"Gosh, dad, I'm really glad you took the time to explain the Feast of the
Hungry Ghosts to us in such minutely comprehensive detail."

"Look, son, here comes your mother with a nutritious low-cholesterol treat
of fat-free lup cheong and skimmed coconut milk "


And, in many ways, it really does seem like 1956 in Singapore; the war (or
economic struggle, in this case) has apparently been won, an expanded
middle class enjoys great prosperity, enormous public works have been
successfully undertaken, even more ambitious projects are under way, and a
deeply paternalistic government is prepared, at any cost, to hold at bay
the triple threat of communism, pornography, and drugs.

The only problem being, of course, that it isn't 1956 in the rest of
world. Though that, one comes to suspect, is something that Singapore
would prefer to view as our problem. (But I begin to wonder, late at night
and in the privacy of my hotel room - what might the future prove to be,
if this view should turn out to be right?)