Singapore
Arriving in Singapore's extraordinarily modern new airport terminal on elegant and indulgent Singapore Airlines, being met at the gate by a smiling airport employee with a "Brian McNaught" sign and an electric cart, being whisked through customs and getting our bags within five minutes, being greeted at the curb by a hotel driver and cruising down a tree-fern-and-flower-lined boulevard manicured to perfection, and having our room in the Marina Mandarin Hotel overlook the harbor lulled us into a pampered stupor that blocked the reality that we were now in a City State that bans gay male sex. Though the law is generally not enforced (we had no trouble in the hotel securing a king size bed), and though the Prime Minister recently acknowledged that gay people are part of the Singaporean family and should not be marginalized, we remind ourselves that the legislature recently soundly defeated a bill to eliminate the related section 377A of the Penal Code and that we're no longer protected from discrimination by the laws that govern our recent hosts, New Zealand and Australia.
The reality though is that the culture is far more progressive than the law, young people overwhelmingly support changing the law and neither are women, people of color, or people with disabilities protected against discrimination in employment and housing. Singapore favors no race and no religion, its buildings are graffiti-free, its sidewalks are litter-free, and the shiny new skyline is ever-changing with the construction of beautiful new symbols of the city's enormous financial success, but anyone can be fired and social behavior is closely monitored and regulated. Good order is prized and group cooperation is valued more than individual success.
For controlling personalities such as Ray's and mine, the precise attention to detail in the pursuit of perfection in every aspect of life is not only seemingly reasonable but also aesthetically pleasing. It just would be a whole lot easier if we were heterosexual.
There is much to like about Singapore. It is young, rich, beautiful, energetic, orderly, safe, modern, and growing. Everything here is the best, the biggest, and the brightest. But it is also a place that discourages controversy for fear of destabilizing its Stepford tranquility. Change takes time. But, that's why I'm here and that's what makes this trip to work with Merrill Lynch personnel on creating a safe and productive work environment for gay and transgender colleagues so historic and exciting.
Situated just north of the equator, Singapore is an island, the size of Chicago, at the southern tip of Malasia, and south of Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia. Three-fourths of the 4.5 million Singaporeans are Chinese. The rest are Malay and Indian. There are also over one million Western ex-patriots.
The British naturalist Sir Stamford Raffles is credited with being the founder of Singapore on January 28, 1819. For the next 140 years, the "City of the Lion" was a vital port linking the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea. In a humiliating defeat for the army of Great Britain, the city was surrendered to the Japanese in February of 1942. After it was liberated at the end of World War II, it remained under Malaysian rule until it became an independent city state in 1965.
The father of Singapore is 84-year-old Lee Kuan Yew, the first Prime Minister and the strict, disciplinarian architect who brought civil order, great wealth, and global status to the multi-cultural, religiously-diverse, economically-spent population and land. Through editing film content and running "Courtesy Campaigns," public canings for writing graffiti and chewing gum, and beheadings for drug trafficking, a society of well-mannered, highly productive, cooperative people was carefully crafted.
Still the behind-the-scenes mentor and guide, Lee has passed the torch of governance to his son, Lee Hsien Loong, who serves as Prime Minister and rules with the support of 82 elected MPs. It was this body which recently pounded their seats in approval of the impassioned speech by their colleague, law professor Thio Li-Ann, who compared anal sex to sticking a straw up your nose, in her tirade against the repeal of 377A, much of which could have been lifted from a Focus on the Family briefing paper.
Today, 90 per cent of the Singaporean people own their own, if sometimes very small and government-financed, homes. The per capita income is $29,940. The city has a large, prosperous middle-class and is considered one of the most business-friendly countries in the world. Yet, only three per cent of the country's income results from tourism, there is a brain drain as many young people depart for the freedom of other lands, and the country must carefully manage, under the metaphor of "family," underlying tensions between the Chinese, Malay, and Indian, and between foreign and eastern values. Women do not have full equality, there are major cultural differences among the population, and there are no openly gay people among the over 1,000 employees who work for Merrill Lynch.
Our friend Ed Teo left Singapore as a young man because he didn't feel he could be gay here. Ray turned down Lehman's request that he come to Singapore to head up their local office. Yet, both happened over a decade ago and change is in the air. A gay film is showing in town and will likely be less edited than in the past, Merrill's regional head of Global Wealth Management is the sponsor of the company's gay employee network, and 84-year-old Lee Kuan Yew has acknowledged that gay people don't choose their orientation. My being invited and allowed to speak is seen by the local gay community as a sign of the advances being made.
On our first night in Singapore, Ray and I plunged into the wave of thousands of locals who walk through the underground maze of shop-and-restaurant lined corridors that run for several blocks in all directions in the marina area of town. In doing so, we observed that pedestrian traffic patterns are unpredictable, personal space is nearly non-existent, and no one makes eye contact. We returned to our room with flowers, fruit, incense, and chocolate cookies.
On our first full day here, we changed sweat-drenched clothes after a couple hours of touring what little remains of the colonial buildings. Our first major stop was the extraordinarily beautiful Raffles Hotel, built by Armenian brothers in 1887. We then wandered into the Chinese Sunday service at St. Andrew's Anglican Cathedral and received communion.
Our hosts for the very memorable three-hour brunch at the Sentosa Hotel on Sentosa Island were my ever-chipper Merrill Lynch sponsor, Roman Matla, his delightful 30-year-old Scottish partner Heather, and his precocious 11-year-old son Alex. Site of the former British army base, Sentosa Island is a luxurious gated-community residential and resort area. The outdoor dining room that overlooked the cargo-ship filled harbor was nearly exclusively-dominated by wealthy white westerners and their children being waited on by Malays and Indians. This was in stark contrast to the underground malls we had earlier navigated that had few white faces.
Singapore mixes western and eastern culture easier than it does western and eastern families. Shop windows are filled with decorative reminders of the upcoming celebrations of both Chinese New Year and Valentines Day, each of which are big events here.
Tomorrow at 5 p.m., all of this complex cultural and religious mix, with its conflicting young and old perspectives that are colored by fear of and hope for change, comes together for me in my first presentation on gay and transgender issues in Singapore. I'll write as we head back to Florida on Friday and let you know what happens.
The reality though is that the culture is far more progressive than the law, young people overwhelmingly support changing the law and neither are women, people of color, or people with disabilities protected against discrimination in employment and housing. Singapore favors no race and no religion, its buildings are graffiti-free, its sidewalks are litter-free, and the shiny new skyline is ever-changing with the construction of beautiful new symbols of the city's enormous financial success, but anyone can be fired and social behavior is closely monitored and regulated. Good order is prized and group cooperation is valued more than individual success.
For controlling personalities such as Ray's and mine, the precise attention to detail in the pursuit of perfection in every aspect of life is not only seemingly reasonable but also aesthetically pleasing. It just would be a whole lot easier if we were heterosexual.
There is much to like about Singapore. It is young, rich, beautiful, energetic, orderly, safe, modern, and growing. Everything here is the best, the biggest, and the brightest. But it is also a place that discourages controversy for fear of destabilizing its Stepford tranquility. Change takes time. But, that's why I'm here and that's what makes this trip to work with Merrill Lynch personnel on creating a safe and productive work environment for gay and transgender colleagues so historic and exciting.
Situated just north of the equator, Singapore is an island, the size of Chicago, at the southern tip of Malasia, and south of Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia. Three-fourths of the 4.5 million Singaporeans are Chinese. The rest are Malay and Indian. There are also over one million Western ex-patriots.
The British naturalist Sir Stamford Raffles is credited with being the founder of Singapore on January 28, 1819. For the next 140 years, the "City of the Lion" was a vital port linking the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea. In a humiliating defeat for the army of Great Britain, the city was surrendered to the Japanese in February of 1942. After it was liberated at the end of World War II, it remained under Malaysian rule until it became an independent city state in 1965.
The father of Singapore is 84-year-old Lee Kuan Yew, the first Prime Minister and the strict, disciplinarian architect who brought civil order, great wealth, and global status to the multi-cultural, religiously-diverse, economically-spent population and land. Through editing film content and running "Courtesy Campaigns," public canings for writing graffiti and chewing gum, and beheadings for drug trafficking, a society of well-mannered, highly productive, cooperative people was carefully crafted.
Still the behind-the-scenes mentor and guide, Lee has passed the torch of governance to his son, Lee Hsien Loong, who serves as Prime Minister and rules with the support of 82 elected MPs. It was this body which recently pounded their seats in approval of the impassioned speech by their colleague, law professor Thio Li-Ann, who compared anal sex to sticking a straw up your nose, in her tirade against the repeal of 377A, much of which could have been lifted from a Focus on the Family briefing paper.
Today, 90 per cent of the Singaporean people own their own, if sometimes very small and government-financed, homes. The per capita income is $29,940. The city has a large, prosperous middle-class and is considered one of the most business-friendly countries in the world. Yet, only three per cent of the country's income results from tourism, there is a brain drain as many young people depart for the freedom of other lands, and the country must carefully manage, under the metaphor of "family," underlying tensions between the Chinese, Malay, and Indian, and between foreign and eastern values. Women do not have full equality, there are major cultural differences among the population, and there are no openly gay people among the over 1,000 employees who work for Merrill Lynch.
Our friend Ed Teo left Singapore as a young man because he didn't feel he could be gay here. Ray turned down Lehman's request that he come to Singapore to head up their local office. Yet, both happened over a decade ago and change is in the air. A gay film is showing in town and will likely be less edited than in the past, Merrill's regional head of Global Wealth Management is the sponsor of the company's gay employee network, and 84-year-old Lee Kuan Yew has acknowledged that gay people don't choose their orientation. My being invited and allowed to speak is seen by the local gay community as a sign of the advances being made.
On our first night in Singapore, Ray and I plunged into the wave of thousands of locals who walk through the underground maze of shop-and-restaurant lined corridors that run for several blocks in all directions in the marina area of town. In doing so, we observed that pedestrian traffic patterns are unpredictable, personal space is nearly non-existent, and no one makes eye contact. We returned to our room with flowers, fruit, incense, and chocolate cookies.
On our first full day here, we changed sweat-drenched clothes after a couple hours of touring what little remains of the colonial buildings. Our first major stop was the extraordinarily beautiful Raffles Hotel, built by Armenian brothers in 1887. We then wandered into the Chinese Sunday service at St. Andrew's Anglican Cathedral and received communion.
Our hosts for the very memorable three-hour brunch at the Sentosa Hotel on Sentosa Island were my ever-chipper Merrill Lynch sponsor, Roman Matla, his delightful 30-year-old Scottish partner Heather, and his precocious 11-year-old son Alex. Site of the former British army base, Sentosa Island is a luxurious gated-community residential and resort area. The outdoor dining room that overlooked the cargo-ship filled harbor was nearly exclusively-dominated by wealthy white westerners and their children being waited on by Malays and Indians. This was in stark contrast to the underground malls we had earlier navigated that had few white faces.
Singapore mixes western and eastern culture easier than it does western and eastern families. Shop windows are filled with decorative reminders of the upcoming celebrations of both Chinese New Year and Valentines Day, each of which are big events here.
Tomorrow at 5 p.m., all of this complex cultural and religious mix, with its conflicting young and old perspectives that are colored by fear of and hope for change, comes together for me in my first presentation on gay and transgender issues in Singapore. I'll write as we head back to Florida on Friday and let you know what happens.
