It's been about ten years since we officially parted our 'green' ways. Some of us went off to Uni, others left TSC soon after and got jobs. We've met up on and off to relive good times and bad. Last Friday night we met for dinner in town. It was organised by Teng who suddenly sent everyone an email suggesting it was about time to talk cock sing song. We talked our strange exploits during reservist training and shared information about ICT. We talked about jobs, lives, wives and where we wanted to go on holiday next. Ten years, goodness, it's been ten years.
National Service is without doubt an experience. You go almost bald, share bathrooms with naked peers, get in trouble, handle weapons, learn to balance rank and being human, and so many other things. Some people feel it is a waste of time, while most others know that there would not be a Singapore today without this military force of half a million waiting in the wings to support the active forces. It is a fact of life for the Singapore man. Some come out men, others feel used. Some become egomaniacs, others learn their limitations. But most of all, we leave active duty knowing we are all share a common bond.
Although it was a bad fit and made me sounds like an Ah Beng with bad tongue control, it was fun going around the office saying "I want to suck your blood.", followed by "Ptui! Ptui! Tissue paper please" as there was excessive saliva accumulation.
I got an email from Acquired 5, the Channel 5 programme acquisition arm of MediaCorp, regarding my email:
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Dear Mr Gurmit Singh Kullar,
We thank you for sharing your concerns on the latest series of Survivor.
Ch5 treats racial issues with utmost seriousness and has been closely
monitoring the series development since it was launched in the U.S 5
weeks ago. It is due to this concern that we deliberately delayed the
debut of the series on our channel.
In our opinion, with the merger of the different tribes early in the
series has suitably diffused the racial concerns.
As issues to do with race are always highly sensitive, we wish to assure
you that we have done appropriate edits to remove racial slurs and
racial stereotyping. None of these edits will affect the continuity or
entertainment value of this reality series.
The episodes of Survivor aired on our channel are within the appropriate
guidelines of the Free-To-Air Programme Code.
We thank you for your valuable comments, and for watching Ch5.
Regards,
Acquired 5
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I guess that's the end of that. I did get the email published on Friday's TODAY paper with an adjacent response by Selena Ho from MediaCorp (coincidentally it aired that night too, hmmm). I also got a few pats on the back from a few friends for bringing the issue up. Others 'accused' me of being a fame junkie (yeah 15mins, and it all fades away as the karang guni man trashes the broadsheets). Anyway, I missed the first episode because I was having more fun not watching TV.
Since my email about Survivor Cook Islands, I got mixed reactions from Stomp and the people around me. Some Stomp folks feel I am over-reacting, that we should embrace our differences and if I didn't like to watch, turn it off. These lame reactions seem immature and indifferent to the world we live in - glossed over with a shiny, happy people sense of security. My response is that they have missed the point completely. It isn't about acknowledging differences. It isn't about entertainment. It's about race versus race, about exalting one race over another and putting another down. The show may be entertaining but the premise of grouping ethnicities goes against a lot that we've been trying to achieve as a one, strong united people. And for MediaCorp to say that this is ok, isn't ok by me.
Well, isn't everyone entitled to their opinion. I just hope everyone has a good head on their shoulders when we need to have one.Made it to ST Online Forum too. I haven't got a reply from MediaCorp yet nor the MDA.
The following is an email I sent to Mediacorp, ST, Today, Stomp and CCed the MDA.
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I am disappointed that MediaCorp has gone ahead with plans to screen the new season of Survivor. The ethnic-grouping format has already raised eyebrows in the US with members of the New York City council even asking CBS to pull the show off the air. In a multi-racial city that owes its peace and prosperity to the good relations between the races, Singapore cannot afford to allow such forms of mass media to condone divisions along ethnic lines for the sake of Friday night entertainment. Airing the show is in blatant disregard of the potential social sensitivities post-9/11, and undermines the government's efforts at bringing Singaporeans closer as one people.
If Singaporeans walk away with the idea that it is alright to assess one's physical and mental abilities based on their race, that it is ok for one race to feel superior to another because they win at challenges, that one race feels like they are losers because of the colour of their skin, then we have indeed not matured as a people, and not learnt the painful lessons of the past.
As the only free-to-air broadcaster in Singapore, MediaCorp has moral and civic obligations to all Singaporeans. Please rethink the decision to air Survivor Cook Islands.
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If you feel the same way, please make your voice heard. Mediacorp - acquired5@mediacorptv.com, feedback@mediacorp.com.sg
Singapore is an testament to the virtues of planning and order. This path of Lego has allowed us to develop quickly and efficiently. Angmohs came and saw a vision of neat and tidy, with everything in its place, just like a circuit board. The well-laid put plans has allowed 4 million people to live comfortably (this is relative, by the way, to the rest of the world and not tied to the 5Cs dream of every Singaporean twentysomething) on a space of less than 700sq km. We speak the best English in Asia, we are Asia for beginners, we are the safe, secure, modern haven for the world to partake upon and put money in. We're into two generations of post-65ers, a group that is reaping the rewards of a marvellous solution. This same group is also wondering what's next.
Bangkok is a mess. Buildings of varying heights and grandeur (or lack of) sprouting unabashedly and unco-ordinatedly in the middle of nowhere and next to one another. Throngs of people moving, buying, selling and eating. Traffic that's next to terrible if you took a wrong turn at a bad time of day. Taxi-drivers that try to rip you off and shopkeepers who are willing to amuse themselves and customers alike with a haggle. Cracked pavements, street kids, exposed electicity cables and side-street hawkers are part and parcel of life in Krung Thep. All these things, and more, are the sum of many years of simply letting things happen. Yet all these things, and more, give me a buzz. I am sure you can feel it too. A buzz that makes you realise that Bangkok and Thailand are part of the next big thing.Maybe it's the shop run by all these young people. Maybe it's the way the T-shirts with cool designs and quirky messages are an inkling of how creative the natives are. Maybe it's because a ferris wheel popped-up in the middle of Bangkok in Suan Lum. Maybe it's the mega-billboards with bold statements about where Thailand and her people can and will go. Maybe it's the fact that no one honks a horn in a traffic jam, that everyone is calm and patient yet bold and confident. Hey, a coup happened and everyone is cool. This realisation of potential (not infinite but stratospheric) is the drug the fuels passion and imagination - Philip Yeo may agree. The rest of us probably don't feel the buzz about lala-land.
My Singdollar made a me a happy person in Bangkok. That could be why I miss it already. Perhaps as a resident there, I may long for a template to success, order and cleanliness like Singapore, and a stronger baht.Let's just soak it all in for now.
The problem with writing a title before the actual content is that it influences your direction of content development. I have done just that and can't help but think about the tiring week I just had at work, this after 3 mad days in Bangkok.
I have spent most of the work week at work. How sucky is that? Anyway, it's early Saturday and am taking a good long breath this Diwali. I just wanna stay home and sleep and watch TV and eat and repeat the cycle. The brain is fried and the body longs for the bed. At the same time I feel compelled to write something here, just like the eagerness to spend time at home doing practically nothing but transferring body heat to the sofa, inhaling food smells from the kitchen, watching my mother and sister talk loudly and scratching my father's beard. Theraphy of sorts, a socio-familial balm, a chicken soup. Chim eh? But I am sure you comprende muchacho.There are so many other things to do but work and think about work. I need to break the cycle. It is so easy to be reeled in, like a entranced moth to the flame of personal responsibility and corporate herd instinct. And it is easy to complain about but difficult to let go of. People easily seek comfort in a routine even if it is you are not too happy with. I'm not much a let-goer - a problem it seems. Now to bed.
Yo yo yo. It was Friday and all week there was communication initiated by Puay to get the Melakans out and partying. Well then, the day came and it out Ariel became defacto organiser (much to her frustration) and we started the night late, as in tardy. Choon How/Allan was first because he believes in punctuality. I was next, late, after a delightfully engaging post-work Friday evening gossip fest. Ariel worried that she might be waiting alone decided to be fashionably late too, arriving to rescue us us men from 2-men-bored-in-a-shopping-mall situation.
She, being a member of the press with evidenciary namecards, got us into a private product launch. We schoomzed and looked interested while sipping white wine and nibbling tiny, foodie things. There were famous people there - Beatrice Chia, Lisa Ang, Ivan Rantung, Corrine May, blah blah. The showstopper for me was aural. Aldrin from Zouk was there to spin the decks and make sure that the beat set the mood. No one really paid much attention to him - the crowd didn't seem the Zouk type. Pity really. I went over and got an autograph. He's a real nice guy.
Next we did dinner (Liz had joined us but Puay was busy) and argued over our next destination. In the end, the girls wanted to see John Molina at Rouge. I was protesting because I felt his singing started to suck. The women won eventually, singing praise of John at every criticism from me, and we were on our way to Emerald Hill. (Choon How didn't mind, he was neutral).
At Rouge, I was put to shame. Yes, Krueger and John were ok performers. Fine fine. The crowd loved them and we all sang along, yada yada. Turns out that Ariel and John go way back. Ahem. And guess what, Puay happened to be at Rouge too. Strange coincidence? I dunno. She had her new squeeze on, Jun, and there was a magician friend there too. He worked wonders with rubber. Bands that is, and had Liz clapping like a sealion on drugs.
I returned home at 3am smelling like a cigarette, partly because the haze brought the PSI up to 150. No, I don't smoke.
