaporeans, many will tell you that in a competition between cultural preservation and economic progress, money-making will often take priority in government policy.

The result, then, for better or for worse, is "Asia Light": a Westerner visiting this country can have a tiny taste of Asia without the chaos or strangeness of other Asian countries. The Ministry of Tourism's tagline, "Uniquely Singapore" is quite a misnomer, and if you really want a unique experience, most of the other Asian countries will serve you better.

But if you rarely get to visit Asia, and you want to see many glimpses of it in one go, then a trip to Singapore affords you a peek into Chinese culture, Indian culture, Muslim Malay culture, and the effects of Westernization on Asia, all in a short trip.

This isn't to say that Singapore doesn't have its own soul. There is at least one area of life where the Singaporean soul is alive and kicking. And that's in Singaporean cuisine. (See my "Eating in Singapore" journal.)

Even if the government hauls in all these Western restaurants and eateries -- the Gloria Jeans and Starbucks and Burger Kings of the world .... Even though the government woos international Michelin-rated chefs .... Despite all that ... where do all Singaporeans -- rich or poor -- still want to eat?

At their local hawker center.

Where, for SG.50, they can sit in the chaotic din of the good ol' days, amahs shouting at one another from one stall to another, cheap spoons and forks clacking on cheap plastic plates, while they enjoy some good ol' satay, or nasi lemak, or fish head curry .... To hell with the state obsession with trying to keep up with the Western Joneses' definition of what success is. Success, for the Singaporean, is making it to your favorite food stall in time before the chicken rice runs out.

Quick Tips:

Singapore is hot and humid (even to someone like me who also lives in a tropical country!). Wear light, cotton clothes, and bring a handy umbrella around both to shade you from the sun, or for the sudden tropical downpours that are typical in this region of the world.

Best Way To Get Around:

The MRT (train system) and bus system are rather cheap (starting at S.90 for a short bus ride, cheaper if you use an eZ card--a pre-loaded machine-readable card) and efficient, especially in the city center. The map of Singapore isn't very gridlike, though, so give your time study the maps. Remember, also that if you don't have an eZ-card, you'll need exact change on the buses, so keep your coins handy!

You may occasionally need to take a taxi, nonetheless, but taxi-riding is a treat in Singapore. Though they're much more expensive the buses and trains, most of the taxi drivers are very friendly and talkative, and will be happy to tell you about Singapore.

Kampong Glam is a Malay Muslim neighborhood in Singapore. Despite the frenetic pace of development along Singapore's main roads, the government has made some effort to retain a lot of the old ethnic flavor of this area. The shophouses--shops above which shop owners used to live--no longer have many residents, but the shophouse structures themselves are still there, in their colorful colors.

I found Kampong Glam to be a little more touristy than Little India, but not as bad (in terms of touristy-ness) as Chinatown, and nowhere near as bad as the rest of central Singapore. Looking around, I noticed that this was becoming a haven for bohos, hippies and the indie artistic crowd. One street was lined by small shops owned by local designers of clothes and furniture, and there was even an indie art studio. (I went in to one of them, meaning to look at whatever was on exhibit, but no one was around in the studio so I stepped out again.)

I headed to the mosque and decided to go in. It was my first time inside a working mosque. I left my shoes at the door and was given a long-sleeved robe to cover myself (arms and legs shouldn't be showing inside mosques). Two college-aged guys at the entrance acted as my tour guides. One of them began with a brief historical background of the mosque (it's the oldest in Singapore, and its architect was a Christian, believe it or not!). He then proceeded to tell me about the 5 pillars of Islam, at which point I said he didn't need to explain all that because I'd learned about Islam in school. He then let me go walk around the mosque (visitors are forbidden from entering the main prayer hall: the carpeted part of the mosque where you'll see faithful devotees praying) and take pictures.

After awhile, the second guy came up with a Q'uran in his hand, and asked me if I wanted to see it. I said, "Sure!" and he opened it up and showed me a few Arabic lines. I asked him some questions about being Muslim in Singapore -- about how, for example, a Muslim gets his religious education if he goes to public school. (His answer: "We have something like Sunday school." Of course I knew that already, but I was just trying to start a conversation.) He in turn asked me where I was from, and when I said I was Filipino, he asked me a few questions about Catholicism. (The Philippines is a predominantly Catholic country.) He said that he'd noticed that Catholic nuns wore veils, just like Muslim women do, and he wanted to know why. I was suddenly embarrassed when I realized I didn't have a quick answer for him, but an ecumenical conversation about different kinds of religious dress ensued.

Sultan Mosque (Masjid Sultan in Malay) is on Muscat Street in Kampong Glam. There is no entrance fee, but there are boxes near the entrance for you to drop your donations into. The mosque is closed to visitors during regular services.

A visit to the Kampong Glam and the Sultan Mosque is a must-do for anyone who, like me, travels in order to experience different cultures.

Note that many Kampong Glam shops are closed Fridays at around lunch time, which is prayer time for Muslims.

The phone number of Sultan Mosque is (65) 6293 4405.

The bus tour I'd taken the day before included a free bus ride to Sentosa, so I decided to do the touristy thing and visit the island. I'd been to Sentosa as a child, before it became the Disneyland of resort islands, and I was curious to see how much it had changed.

Of course, there isn't much for a pregnant woman traveling alone to do in Sentosa, so I decided to limit my itinerary to just one thing: scratching my WW2 itch.

See, I've always been really interested in WW2. I've been reading WW2-related books since childhood. Both my grandfathers as well as my grandfather-in-law fought in that war, and my grandmother was a war nurse of sorts.

So being in Singapore, such an important WW2 spot, I knew I had to do something related to WW2.

And Sentosa had just the thing. What used to be an artillery battery during WW2 has been restored and houses a WW2 exhibit.

It took me about an hour to do the self-guided walking tour (it normally takes an hour and half, but I didn't do the parts that involved climbing steep flights of stairs). The life-size dioramas were impressive, but the most moving bit was the an exhibit of drawings by Western POWs who had been interned in the Japanese camps in Singapore during the war.

Sentosa Island has a S$2 entrance fee, and there's an additional S$8 fee for Fort Siloso. A tram takes you up the fort from the entrance gate, and you walk the rest of the way. Exhibits are open from 10am - 6pm daily (last admission 5.30pm). There are free guided tours on weekends at 11 AM and 4 PM.

The Malay Heritage Centre is a small museum dedicated to Malay culture in the old Muslim Malay neighborhood of Kampong Glam.

Singapore used to be part of the Malaysian federation before it became independent in the 1960s. Malays continue to comprise Singapore's second-largest ethnic group (next to the dominant Chinese), and even though the language of business, commerce and law is English, Malay is still considered the national language on paper. (The national anthem of Singapore is in Malay.)

The Malay Heritage Center was my last stop in Kampong Glam. There was an exhibit about the Malay people in general, including their traditional culture and art forms. What I personally found interesting, however, was the small section about kampong life.

See, I used to live in Singapore, and this was first visit back in 20 years. When I first arrived, I'd been shocked at all the changes and the Westernization of Singapore's city streets.

Reading the blurb for the exhibit on kampong life, I began to sense that other people in Singapore felt the same way I did. Many decades ago, most of the ethnic Malays in Singapore lived in "kampongs," traditional villages comprised of wooden huts on stilts, similar to the rural villages you can still find in other parts of Southeast Asia. Walking through the exhibit, my mind flashed back to the sight of kampongs that I could still remember from my childhood. Even then there weren't many kampongs left--the ones I saw were probably the last ones--but they were there, part of the Singaporean landscape. In the 1980s, the government mandated the relocation of almost all Singaporeans into public flats, something which, arguably, was a good thing, since it democratized housing, provided cheap quality housing for everyone, and helped alleviate Singapore's problem of lack of land space. And yet ... I could understand why the blurb at the exhibit lamented how this had eroded the "kampong culture" of the Malays.

After two days in Singapore, the Malay Heritage Center was the first place in Singapore where I felt any attempt to clearly assert a self-formed identity: "I don't necessarily have to repeat the government propaganda on what 'Singaporean identity' is; rather, this is what being Singaporean means for me." I was impressed. For the first time, I was seeing a sense of pride not only in one's government but also in one's people.

And of course ... I wondered ... and so before I left, I asked .... "Is this museum government-run?" I asked the receptionist.

She hemmed and hawed a bit. "Ummm, it's government-owned, but it's self-supported."

"Oh," I said, "is that typical of museums in Singapore? Are most museums self-supported?"

"No," she replied, "this is actually one of the few museums in the country that are self-supported."

Oh.

Ah.

"Why is that?" I asked.

She made a face, as if she was about to say something then decided against it. "I don't know," she said softly.

"Well, thank you so much for this," I said. "I really learned a lot."

It makes me wonder ... if the Singaporean government hadn't required its Malay community to move out of kampongs and into public flats, how different would Singapore look like today ...?

Tourists who aren't really interested in Singapore's history might not find the Malay Heritage Center very interesting, but if you are a history buff like myself, you may find this an educational way to spend a few hours.

Entrance: S$ 3 (adults)

South Asians (people who trace their roots to the Indian subcontinent) comprise the third largest ethnic group in Singapore (after Chinese and Malays). Most of these Indians (as they're officially called) in Singapore are Tamil, and Tamil is one of the three "mother tongue" languages students may choose from in government schools (the others being Mandarin Chinese and Bahasa Melayu).

Of the three ethnic neighborhoods I visited in Singapore--Chinatown, the Muslim Quarters, and Little India--I found Little India to be the most interesting.

To begin with, it was in Little India that I found -- finally! -- the Singapore of my childhood!!! Shophouses, "coffee shops" (Singaporean slang for outdoor hole-in-the-wall eateries), the strange smell of Indian spices, men sitting on the sidewalks watching the world pass by .... This was Singapore as I remembered it. The only things that were missing were the streetfood vendors (outlawed in the 80s) ... and the crowds. The crowds, the crowds -- where were the crowds???? (There hadn't been any crowds in Chinatown either.) I figured it may have been because I was in Little India on a weekday afternoon, before anyone had gotten off from work.

Most of the shops in Little India were in traditional shophouse structures, which the government had preserved in their vibrant colors. Beautiful Indian fabric and interesting bric-a-bracs were being sold at incredibly cheap prices, and if I didn't have a lot of self-discipline I would've easily fallen into a shopping frenzy.

But I was here to sightsee, not to shop, and so I pressed on.

At the edge of Little India, I arrived at the "Thieves' Market" (between Jalan Basar and Sungei Road), a makeshift flea market. It was mid-afternoon when I arrived, and streetside peddlers had set up their wares on blankets on the ground.

My guidebook described it as old "uncles" (Singaporean slang for old man) peddling their old wares. I wasn't so sure. While a few of them did look like tradesmen doing small-time retail, it looked more to me like many of the old men and women had picked many of these second-hand items out of garbage cans or dumpsters, had had them fixed, and had now hauled them using their bicycle sidecars to this park to sell them to make a little extra cash.

At any rate, it again felt a little more like the Singapore I'd known as a child. Even the way the place sounded--people were actually speaking in Hokkien (unlike the Singlish/Mandarin that I'd mostly been hearing along the more "modernized" roads in Singapore)! Thieves' Market was also a sobering reminder that despite the amazing pace at which Singapore had moved from third-world to first-world status, not everyone had benefited from the progress in the same way.

According to my research, vendors sell their goods at the Thieves' Market from around 11 AM to 7 PM everyday, and there are more vendors on weekends.

Changi's Budget Terminal was, to be quite frank, a huge disappointment.

Arriving in the Changi Budget Terminal wasn't much of a problem. You deplane onto a tarmac, walk through an unairconditioned but covered walk to the immigration area, and the immigration area itself is nice, clean, and relatively modern.

But the departure area was a different story.

The entryway to the departure area of the terminal is misleading. Everything looks clean and new. The staff is courteous. But then, things slowly change.

When we entered the immigration area, we found that suddenly the consuls weren't anywhere near as friendly as the staff members outside ... but maybe that had something to do with having to work the night shift, we thought. There was enough of a duty free area to keep us distracted for a bit, and free Internet access as well.

But then ... but then .... The terminal had only one waiting area with seats for the entire departure area. When it was time to go to the gate, everyone had to file into a narrow corridor and stay standing for the next half an hour (or so) before boarding. There was no organization to the boarding procedure either. We weren't asked to line up by row, pregnant women, senior citizens, and children weren't invited to enter the plane first. The actual boarding was thus rather chaotic.

As a pregnant woman, I was rather miffed about being made to stand for so long. There were actually four available seats near the exit to the tarmac, but it was cordoned off, and not a single staff member asked if I would like to sit there. Finally, I defiantly decided to sit on the floor.

For a country that has so much money, I felt like they could, if they wanted to, make a budget terminal that is simpler than Changi's main terminals, but with all the minimum amenities people expect in an airport (such as seats for people to sit on!).

Instead, my husband and I honestly felt that budget fliers were being discriminated against. "It's like they purposely made it inconvenient, to dissuade people from flying budget," my husband said. I agreed. Our last experience of Singapore was, sadly, not a nice one.