Sign of our times

While typing out a report at work today, I accidentally mistyped "Singapore" as "Sign-apore". =) Amused by self, but that got me thinking (yes it doesn't take much to set me thinking, sometimes). Singapore IS a land of signs. Signs that dictate our behaviour, like "keep off the grass","turn left to Expressway" or "Please Flush the Toilets After Use". But, more insidiously, there are invisible signs that guide us and bind us like unspoken rules or Catch-22s. Invisible signs embeded in our social psyche, saying "government scholarship is Godhood", "Freedom is Destructive", "this way to a nice insipid life with a wife and 2.3 kids" or (my personal favourite) "if you want to engage the Establishment on important matters, please join politics, otherwise, feel free to bugger off".

Singapore: The Fine City, the Sign City. Sigh. DPM Lee had one thing right when he spoke on Saturday: we are changing slowly. But where he placed the emphasis on changing, I'm putting mine on slowly