Well excuse me for not being a Patriot (Part II)

Ah yes here I am, back again from another couple of aggravating months of having to do my dues in the national service. Dressing in green just seems so horrid nowadays having spent my many months in the colours of the forest. Yes, it is now time once again to sit down and write and pour out my deepest discontents so that perhaps one day i might not run away with a rifle and thirty rounds in my pockets from the airport. oh yes the Taser with four rounds too....did i mention that?



Anyhooo, As i have mentioned in my earlier posts, it is truly a fact that we as Singaporeans are living under the constant illusion that we are in some ways, "free." Oh god go here we go again, another long and uninteresting speech about human rights and freedom. Perhaps if that is the magnitude your brain then perhaps you should stop reading lest your medulla explodes with the sheer capacity of the overload of information.

Freedom perhaps comes in many sorts. I'm not talking about the right to buy houses or living under the constant tyranny. Now theres an interesting word and so debatable in the context of this tiny island here. Why though, you ask, are we not all free? Are we not living a comfortable life on a first world technological hub with first world people? If you are perhaps once more you should stop reading once more before i find men with big guns come smashing thru my windows and pinning me down american style. There again i hope that none of these men have watched one too many jean claude van damme movies or steven segal ones too or i might find myself in a rather excrutiating headlock with my lap top quickly bundled into a ziplock bag before being marked evidence. Ok i need a breath there. Saying all those did take a bit out of me.

The freedom that I speak of involves the simplest of things. I would like to take the car out to our wonderful neighbouring country and be allowed to enter with a box of cigarettes which i have bought over there only because it is so much cheaper. Yes! I would like to be able to modify my car because simply i am a whore for power and no sometimes i think your engines sound like a brick in a grinder. Yes! I would like to be able to sit at a cafe with a cigarette in my hand and for once NOT be in a bleeding yellow box because it makes me look like a bloody target for people to throw pies at me. Yes! Simple matters such as these are perhaps the most basic and tragic points that we as Singaporeans must endure.

Another thing about us being in the illusion of freedom are the certain landmarks perhaps established for us to be "free." Let us talk about the speakers corner, ahh, a landmark perhaps of truth and daring where people need not fear the fact that what they say might be too viulgar or perhaps too overly zealous. Yes, perhaps this is a fair point but perhaps there is that overly noticeable fact that there is no one there at any point in time. The place has become a dropping collection point for the birds. Oh right of course, let us not point out that perhaps barely a hundred metres within that same vicinity is a police station. Mm, very interesting, now we wonder why we are harbouring the delusion that we might be... free.

With a tone of finality although this isnt a fun thing to talk about, it might be fun to think about. Singapore hardly has any demonstrations of any kind whatsoever and yes that might be a good thing but it does show what ideas in singapore become. They become quelled and everyone who had and has something to say has to stuff their ideas under the bed with the rest of the pornographic magazines. Oh dear did I say that out loud? Also, should there be a demonstration larger than a size of an army platoon, which there hardly is due to the laws passed against demonstrations, the government quickly moves to accomodate the demonstration by saying "Please go inside and demonstrate so it wouldnt be so unsightly." Oh unless of course the demonstration is done by homophobic catholics, (no offence to catholics by the way, and i love your rules of non contraception. Way to fly.) where i was hoping to see trucks of gays and lesbians moon the demonstrators. Then again once more, i digress. No, I'm not gay, I just see them as any other person would. As people, not a leper colony. The government would do everything in their power from arrests to "gentle reminders" about the peace in Singapore. Seriously, demonstrators in Thailand must have laughed so hard they swallowed their molotov cocktails.

Alright, i shall sign off here, and yes i will be back. Cheerio.