Recently, 400 copies of the book, Singapore Sucks!, have been held back from entering Singapore to be delivered to the book importer’s premises. As far as I know, this delivery was initially intended for the launch of the book in Singapore on Dec 11.
It is known that the Media Development Authority (MDA) has withheld the books for “investigation” pertaining to the title of the book. It was only on Dec 14 that the books were allowed safe passage to the intended destination. On the same day, copies of the book have also returned to the shelves of bookseller Kinokuniya after they have been taken down the day before, citing that “MDA is investigating”.
MDA also made a statement in My Paper on Dec 16, in which it was reaffirmed that their “decision to review the book” was due to “discrepancy in titles”.
Why so sensitive about such a book title? Some have asserted that there is a difference between being critical of the government and being disrespectful to the country and nation. “Singapore sucks”, to them, is derogatory to the dignity of Singapore as a whole. But I beg to discern that disrespect is not shown just because we call the book we write “Singapore Sucks!”. Disrespect is shown, on the contrary, when someone claims, after so many years of nation-building that we are “not yet a nation”, just to escape responsibility from the Pledge that his batch of pioneers have written. Disrespect is more shown when we are crudely accused of not being “hard-driving” and “hard-striving” enough. And disrespect is most shown when we are accused of not being mature enough as a citizenry and hence not ready for democracy!
By “Singapore Sucks!”, we mean to say that there is something wrong with this country, in a way that makes us frustrated, irritated and disgusted. We mean to say that this is a problematic society and we hate it, but this hatred is not without the prerequisite of first loving it, treating it as our home, and wishing for it to be normal and prosperous and worthy of praise according to decent standards not just of economic prowess but also of humanistic values. We think it sucks, but it does not suck just because it is called Singapore; it sucks because it is a Singapore ruled over by a system which does not prove to be fair and humane, a Singapore whose cultural ethos are dictated and whose political representation is hijacked by the ones ruling our island in our name.
If it were just a book that cries over the alleged deficiencies of Singaporeans as worthy citizens, then I think it is derogatory. But if it attempts to point out, as succinctly as it can, the inadequacies of our system and society and more importantly, the reasons for these inadequacies, then I think it is a book worthy of a read by every Singaporean who recognizes himself as such, and by every person who wants to know more about why Singapore – yes – sucks!
For socio-political commentators to want to name their book as such there has to be something terribly wrong about this country. So much so that our youngsters want to leave this country and never to return; so much so that despite the surface prosperity and wealth, people are unhappy, dissatisfied and depressed. You may think that no country is perfect; there are bound to be people who are unhappy in every country; Japan, for one, has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. But there is something unusual about Singapore, something abnormal. We have become mere “digits”; we seem to have lost our souls. We seem culture-less, principle-less, like a magnificent but root-less tree, kept alive by unnatural means.
While others have their dictators too, ours seem to be more “successful”, more able to weather even the “storms of change”. They seem to live forever while our people seem extraordinarily disempowered despite the fact that we claim to be a working democracy.
Now we know that it is in the name of bogus democracy that these dictators thrive. That sucks!
PS: Here are excerpts from Singapore Sucks!: http://www.singaporesucks.net/excerpts/. Disclaimer: I am not part of the team that authored the book.
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