absolutum dominium

"smile singapore 2006"... i think tt is the latest campaign out this yr. well, there is the usual "tell us what you love about your country" campaign in light of national day, but we all know tt happens every year and people do this for free passes to the national day parade on 9th august, but "smile singapore 2006" is more unique because it's not a 'national pride' campaign... not so much at least.

we're smiling to attract the gwai los... oops, i mean, foreigners.

coz the wto is coming to hold this really big conference in our sunny little island in september, and in light of having so many vvvvvvvvvvvip delegates ard, we as singapore citizens need to be *welcoming* to all these people to show them just how happy and friendly we are.

well, i think we should be relatively happy. only taxi fares have increased thus far, and since only people with money take taxis, people without are unaffected, and those taxi-takers probably have more than enough to spare, so everyone can still spare a smile. but in general, seriously...

"smile singapore 2006"??!!

right.

do singaporeans smile? yes. at people they like. okay, people they like, and the boss. singaporeans don't give smiles freely, even if smiles are free (in the monetary sense). singaporeans don't even smile at everyone they know, let alone everyone they don't. even if a singaporean knows you, there is a chance tt as long as he or she does not like you or intends to have *you* smile before he or she does (it's another facet of our "kiasu" cannot-lose-face therefore cannot-smile-first syndrome), he or she will dao you. in fact right, singaporeans probably dao more than we smile...

therefore this should be a "dao singapore 2006" campaign. trust me if it were it would be highly successful.

in fact, i think tt singaporeans are also going to dao all the foreigners who expect us to smile at them. walk down orchard road, smile at a random local and say "hey, how's it going?", and you will get either 1 of 3 responses: 1) you will be led to believe tt you are a ghost, or tt you do not materially exist; 2) you will be made to think tt you have an extra tentacle growing out the top of your head or tt you came from the planet uranus; or 3) you will be... daoed.

but no, don't get me wrong. i don't think daoing people is a bad thing. i do it a fair bit when i think i'm walking by idiots, so i'm not complaining. smiling too much makes you look mad. just ask my bf. tt's the reason why he looks shifty to everyone but me (and in my photos he looks mad).

in any case, try as we might, singapore is not friendlyville. let's face it, to have a friendlyville you must have happy people. and as far as i am concerned, singaporeans are not happy people. yes we can feel happiness at points in our lives, but for the most part, happy people make up a minority in the country. most are hardworking, hungry, driven, practical, cynical, and very very reserved... but i feel tt it's hard to be very driven and very happy at the same time. happiness to me, is derived from a state of contentment, or at least some sort of it, and singaporeans are for the most part rarely ever content. you can not seem to make enough money, get a good enough car, get a good enough house or enough zara blouses...

and tt is only for those rich enough to cab all over the place. if you don't even make enough money to make ends meet, you'll be too busy worrying when your next meal for your family is going to come, when your electricity will be shut off (if not already), or whether you'll be able to pay off your debts or outstanding bills, to really want to show everyone tt singapore is friendlyville.

let's not kid ourselves on tt, shall we?

but if it helps, i don't think tt singaporeans are unfriendly people. sure, we can look damn dao, damn unfriendly, damn buay song, and you can have all those stupid kids who reply to every look cast at them with "kua simi?" and all those stupid girls who assume tt any kind of attention is some kind of come-on from someone else; but just coz we don't have a culture of smiliing, doesn't mean tt we are uncivil.

okay, singaporeans can be very ungracious, but tt i can deal with in another post. with regards to this post, not smiling does not equate uncivil (*hint to stupid idiots in forum*). i mean, ask a singaporean on the roads for directions and the person will probably help you. ask for help and depending on the situation, you might just get it. talk to someone in a lift and maybe, just maybe, the person will look confused and bewildered, but he or she may still reply.

tt being said, "smile singapore 2006" is in my opinion, a stupid campaign. it's another government-initiated campaign, so it makes us look like brainless idiots. now we need someone to tell us to smile, too??? and because its main purpose is to pander to foreigners, it makes it seem those foreigners are much more valuable than us citizens - WE are being told what to do for their supposed benefit. nnb.

am i still going to smile? when i feel like it. however, i am still looking forward to the wto conference to be held in singapore. not because i want to welcome these delegates to my country, or because i particularly want to meet them, but because in line with the history of happenings at wto conferences... this one might prove to be the most interesting event this year (now tt elections are over, at least).

coz with the wto, come the ngos.

i'll smile for the ngos.