I bought the book in hard copy, and the publisher Ethos kindly gave a complimentary e-copy. I was in a hurry to read this book, so I finished it before the hard copy arrived in the letter box. Heh. But you'd have to unzip the link on your own, send it to your e-reader account, blah blah blah. It's a bit more painful than simply purchasing it from the Kindle store. Yawn. In the preface of this new edition, Cherian George wrote,
This 20th anniversary edition combines most of the essays from that book (which I finally reread in January 2020) and Singapore, Incomplete, plus a few new pieces. I have shortened and reorganised some of the old essays, but I've not updated any. Each essay is stamped with its original year of publication to help readers make sense of the shifts in focus, context and even writing style.
The Singapore-born ex-journalist is now based in Hong Kong as a professor in the Department of Journalism at Hong Kong Baptist University. He has always kept his critical voice of Singapore politics and social policies even as he took a new teaching appointment that led to a promotion as Head of Journalism at Nanyang Technological University, without tenure. He was conferred the faculty's highest honor in a teaching excellence award even as he was denied all possibility of permanent tenure at the university. Even in Hong Kong, he never stopped caring about Singapore. And he talked on. He also speaks fondly of his wife, Zuraidah Ibrahim who is his 'best friend and life partner'. She's the Deputy Executive Editor at the South China Morning Post.
If you do read the author's writing and musing, most of the essays are not unfamiliar. For years, we have been coerced and coaxed to accept one narrative of how Singapore society should be- the incumbent government's vision. We keep getting 'The Singapore Model' shoved down our throats. Now, we're asking for more inclusivity and a wider definition. After the General Elections, I hope the majority party in government is listening. Please stop 'fixing the opposition' and start understanding and listening, adapting and adopting. Papa, stop preaching. You don't know best. View the author with whatever lens you wish, but his writing is not without reason, logic and thorough analysis.
I have no interest in a discussion about the essays within. These are the author's opinions after all. Do your own reading and takeaways. The last chunk of essays in the collection is themed 'Disciplining Dissent', and in the final essay 'Singapore, Incomplete' is written in 2017 and published back then as 'Accidental losers' in another book 'Singapore, Incomplete' (2017). The essay ends the collection of essays with this paragraph,
Singapore at 50-something should be able to handle the moral complexity of the country's early nationalist period. Furthermore, the steamrolling of history has contemporary implications. There is a straight line connecting the PAP's flattened nation-building story with its overbearing approach to politics. Its dogmatic view of the past justifies and reinforces its with-us-or-against-us intolerance of dissenting opinion. The fiction of PAP founding fathers as the only heroes of Singapore nationalism is what allows today's leaders to believe that Singaporeans who don't row in rhythm are threats to the sampan of the state. Today, First World Singapore is a middle-aged republic with a mature economy but a political system that treats us like children: too many decisions are made for us that should be ours to make; we are told what's good for us and we are ticked off if we answer back. Older generations have lacked either the desire or the strength to resist. A new generation of Singaporeans will have to decide for themselves if they are ready to grow up.
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