Singapore: Is It A City-State Of Artifice?
By
Leonard Zwelling
Artifice: clever or cunning used to trick or deceive others
I am supposed to fall in love with Singapore and perhaps, as with interpersonal relationships, it takes more than three days to do so. That being said, my first perceptions of Singapore are that this is a busy international city and port. It has gleaming skyscrapers and remarkable modern architecture in amazing shapes. It is absolutely immaculate. I have seen almost no police on the streets yet traffic flows to the rhythm of the traffic lights with courtesy reigning. People follow crossing signs as they walk. There is order.
But to me it is all surface. I have yet to gain even a glimpse under that shiny buffed coat to get a feel for the place. Perhaps our travel agent set us up for too many gardens. We visited a “wet market” which just means open air food stalls. There were no live animals for sale. We have been to many like this around the world. There are “hawker” centers where different types of food can be purchased and consumed on picnic tables in the center of the chaos. However, not bussing your tray is illegal here. Again, there is nothing in Singapore that is particularly unique.
“Touting,” where store owners and restauranteurs greet you in front of their establishments and try to get you to come in is illegal. Most of Singapore is very orderly with steep fines for small infractions.
The Mandarin Bay hotel is a huge three tower structure with a boat shaped top spanning the 57 stories above upon which sits Spago, the Wolfgang Puck restaurant, and an infinity pool. Dinner there had a spectacular view with adequate food. The night of our arrival we ate Peranakan food, a blend of Chinese, Malay, and other cuisines brought to Singapore by immigrants who married locals. It was just OK.
In buildings adjoining the Mandarin Bay towers are a huge high-end shopping mall and a casino. I never saw so many watch stores. It screams Las Vegas. Everything shines, but what’s below?
The one highlight of the Singapore trip for me was our visit to the Duke-National University of Singapore Medical School that was established at the request of the Singapore government to improve the quality of the physicians in the country. It just celebrated its twentieth year. We met with faculty to learn about the innovative curriculum that blends lectures beamed over from Duke in North Carolina with group study and very high-tech anatomy labs that use AI as well as real cadavers to teach. Interestingly, the cadavers come from the United States. Here they tend to cremate their dead. There’s not a lot of room here for burial like in the U.S.
Much of the city is built on reclaimed land and the urban planning is down to the apartment unit. Thus, the physical city is a triumph of modern sociology and human creativity. There is very little that is organic.
There is great emphasis on sustainability, water recycling, waste handling, and energy generation.
The population is largely of Chinese origin with Malaysians, Indians, and a smattering of others. One group is called Peranakan. These are people whose ancestors were both native Singaporans and immigrants. They have unique foods that blend the tastes of the cultures.
All this sounds pretty good, but all I feel is that I have not gotten close to the real Singapore.
Our guide is a Chinese-Peranakan and she has told us a lot about the surface of Singapore. It was part of Malaysia for two years from 1963-1965, but the marriage didn’t last. Nothing is really made here except money. Everything else comes from somewhere else.
We visited Little India and Chinatown. I could have easily done this in Houston on Hillcroft or out west on Bellaire Boulevard.
Like I said, despite a huge circling Ferris wheel (the Singapore Flyer) and gleaming waterfronts, I could not even touch the soul of the city. I felt much more enlightened in Panama City last March or Teipei or Tokyo or even Capetown during past trips.
Singapore has eluded me.
On the last evening, we went to a Singaporan restaurant and had the national dish, chicken rice, for the third time. It’s basically poached white meat topped with a glaze next to white rice accompanied by sauces of various degrees of heat and salt. Is it good? Yes. Is it great, no.
Our one great meal was a fourteen- course tasting menu at Labyrinth, a Michelin star restaurant hidden atop a shopping center. This was truly special. We enjoyed it a great deal and the chef did incorporate many of the flavors of Singapore in his dishes, but this was the work of a master and not to be confused with everyday Singapore fare.
As we took off for Perth, a five-hour flight that was my greatest length of time in the air without having to change my watch as Perth is south, southeast of Singapore, I felt as if I had truly missed what I was supposed to get out the first leg of the trip.
I still do not know who first settled Singapore, when the British came, or how bad life was during the Japanese occupation of WWII. Rather, I have seen a lot of gardens and eaten a lot of street food.
I will be happy to get to Australia.
