Honestly, I’ve always thought that the Malay name for Singapore, Singapura, meant “Pretending Lion”. After all, Singa means lion while Pura means pretend. It wasn’t until I related this story to a foreign friend of mine that Rachel reminded me that Pura in the context of Singapura meant city. The root word was borrowed from a Majapahit word meaning, well, “city” or “town”.
(Of course, if I had scored higher in my Malay language paper I would have spared myself 20 years of ignorance and realize that there is no such word as pura in Malay. The word for pretend is pura-pura)
Perplexed, my view of Singapore was from that point onwards was shattered. I’ve always had an impression that the founding fathers of Singapore had the foresight to see that Singapore’s only destiny is to become a big, well oiled, amusement park- ie. full of manufactured thrills but lacking in authenticity or soul. I have always thought that it was an inside joke that Singapore retained their name because it describes them the best: pretenders.
But after I’ve been corrected, I would have to change my view of this city state. But to what?
This requires a rethink.
Singapore is Strange.
Firstly, there is always something not quite right when it comes to Singapore itself. I’m not speaking about the people per se, as they are pretty awfully nice, like you and me. But the invisible force that holds Singaporean society, LRT schedules and Moses Lim together seemed unnatural. There is no way any country could be this organized or for that matter of fact, clean. I took a walk in the middle of the night with my friends to a place for supper and we saw HDB flats which are well lit, parking bays without even one single broken lamp, elevators that worked and things too perfect to be normal. A city full of Chinese people can never be this clean.
Singaporeans are Strange.
Secondly, Singaporeans think that they are better than Malaysians, in terms of dressing, living standards, education and health care. With declining birth rates among real Singaporeans (taken to mean people and their descendants who had been living citizens before Singapore’s independence from Malaysia), Malaysians will make up a large portion of the Singaporean society soon. Sadly, this does not prohibit the ugly Singaporean to rear his or her head once in a while in public. If I had said in the previous point that the people pretty awfully nice, what I really meant is that they are nicely pretty awful. Public servants have a fake “government-issued” smile, retailers are rude, and nearly all Singaporean breasts are augmented up by Wonderbra.
(Perhaps the Wonderbra bit isn’t quite that nasty but again, like all things artificial, Singaporean women are portraying themselves to be larger than what they actually are).
Singaporean food is Strange.
Imagine this, sweetened char koay teow, frozen roti canai and thick black soya sauce with half-boil eggs. I really do not know where to start on this point except to say that Singaporean food is horrible. Perhaps it is their hypochondriac cleanliness that destroys the taste of the food that they consume. But then again, Sydney’s clean too but I enjoyed the food thoroughly there. Also, what’s with the queue? I can’t remember a lunch or dinner in any restaurant in Singapore where we did not have to take a number. It reminded me of a scene in various prison movies where inmates were shepherded into cantinas that served stingy globs of tasteless goo. It is like this in Singapore- except that the inmates are better dressed.
After the rethinking process, I have come to a conclusion.
I choose to forget that Pura is a Majapahit word for city. Instead I choose the Malay definition because I am a Malaysian. But for my Singaporean friends who are reading this, you know that I am writing all these in jest. After all, Singapore is a fine city 😉