Old, Weak, Sick and Broke in the Lion City

Now that National Day and the jazz of the 60 th birthday bash is over, I thought I’d finally get on to talk about a topic, I’ve become a little obsessed with – namely the topic of growing old, sick, weak and broke in Singapore, a city better known for its glamorous image of being a superpowered financial centre of everything glitzy and glamorous. Don’t get me wrong. I’m rational enough to realise that in many ways, Singapore measures up pretty darn well compared to most places on the globe. I used to be married to a Vietnamese girl who saw Singapore as heaven on earth. Her point being “People in Vietnam don’t have much to eat.” It’s not just the Vietnamese. Thais, Cambodians and so on, who think Singapore is wonderful. These days, I have Europeans and Americans telling me that I have plenty to be grateful for. I think of an American navy body in Geylang (our red-light district) telling me “If you think this is a bad area, come to America and I’ll show you bad.” However, I don’t ...