It was interesting to see how Singaporeans responded when a crazy man decided to go sending pork around to different mosques – very rationally, as it turns out.
You can watch my coverage here:
I think this is interesting because it showcases how far Singapore has evolved as a civil society – a place where this kind of thing, inflammatory as it is, doesn’t result in street protests or people casually and spontaneously fighting, but rather in solidarity across races and religions and a time of increased resilience rather than of tension.
Of course, that’s just what we see on the surface and we have no idea what’s happening within the souls of people, but I can safely say that that’s the energy.
Comparing that to what we see in Malaysia is like comparing night to day, darkness to light.
Well, as people do say…
On certain occasions, you must create your own light.
It’s way past midnight, and I’m just sitting here in the cab that I’m in at the moment, coming back from hanging out in Johor, hanging out in the human world, just chillin’, pickle ball playing, everything else.
Not super sure why it felt right to me to write this down, but it was a good memory that I wanted to enshrine forever.
It was my first time flying to JB and then back in a single day, and so many different things happened that it felt like it was a dream – learning a new sport, reconciling, chilling with old friends, having a nice chat with a girl I thought was kind of cute (I don’t think it’ll go anywhere, but it was a nice chat hahaha), and finding the magic in a random person that maybe I hadn’t even thought I would before.
There were so many wholesome things about today, it just reminded me that people are awesome, and it reminded me to keep them as a part of my remembrance – to remember that I am a part of the many people who define me and shape me in the small ways and the big ones alike.
I don’t write about every weekend – not every one deserves that; but this one definitely did 🙂
Only problem is that it’s 1233am and I’m on the way back on this taxi and will probably have to KO for the entire day tomorrow, but I suppose that’s life x_x
One of the great things about owning a lot of books is that you get to see random things like this, and you get to explore a whole lore and see so many other things that you may not have even considered before – one of which is this.
Here we see father, son, and holy Goh together, three generations of prime ministers all sitting at one single table fighting for Singapore.
This is the kind of thing that is non-existent in Malaysia – and even if it were to exist for a liminal amount of time, it undoubtedly would soon be torn apart by politicking.
Learning of Goh’s story was interesting for many reasons, and the book was filled with some insights on his relationship with LKY, LHL, the questions of nepotism, and that good bit of shade thrown against Mahathir, whom I will be meeting again shortly; it’s definitely not every day that you learn about that dynamic and have your guesses about what must have happened in the course of the way that these people related to one another.
All in all, I would say that it is a solid 7 out of 10. I will not lie and say that it is transformative or incredible – Not because the book is badly written, but maybe because my standards have elevated themselves over time.
In any case, as a result of making this post, I ended up RM87.90 in the hole because I ended up immediately buying the next volume from Kinokuniya – Such are our human failings T_T
I realized through writing about this how much wasn’t included in this little snapshot of my day. There is so much more, but I can only share so little today.
Well, I’m not sure if you generally will even be spending time reading this, but if you do, and if you’re one of the rarer few who decide to get these books, I hope you will enjoy them!
