Last month was the 33^rd anniversary of Singapore's independence and they take it very seriously! For the month leading up to it, all of Singapore was busy putting up flags and banners. We were impressed that even the very large publicly built apartment blocks were decked out with bright, clean Singaporean flags hanging outside of each unit. We later found out that the government makes the flags very affordable and will even drill holes in the apartment walls, to hang them from, for free. It was quite a sight to see these huge complexes of tall apartment building stretching for miles awash in red and white (the colors of the Singaporean flag). Even most of the private apartment complexes (including ours) and commercial buildings put up flags and banners. Everyday, the TV stations carried ads promoting their coverage of the very large National Day Parade. Evidently, it was THE event to attend. Preparations and rehearsals were going on for 6 months. In addition to a large contingent from the armed forces (including parachutists and fighter plane fly-over); many of the local schools and other groups took part. The end of the parade route was the National Stadium where 50,000 lucky citizens (many of whom camped out overnight for the free tickets) were able to watch the big show. Imagine the Super Bowl half-time show expanded to 2-3 hours and involving 20,000 performers.

Evidently, there was some concern that Singaporeans weren't taking this day as seriously as they should. The Parliament passed legislation that requires that from next year on the school's National Day commemorations need to be more solemn. This year, the government tried to make the difficulties Singapore faced under the Japanese Occupation during Second World War more real to the youngest generation. In some local junior high schools, students found their classes interrupted by an invasion of soldiers (from the Army) which rounded the students up, forced them into storage rooms and detained them for an hour or so. The soldiers treated the children roughly (well, not too roughly) and made sure everyone took things seriously. We're not sure if the children knew something was going to happen, but we're sure they won't forget the experience. In some of the primary schools, the water was turned off and children had to make do with rainwater. The cafeteria also limited their menus to tapioca and sweet potatoes, two of the main things Singapore had to rely on during the war. Both "experiences" were considered quite successful and will be rolled out to more schools next year. Since we Americans generally mark our country's birth with a picnic, all of this was a bit of a surprise.

Since we weren't able to get tickets to the big parade and show at the National Stadium, we drove into Malaysia and spent the weekend in Malacca. In spite of the government drive to make National Day more solemn, we were joined by a huge number of Singaporeans. Malacca was one of the first European settlements in Asia. The Portuguese were the original colonists (arriving in the 1500's) and after a hundred years were pushed out by the Dutch. At some point, the British pushed the Dutch out and were the last foreign power. The city was originally a major port but the river silted up and Malacca became a sleepy backwater town. The city has a very interesting mix of architecture showing its diverse heritage. The local architectural highlights include the mosques that show a heavy Chinese influence; most of their minarets look more like Chinese pagodas than anything else. Getting back to Singapore was a slow process: the last 5 kilometers (crossing the bridge) into Singapore took 3 hours and more patience than either one of us had. Some people joked that the Singapore government slowed things up to make it unattractive to use the country's National Day as an excuse for a mini-vacation. However, we didn't really see any sign of intentional slowdown, just a lot of people coming home.

Currently, relations between Singapore and Malaysia are at an all time low (since the messy separation into two countries in 1965). The trigger has been the location of the Customs and Immigration checkpoint on the railway line running between the two countries. The railway is owned by Malaysia and has a station in the middle of Singapore. Historically, the Customs checkpoint was inside the station. Evidently, a few years ago, Singapore and Malaysia agreed to move the checkpoint further out, to the point where the train crosses into Singapore. So, in July or August, Singapore moved their immigration staff to the new location. Malaysia refuses to do the same and claim that Singapore hadn't given them a chance to prepare. Thus, their immigration staff is still downtown. This presents a problem because passenger's passports indicate that they have entered Malaysia before they actually exited Singapore. Singapore said this unacceptable and the tensions have grown. There have even been reports of Singaporean passports being intentionally damaged by Malaysian Customs officers.

The "real" reasons for the tension are economic: while both countries have been hit by the current economic downturn, Singapore (as usual) is less hard hit. Malaysia resents this and feels that Singapore profits from Malaysia's efforts. For example, 40% of the Singapore's shipping business involves imports or exports from Malaysia. So, the Malaysian government is trying to pressure Malaysian shippers into using their own ports. It all seems a bit crazy, but I suppose that is often how things look if you aren't directly involved. Malaysia also just banned the use of its currency and the trading of its shares outside the country. Since Singaporeans hold a huge amount of Malaysian money and stock, this could result in many of them losing a significant amount of money. There have been jokes about a Malaysia-Singapore war. That's a virtually impossible event, but you never know. (As we type this newsletter up, the TV keeps flashing messages calling up a few divisions of the Army reserves.) We're not worried but are considering requesting "hazard-pay". (MOM/DAD: There is really absolutely nothing to worry about, really!)

This week, the relationship continued to sour as Singapore's former Prime Minister (who held office from the time of separation from Malaysia to 1990) released his memoirs. It includes a description of the difficulties and events surrounding the separation. According to the book, the expulsion of Singapore from the Malaysian Federation was the result of differences in racial relations. The major political party in Singapore, which is predominantly Chinese, believed strongly in the idea of a multi-racial society where race was irrelevant. The major political party in Malaysia (which is still in control) was single-race political party that believed that it was the sole voice of the Malay community and that the Malays were entitled to special privileges and protections. When the Singaporean leaders refused to agree to this and began attracting Malay party members, the Malaysian ruling party decided that kicking Singapore out of the country was the solution. Which is how Singapore became an independent country. This issue of race remains a thorny issue between the two countries. Singapore, although predominantly Chinese, is a meritocracy (more or less) where a person's race is irrelevant and everyone is treated the same according to the law. Malaysia still maintains a special place for the Malays and grants them special privileges. Today, Malaysia claimed that the book was released to make Malaysia less attractive to foreign investors and divert money to Singapore. Unfortunately, it isn’t an unusual line of Malaysian reasoning; Singapore is often blamed for a variety of imagined attacks on Malaysia. That said, however, I don't think Singapore is opposed to being seen as an oasis of order in a chaotic part of the world.

Veronica's folks visit this month and it should prove to be an interesting experiment in cultural exchange. In addition, both of us will be doing some travelling and keeping very busy as we enter the last quarter of our sales year. Finally, Greg recently made the newspaper here in Singapore. Luckily, it didn't involve him being caned or jailed. Greg wrote a piece on "web-enabling data warehouses" for the local paper's computer section. Very exciting reading, you can be sure. At least one person read it however, and he's been asked to present a paper at an Internet Commerce conference in January. Just goes to show the difficulties the local press has in filling their pages.