Shopping, national superiority and organic growth.

Singapore is a country filled with people busily feeling superior to their neighbours. I have long noticed this and long been puzzled by it. You see, I don't, personally, see that this sense of superiority is particularly well-founded.



It is true that Singapore is a polished country. It is a country that gleams. Every little corner seems to have been organized by someone. Nothing is out of place. Nothing is, more to the point, ALLOWED to be out of place. It is a country controlled down to the very last leaf on a tree. Yet, it could be said that this is a failing as much as a strength. The degree to which a country is controlled, is also the degree to which it is not allowed to breath, to live, to become. Singapore is such a country: perfect in every way, except that it died, long ago. By "died", I mean, stopped living, growing, breathing, organically, as most countries do. There is nothing organic about Singapore, it is, in a sense, the most synthetic country one could ever imagine. There is nothing authentic about any of it, in the least. Everything is imported, imitated or derived. Nothing is created organically, from within - indeed, it seems as if those who are born to create are not encouraged to do so. Perhaps they would upset the order of the way things are - and so they tend to be disparaged, marginalized and, at the very least, underemployed and under-utilized. At least, that is the experience of certain creative people I know, in Singapore: they find it difficult to find a good, remunerative position in life, here, and tend to be pushed to the corners.



Now, I have meandered a little wide of my initial intention, but it is good that I have done so, for it sets the sense of superiority that one observes in Singapore, in a broader context.



Today, I wish to address one little observation. Singaporeans are a nation that loves to shop. Indeed, shopping is about the only thing many Singaporeans do for enjoyment. It is, almost, their sole pursuit (the other being the pursuit of the money necessary to allow them to indulge their desire to shop). Given their love of shopping, one would expect Singaporean shops to be great, to match that desire. Indeed, they are quite good. However, Singaporeans seem to think that they have a monopoly on good shops. There is a feeling that their shops are somehow better than everyone else's. Their malls are a focus of national pride. There is a kind of one-upmanship in the world of shopping, going on. Singaporeans seem to think that, not only are they the best shoppers in the world, but that they have the best shops, too. I have one question for them: have they ever been to Kuala Lumpur to shop?



You see, recently, I had the chance to see what the shops were like in Kuala Lumpur. I was, I must say, rather surprised. The shopping malls in KL are BIGGER than the ones in Singapore. What's more - they are BETTER, too. The malls are more spacious, less crowded, often better planned. In Singapore, by contrast, the shops are small, overcrowded and cramped. There is a claustrophobic feel to many Singaporean malls - even on Orchard Road - by comparison to what I observed in Kuala Lumpur.


Yet, of course, merely saying this will attract venomous comment from the type of Singaporean that is nationalistic and likes to defend Singapore at all costs. However, what I say is true and logically consistent. You see Malaysia has something in abundance that Singapore has very little of: space. It is a no-brainer that Malaysia can afford to build bigger, more spacious malls. They simply have more space and the land is cheaper. It is not a difficult thing to do, for them, if they so wish. Yet, still, it was a surprise for me. It was a surprise precisely because Singaporeans are ALWAYS doing down Malaysia. I have heard so many knocking comments about Malaysia since I came here - and read so many not so subtly critical stories in the press, as well. So, I was led to expect the worst from KL. What I found there surprised me, in many ways. It seems to me that a middle-class Malaysian probably has a better life, materially, than a middle-class Singaporean. They have so much personal space that their lives can only be described as more open, than those I have observed in Singapore.



I am not about to go into my thoughts, in detail, in this post, but I just want to observe that much of what I saw there contradicts the views of Singaporeans that constantly disparage Malaysia and Kuala Lumpur. Yes, Singapore does shops, well...but in no way does KL do them less well. In fact, in many ways, they do them better - at least in KL. The same could be said for certain other aspects of the city, as well - though it has to be said that Singapore's public transport system is far superior to KL's. So, each city has certain strengths. Yet, it should be made known, that the winner in comparisons between the two cities is NOT always Singapore, as Singaporeans seem to think.



If you are a Singaporean reading this, and you have never shopped in KL, there are plenty good malls to check out: One Utama, The Pavilion, The Curve and so on...the city is full of great malls.



Happy shopping, wherever you happen to be doing it. What's more, keep an open mind while you are there and see KL for what it is, and not for what you have been told it is. In many ways, it is a city that, although less planned and less ordered, is also more organic and more varied, than Singapore. It is a city of more possibilities, therefore, in some ways than Singapore. If you doubt this - go see for yourself - and open your eyes and use your imagination.

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