Don’t look for “love” in the straightforward sense here. The 50 things included in this book are not strictly things to love; they are more of things that make Singapore what it is – ranging from the country’s policy of legislated multiracialism to the Certificate of Entitlement (COE) for motor vehicles, the rise of hawker centres, Lee Kuan Yew and even its “achievement” of being World No. 1 for the highest obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) rates.
You would of course wonder what is there to love about the OCD “honour” or COE, which makes it all that more expensive for Singaporeans to own cars. Or a social-engineering policy that sounds like a badly named concoction. And yet if you understood it better, you might just understand the need for it... and maybe love it.
Tough love, in the metaphorical sense and literal one as well, eh? But then, that’s Singapore for you. Not easy being a small nation with no natural resources surrounded by bigger neighbours, thrown out by Malaysia in 1965 to survive on its own and turning out, despite the odds, to become one of the most successful countries on Earth.
That’s a story to tell, and this book, brought out by the country’s leading newspaper The Straits Times to mark the 50th anniversary of Singapore’s nationhood, tells it without crowing about the country’s achievements or oozing jingoistic fervor.
