Seeing Singapore Through the Smoke

There's something big going on in Singapore: the transformation of a famously conservative country as it opens its doors to the world ... and even Beyonce has entered.

"Everywhere you look," a local acquaintance said of the scenery, "it's like 'beautiful, beautiful, crane, beautiful, beautiful, crane."

The change was on display recently, as Formula 1 came to town in late September and somehow forced together the two sides of a country that seems to be coming to grips with itself. On one hand, there were polite, law-abiding and gracious fans excited to see an international auto race on its home turf. And on the other, a proud culture trying accept an influx of international tourists and a major auto race on its home turf.

The amount of construction in the country is staggering. There's a Universal Studios theme park being installed and Singapore's second casino, the massive Marina Bay Sands. The government intends to charge Singaporeans $100 daily (or $2,000 per year) to enter the casino, but it will be free to tourists.

"They want to make sure that only those who can afford to gamble go in," said a local upscale restaurateur. The government also has a plan worked out to allow spouses and family members of problem gamblers to get them banned from the casino.

"Everything Works"

"The government takes good care of everyone," said one of my guides. But then, he also told me there was no crime: "See the police car? We don't even need them. Why is he there?" he commented on a drive through the city, sending my bullshit flag way, way up.

On my recent trip to the country (full disclosure: it was sponsored by the Singapore Tourism Board), I had the good fortune of attending the F1 race, which was somewhat uneventful in and of itself; Brit Lewis Hamilton, who won the first slot in the qualifying session, started in first place and stayed there for 61 laps. No one passed him. Not even once.

Singapore is a famously conservative young country that, having just declared their independence in 1963, have proudly built themselves a clean, wi-fi-wired, efficient empire, continually declaring low-to-no unemployment or homelessness, and no litter in the streets. "Everything works" is a common statement by government spokespeople.

So, to watch this same country adorn their national icon, the Merlion (above), with checkered flags seemed somewhat odd. The same government that will fine you for chewing gum in public, not flushing the toilet, or being caught naked in front of a window invited and sponsored the world of racing, with its car models in short shorts, noisy cars and a concert with musical acts from Beyonce to ZZ Top to take over for a nighttime race attended by over a quarter of a million people.

Singapore is only 274.2 square miles, so everything is more or less near the track, which encouraged overwhelming participation in the fanfare by Singaporean businesses including hotels, restaurants, and landmarks like the Singapore Flyer. As I watched the racing hype, I was amazed by the civility of it all. I grew up going to the Indianapolis 500 every year, and though the Indy is not the F1 ("They turn left and right," was Motortrend's Mike Floyd's sardonic and pithy definition of the difference), I have a notion of how racing fans famously behave. At Indy, it was always more about sex and drugs and riotous drinking than the clean, calm, sitting fans I saw in Singapore. Was Singapore miraculously able to keep the grit away from the race? And, if so, how on earth are they doing that?

Obedience Rules

The difference was palpable, even at the star-studded F1 Rocks concert. The audience at the outdoor venue Fort Canning Park, which was all riled up from seeing a perhaps jet-lagged but totally decent performance by the Black Eyed Peas, was asked to stand from their picnic blankets and scoot closer to the stage to allow more people in for Beyonce's first-ever appearance in the country. They obeyed calmly. No shoving, even. Everyone just stood and packed in tighter. It was a submissiveness which reminded me somewhat of kids at church.

The people in charge were not always as cooperative as those on the ground. From what I heard, ticketed guests were waiting in a queue to get into the enclosed park for the Black Eyed Peas for so long that some missed the whole show. Even my media group missed most of that leg of the concert, as no one seemed to know what entrance to direct us to — and they didn't seem to mind. "You give me my $150 back and I'll go home," I overheard an upset young man say to a guard that wasn't letting anyone through one of the gates. The guard refused, and the young man walked away, defeated.

This made the audience's obedience once they were inside impress me even more. Perhaps "impress" is the wrong word. Not that I wished there had been pushing and shoving, but I was unsettled by the "used to it" conformity of the crowd. Was this the Chinese influence (about 75 percent of Singaporeans are of Chinese descent), or perhaps a remnant mentality from their days as a British colony (it became independent in 1965)? I should also note that the only misbehaving hecklers I saw in the audience were British expatriates.

I'm all for civility and being respectful, but I was left with the sneaking suspicion: Does this country have yet to rebel? The "everything works" mentality implies a lack of reason to rebel — but it seems impossible to me that a zero-tolerance culture can exist without oppression.

Singapore is a relatively new country, but remains under-distinguished in the arts, one of the most widely-accepted cultural venues for new ideas, rebellion and expression of identity.

"I meet the guys from the performing arts schools here," said a Singaporean musician friend of mine who was educated abroad. "They take no risks. They have no idea what they can do." During the races, one artist had a very controversial display of stainless steel race cars in various stages of wreckage, covered in slogans like "DEMOCRACY" and "Self-Confidence Sucks." Still, the exhibit, "Race Cars" at ION Orchard, was by artist Pintor Sirait, an Indonesian.

Identity, Undercover

So, do "Asians love racing," as Sirait told me, or have these Singaporeans been told they love racing? It's possible that the F1 has been imposed upon this mercantile culture, which has served as Southeast Asia's trading post since long before their independence; or it's possible that these fans really excited, not just plain well-behaved out of habit. Still, no brawls, no drug busts, no clouds of pot smoke. Who are these 4.98 million people?

Well, they're definitely different. I was there just 12 days, and I don't know what it is. It's a young country, and the citizens seem proud of its independence. Though the government is strict, it hasn't really backed its people into a corner, warranting a revolution. The people definitely educated. To begin with, Singaporeans speak more than one language. English, Mandarin and Malay are widely spoken, and everyone takes multiple languages in school. The country has one of the finest education systems in the world and hosts remote programs with most of America's Ivy League institutions. It's known for having great shopping (people still come from all over the world to "trade" textiles, buying them from the haute couture-stocked malls on Orchard Road now) and excellent food (using techniques passed down by ancestors from all over Asia who've settled there).

I watched the F1 race from the roof of the Fullerton Hotel, and most of the people with us were expats. The grandstands were a different situation, but like the way I went to football in high school, I wonder how much it's just cool to be there and be seen. Over 239,000 people (over 20 percent of Singapore's population, and those are just ticketed attendees) didn't get into any trouble during or after a major, national, after-dark event. Perhaps I'm cynical to believe that it's impossible. I love the idea that these people are happy and content, but like when I was told there was "no crime," I can't help but wonder if there's some dark, serious bullshitting going on. The government sponsored this rowdy event, and any unseemly behavior might be construed as their fault -- good thing there wasn't any. Right?

If you head to Asia anytime soon, definitely put Singapore on your itinerary. There is a fascinating culture there, which I found to be hiding, in some ways, behind the facades of an F1 race, a new casino, and the world's tallest this, the world's most expensive that. Check out the Peranakan Museum and take a look from the top floor of the Swissotel if you want to see the real Singapore. There's also an incredible Night Safari, unmatched orchid gardens and more.

As your other usual Asian destinations like Tokyo and Beijing helplessly begin to look more and more like New York City, Paris, London, even Dubai, Singapore is one nation where you'll still find a truly unique experience, if you look for it. As it continues to establish its international identity, Singapore deserves to secure a place on the map as its own, bold-faced destination.

(Merlion photo by Annie Scott. Front photo by CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT/AFP/Getty Images. Inset photo by Vladimir Rys/Bongarts/Getty Images)