Blank Doll hides his face.

This is a digression from the usual vapidities of my blog but here it is.

I love Singapore and (almost) everything our nation-state stands for. I doubt there are people my age who admire the government more than I do and I am resolutely pro-Establishment. Yet I cannot come to terms with the fact that we are the pre-eminent local power in the South-East Asian region by sheer dint of our economic clout and that we are a paragon of development and progress yet we stand silent in the face of such atrocities in our backyard.

I am referring to Burma's sordid farce of an elections and the ban on Aung San Suu Kyi. We have the power to change things, to influence decisions yet our Minister for Foreign Affairs can but wring his hands and declare it <>.

<>. Well, Vietnam and Cambodia weren't our business in the 70s but Singapore stood up for its belief in universal suffrage and the right for a country to resist oppression, within or without. Maybe we are an air-conditioned generation, grown too comfortable in our affluence to still cherish fiercely such ideals.

I never thought I'd say this but for the first time, I'm ashamed of my beloved country, Singapore.

C'est tout.