This is one of the downsides of not having a mobile data plan – being unable to share my very interesting thoughts (yeah, right) with all of you ON THE FLY.

However, the corollary of that would be permanent cyborgism i.e. if I had a mobile data plan, I’d probably be Tweeting and Facebooking non-stop like some of you losers (wei… just kidding).

So in no order of merit but in some order of chronology, here is what has happened over the last two days:

• Was travelling along Upper Thomson Road yesterday, on my way to Khatib Camp, when I went past Nee Soon Camp. Both sides of the road were lined with cars. I was like: WTF? Is there some large-scale mobilisation or something like that going on? Was simultaneously worried and intrigued at the same time.
• I realise I have a very deep fascination with military camps – so long as I’m not forced to have to stay in one.
• Military facilities e.g. camps, live firing areas, etc. in Singapore have some of the most beautiful architecture or scenery in the land but unfortunately, the majority of the people who have the privilege to appreciate this beauty are Philistines. Philistines, I tell you!
• I have a newfound love and appreciate for the word “Philistine”. Other words I love but rarely have a chance to use: zeugma, anthropomorphic and bond-free.
• On my way back from Khatib Camp, travelling along the same road, I discovered the reason for the rows of parked vehicles: Friday prayers!
• It’d be nice to work for PIONEER again. That way I can write and live out my concurrent fascination/repulsion for all things military in Singapore. (There are downsides to this but I shall not discuss them today.)
• I’ve finally learnt how to work the Closed Stacks system at the National Library. It may be a tad premature to make this judgement, but IMHO, the NUS Closed Stacks > National Library Closed Stacks system.
• In any case, the Lee Kong Chian Reference Library experience, much like The Jimi Hendrix Experience, has been quite good and user-friendly, so far. Good work, the two librarians – yes, you; the ones who Googled my name.
• I miss being a student! Somewhat.
• Munshi Abdullah is hilarious. For some good chucks, please read The Voyage of Abdullah (959.51 ABD).
• Popcorn. To be elaborated on in a future post (hopefully).

That is all. You may now express your adoration for me by clicking the ‘Like’ button below this post.

A koro epidemic struck Singapore in October 1967 for about ten days. Newspapers initially reported that some people developed koro after eating the meat of pigs inoculated with anti-swine-flu vaccine. Rumours relating eating pork and koro spread after a further report of an inoculated pig dying from penile retraction. The cases reported amounted to 97 in a single hospital unit within one day, at five days after the original news report. Government and medical officials alleviated the outbreak only by public announcements over television and in the newspapers.

(via)

FYI I chanced upon this gem while reading the Wikipedia entry on “running amok”.

You can read more about the koro epidemic here (downloadable PDF file).

From this condition it is that none of the Malay rajas ever expose their Malay subjects to disgrace or shame; they never bind them, nor hang them, nor give them opprobrious language; for whenever a raja exposes his subjects to disgrace, it is the certain token of the destruction of his country; hence also it is, that none of the Malay race ever engage in rebellion, or turn their faces from their own rajas, even though their conduct be bad, and their proceedings tyrannical.

– Malay Annals: Translated from the Malay Language. Trans. John Leyden. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Ormg and Brown, 1821. 26 – 27.

How do we reconcile this with the Singaporean present, when we are so far removed from the past?

This is from Learn Something Everyday, a new site I discovered from I forgot where.

Anyway, while the site is an interesting and innovative initiative, and the fact in itself is interesting too, my biggest grouse is – how do I verify the authenticity of what’s being said?

I tried searching for the information online but the quote always turns up on its own, without any sources or studies to back it up.

I’m probably not looking hard enough – the last time this happened was when I was working on my research paper and I found this quote about Alfian Sa’at’s One Fierce Hour and how the Straits Times lauded it as “truly a landmark for poetry [in Singapore]“.

Every source I found about the book had the same line, but I couldn’t find the exact article with those words. I remember searching for days on end and wondering if this was one of those things that become truth when you repeat it often enough.

(Who said that line about repeated lies becoming truths, anyway?)

Well, suffice to say, I managed to find the article on RedNano (proved to me that the damn site was good for something), and in case anyone is curious, it was Lee Tzu Pheng who said it in a book review.

So yes – I’m probably not looking hard enough, so if anyone can point me to the actual source where the information about being able to guess someone’s sex from smelling their breath can be found, I’d be very grateful.

Anyway, some tangential information on the Big Lie to sum up what I’ve been thinking about information and credible sources.

Well, perhaps it’s just the prejudice innured into us by politicians past and present, that we have never been good enough, aren’t and never will be good enough. But I think that one will always find things to do as long as one gets access to the information from the organisers themselves.

It’s not always easy, and I don’t have the perfect solution (though Facebook + Google Reader + Twitter + a whole host of other Web 2.0 apps, along with mailing lists help a lot in getting info), but as part of my belief that we need to share as much info as we can (perfect knowledge and all that jazz), I’ll do my bit to advertise about stuff that’s happening which is relatively affordable for anyone, from couples on dates to students.

So!

In the next few months or so, I’d ideally like to go for these two things (click on the links for more info):

1. The Image of Our Landscape (Price: Free!).
2. Baba Bling: The Peranakans and Their Jewellery (Concessions on Fri evenings.)

I know, I know – some of you might be thinking: ee yer, so [insert appropriate pejorative here].

But believe you me – it’s good for all of you to start going for these things. Without not being preachy enough, it is all too often that Singaporeans ironically end up becoming tourists/foreigners in their own land.

Writing Singapore: An Historical Anthology of Singapore Literature will be launched next week, so be sure to get it when it’s out in stores.

Dear friends,

Migrant Voices is building Singapore’s first oral history archive for foreign workers.

Oral history is a special type of in-depth interview. Interviewees are simply asked to tell us their ‘life story’ with minimum intervention and questioning. They need to take stock of their lives in the course of telling their stories. In this way, the individual’s perspective can be revealed holistically, and in indirect and revealing ways.

We believe that a public archive of interviews with migrant workers can benefit both workers and Singaporeans. Telling one’s own life stories to interested listeners can be a tremendously healing and empowering experience. The archive will be used to:

• educate the public,
• help policy researchers and activists, and
• instigate change in the working and living conditions of the workers.

Without this “body of evidence” on the modern phenomenon of migrant labor, the voices of the very people at the heart of the process will simply vanish from public record and public memory.Would you be interested in taking part as an interpreter in these interviews, or as a translator behind the scenes? Drop me an email and I’ll send you more information.

Best wishes,

Shengpei
Project Co-ordinator
Migrant Voices Oral History Archive