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Singapore-Bali Diary

Singapore is a corporation, not a country. It is to Bali as yin is to yang.

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Singapore-Bali Diary
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Model Town

I’m giving a talk on youth and protest politics at the National University of Singapore, but I could be in Havana, minus the mojitos. The conference organiser has invited his Marxist pals from across the world. A dialectical-materialist analysis of the Arab Spring sounds romantic but requires some grit to stay awake through. Torpor is setting in, when the Singapore foreign minister, a dapper lawyer of Tamil descent, breezes into the room. “There is a certain ideology that has taken over the world,” he says. He is talking about elections as an end in themselves. “Whatever happened to good governance?” he exclaims. Want Singapore’s dazzling economic development? What you need is: the rule of law, quality leadership and implementation, a secular economic framework and equitable distribution of its fruits. The minister’s pitch is seductive. Follow these steps and you too can have the people’s support for six decades. Netas can find out more via the Singapore Cooperation Program, through which 80,000 public officials from 170 countries have visited the city state to study that model.

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Spraypaint Stung

One of my favourite places in Singapore is the Urban Redevelopment Authority, where anyone can go to see the city’s master plan and explore ideas on urban landscaping. There are talks on greening buildings with sky terraces and on understanding how public benches create intimacy. I am a fan of Singapore’s innovative urban planning and its ‘Can do’ attitude. But there are also some things that are ‘No can do’, such as political graffiti. In The Straits Times, I read about a 71-year-old charged for scrawling graffiti in support of a blogger who has recently accused the prime minister of corruption. For this, the man has been remanded for psychiatric evaluation and faces either a hefty fine or three years in prison.

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A Puja People

Singapore is to Bali as yin is to yang. In Bali, every evening, outside every home, office and restaurant, women light jasmine incense and make offerings in small banana leaf boxes spilling over with marigolds, orchids, blue hydrangea and pink hibiscus. Statues of Ganesha and the Buddha, carved from volcanic lava stone, appear tucked into alcoves on the side of the road or under banyan trees. The Mahabharata is performed by dancers to a gamelan orchestra at the 17th century palace, influenced by the proximity to China, a different version from ours. It is Saturday night and beyond the palace walls, couples on motorbikes zoom by, the girls with elaborate headdresses made of flowers and the boys wearing white headcloths tied in a triangle symbolic of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. Terraced rice fields surround Ubud, and after the musical and moped strains ebb, I hear the frogs croaking outside my window.

No Jokes

I visit a friend for Sunday brunch. Past the temple and the Jazz Cafe, through a yard with chickens, and I enter a tropical garden. Flowers that glitter unabashed—frangipani that I am soon wearing in my hair, a Filipino Jade Vine, a Rangoon Creeper, its pink ruby bunches cascading down all the way to the river at the bottom of the garden. Lunch is served under teak and flame trees. Thai coconut fish, Malaysian chicken satay, Filipino fern salad, Indonesian tempeh and fried honey banana. “Our contribution to ASEAN,” quips the host. Talk turns to the Indonesian presidential election, to be held on July 9. The main contenders are the popular governor of Jakarta, Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo, and ex-general Prabowo Subianto. Bali is Jokowi territory and the cook and gardener will soon be selling ‘Mental Revolution’ T-shirts to collect money for the candidate. Jokowi has been fighting on a platform calling for a ‘Mental Revolution’, against political corruption and religious intolerance. His opponent Subianto has links to the old regime and has been accused of  human rights abuses during the Suharto era. Competition is close, though Subianto has more money, and thus, a bigger presence in traditional and social media, on which his team is hyperactive,  forking in three shifts for 24/7 cover. Sounds familiar.

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Satorify Yourself

Down from the highlands of Ubud to Seminyak, a chi-chi resort town on the Indian Ocean. It is perfect for meditating, swimming, walking. But its main sell is the gourmet dining on the beach. Chez Gado Gado is a 10-minute walk from my hotel. Best done at sunset, barefoot from room to beach to restaurant, walking in the ocean as the evening tide comes in. Have the pan-seared flounder with tamarind buerre blanc, salad with marigolds and coconut essence. For dessert, the chocolate fondant with tropical passion fruit and mango sorbet. End with a cognac for the road, or in this case, the beach. Zen.

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Straight face

I ask a Singaporean how he feels about the government. He says, “You know, Singapore is a corporation, not a country. Want to buy some shares?”

Nur Laiq is the author of Talking to Arab Youth: Revolution and Counterrevolution in Egypt and Tunisia; E-mail your diarist: nurlaiq [AT] gmail [DOT] com

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