On Being Gay in Disneyland

“We should recognise many paths to success and many ways to be Singaporean. We must give people a second chance. Ours must be an open and inclusive Singapore……..We've got to support Singaporeans being spontaneous, being unconventional. We should not put obstacles in their way. We should help them to succeed. “

- Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, National Day Rally Speech, 2004.

Here I am in a foreign country thousands of miles away from home. Over the last 2 weeks, I felt really proud and lucky to be a Singaporean. I proudly tell people how everything's so darn efficient, fast, clean etc in Singapore compared to just about anywhere else on the planet. Everything looks good and runs well, like an expensive Swiss watch.

We have clean air, can drink water right from the tap, a very good public transport system, good roads, services are always accessible - mostly within walking distance, and we can enjoy meals in public without being subjected to someone else secondhand smoke. There's always a new cafe, bar or restaurant opening, lots going on in the evenings & weekends, beautiful parks and nature reserves where JF and I frequently go for walks. Efficient banks & medical services, in schools kids are given laptops to do their homework. There's free WI-FI practically everywhere.

IN SHORT, EVERYTHING WORKS.

THAT IS, IF you don't happen to fall outside the designated boundaries set by the powers that be.

In recent years, since we got our new Prime Minister Lee in 2004, he suggested that those boundaries may be expanded to become more "inclusive". Ok so we're building a giant casino, bars can now stay open all night and ex-cons have become the heroes of a TV and Print "Yellow Ribbon Campaign" encouraging the public to "give them a second chance."

Today I found out that a friend, a bright young university graduate, has been forced to resign from his (non-combat) job at the Ministry of Defence because they found out that he was gay. Earlier this year, there were also reports that a trainee teacher was also asked to resign because he was gay.

When I hear things like this, I am so ashamed to be Singaporean.

In his now famous WIRED article (1993), writer William Gibson describes Singapore as "Disneyland with a death penalty".

There is no slack in Singapore. Meaning if you are slow or different, there isn't a place for you. How far will "more inclusive" go? We can only hope for the best, and in our usual ant-like manner, pretend go about our merry way in the perfect little colony.