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Paul Bigland

Category Archives: Singapore

Singapore sojourn

19 Sunday Feb 2017

Posted by Paul Bigland in Architecture, Railways, Singapore, Travel

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Railways, Singapore, Travel

It’s my second day in Singapore and I have to admit that the city has grown on me over the years i’ve been visiting. As a backpacker in the early 90s it always seemed horrendously expensive compared to neighbouring countries. It was easy to blow your budget here. Cheap accomodation was had to find and often very basic, but it was a good place to shop for bargains – and it was one of the few places in the region where I could buy Fuji Velvia slide film that had been kept correctly as well as being sold at a decent price. There were also labs I could trust to develop slide film so that I could post it back to the UK for safe-keeping. Oh, the days of film! Then my backpack would be loaded with 30-40 rolls. It was a logistical nightmare to store. I used to keep it in stainless steel ‘tiffin’ tins at the bottom of my rucksack. I’d have several notebooks to keep records of what where and when i’d taken pictures as well as details of which roll i’d ‘pushed’ the ISO on. This meant each roll had to be individually labelled. It was an expensive habit then. I worked out that when you added the costs of buying, developing and postage it meant that each time I pressed the shutter it was costing me 23p. When you consider that I’d probably only keep 33% of what i’d taken the unit costs were even higher. Photography wasn’t exactly environmentally friendy either. Think of all the chemicals used – and the wastage. So, if anyone asks me if I miss the days of film, my answer is “not bloody likely!”

OK, that was a slight digression. Being here has triggered many memories. I hadn’t thought about the fun and games with film for years.

Singapore has grown on me for several reasons. I’ve spent my life travelling. I’ve visited all four continents and as I get older I can see the attraction of a country that has political and economic stability. One where everything works nearly all the time. One that’s multi-racial, using diversity as a strength, not seeing it as a threat or a weakness. One that has has a wealth of cuisines (one of the benefits of diversity). Oh, and one that takes its environmental responsibilities seriously. Also a country that is both civil and believes in a civil society.

Don’t get me wrong, i’m not ready for my pipe and slippers yet. I love India, but it’s the antithesis of Singapore. It’s corrupt, its political institutions are a madhouse. It’s turned beauracracy into another circle of hell and it’s an environmental nightmare. It’s also breathtakingly beautiful with a richness and depth of history thats unique. India is a Marmite country. Ask anyone whose been and they either love it or hate it. No-one will ever say “s’alright, I suppose”.

I’ve been writing this piecemeal as I’m travelling around the island looking at the MRT network and one of the things that’s struck me as really positive is their transport integration. Stations have plenty of cycle storage and many have bus interchanges (but no car parks). The MRT network is also constantly expanding. Right now i’ve been visiting Woodlands, where a massive hole in the ground will soon be a part of the new 43km long MRT Thompson line from Woodlands North all the way to Sungei Bedok via Marina Bay . The MTR has sprouted lines all over the place in the past couple of decades and i’m looking forward to coming back when this latest batch opens.

 

dg265908-new-mrt-line-construction-woodlands-singapore-18-2-17

In 2019 this large hole in the ground will be an MRT station on the new Thompson line.

It’s not just the MTR that’s expanded. The whole city has – which is producing some fantastic modern architecture to complement the city’s rich heritage. One only has to take a wander around the Marina Bay area or business district to see some brilliant examples of design, many of which incorporate exotic gardens (hanging or otherwise).

 

 

dg266001-the-park-royal-hotel-pickering-st-singapore-18-2-17

The Park Royal Hotel is a stunning example of new architecture

 

Sadly, I only had time to stay three nights, I’d loved to have lingered longer but I’ve a lot of ground to cover back to Bangkok. I’ll just have to come back again. Soon…

The fall of Singapore, 75 years on. Lessons from the past for the future.

17 Friday Feb 2017

Posted by Paul Bigland in Brexit, Politics, Singapore, Travel

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Brexit, Politics, Singapore, Travel

By chance, my arrival in Singapore yesterday was on the day the city-state remembered the 75th anniversary of the fall of the island to the Japanese in World War Two.

One of the books I’ve been reading on my travels is a study of the events leading up to the invasion and subsequent surrender (The battle for Singapore, by Peter Thompson). It’s a sorry tale of British arrogance and incompetence, of casual racism and an inability to face facts. The book exposes the myth the the islands mighty naval guns could only fire out to sea. In fact, some of them could and would be turned landward to shell the Japanese troops by the Johore Strait, but as the only ammunition they had was armour piercing shells, they were of limited use. The book also reveals that, whilst Gen Arthur Percival ‘took the rap’ for the fall, he wasn’t solely to blame. The whole military/civilian structure was, including the Governer. Despite warnings that the island was wide open to invasion through Malayia, less senior officers reccomendations that defences should be built along the Johore Strait, were turned down as “defences are bad for morale” (seriously)!

The fall should have come as no surprise. The island was woefully under-prepared and the re-enforcements it asked for were turned down. It had no tanks, few aircraft and many of the soldiers sent from India and Australia to defend the island were raw recruits with no training. Many hadn’t even been taught how to fire a rifle. The Chinese militia that were formed (far too late) to bolster the army were equally poorly prepared.

The siege was brutal, with thousands of civilians being killed by bomber aircraft which attacked the island with impunity. Worse was to come when the island fell as the Japanese were brutal masters. They slaughtered tens of thousands of Chinese for supporting the motherland in its war against the Japanese invader.

75 years on, Singaporeans are well rid of their former colonial masters. The city-state is a prosperous, modern, multi-racial country where standards of education (and civility) are streets ahead of little England. It’s not paradise (where is?) but it looks positively to the future whilst remembering the past without it being baggage.

How different to England…

The old qoute that ‘those who refuse to learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them’ couldn’t be more appropriate for Britain. 75 years on from the fall of Singapore and the attitudes that led to it can be seen again in our political leaders, sections of the media, and (sadly) some ordinary Britons: Arrogance, racism and a refusal to face facts are the ‘new black’. We call ourselves a mature democracy, yet we’ve let the leaders of the Brexit campaign buy many of us with their money, lies and fearmongering about foreigners (call them what you will, immigrants, refugees, economic migrants, it matters not). Folk talk of the ‘will of the people’ but it wasn’t the people who are pressing for us to crash out of the European Union and single market. Many people didn’t really understand what it was they were voting for, but that’s hardly surprising when they’ve been drip fed made-up stories about ‘bent bananas banned by the EU’ or stories about immigrants ‘flooding in’ to the UK.

The tragedy of the UK at the moment is the political paralysis at the top. Few seem willing to bite the bullet and say “look, this is madness. Brexit will ruin our country for nothing”. So, our leaders lead us over the edge of a cliff, whilst many privately admit that no good will come of it – others exhibit the same levels of ignorance, denial and incompetence as a previous generation of British politicians and generals (educated at the self-same public schools that many of the present generation were) who led Singapore (and Malaya) to disaster.

Singapore has a bright future. It’s recovered from the wounds others inflicted on it 75 years ago. Will the UK ever recover from the wounds it’s about to inflict on itself?

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