The High and Low of Singapore

March 17th, 2013

Yangshao, China

Song of the Day: Humanity by Tim Be Told

Mood: Exhausted

View from the top

I love tall buildings. As an avid Sim City player as a kid, I loved zoning land and watching my skyscrapers rise up over time. Now, when I go to cities like Singapore or Hong Kong, I can see real life examples of what I dreamed about building.

 

The Educated Warrior took me to see some of the best views around Singapore. Unfortunately, it was pouring when we reached the top of the first tower.

The first tower is the Marina Bay Sands and cost $6B US to build. This is what it looked like from the second tower we went to:

It is the world's largest cantilevered platform (thanks Wiki)

One of the most pressing political issues is how to deal with millions of people and not a lot of land. The government is trying to keep the roads clear by assessing an ~$60,000 tax on anyone who buys a new car. Already, there are simmering tensions as the cost a one-family apartment can easily top $1M and houses can costs millions. Immigrants are needed to fill low-paying jobs, but it is hard for them to rise up in society on meager salaries and a high cost of living.

Boats swarm the area around the harbor

China town is among the colored buildings

The Raffles Hotel is in the foreground. It is the most famous
hotel in Singapore and was used during British rule.
Be sure to order a Slinger!

The heavy industry is on the western side

When it cleared up, we could see both Indonesia and Malaysia.

Those on the bottom

When I am on the top of mountains or tall buildings, I feel like I can conquer the world. As I think of plans and goals, I can forget real people and their suffering. Times of inspiration need to be complemented with developing empathy for people on the bottom who get lost in the glitz and glamour. Going to the war museum next to Changi Prison was one of the most meaningful things I did in Singapore.

The museum chronicled the experiences of those in the prisoner of war camps under Japanese occupation in World War II. Reading about the different exhibits and seeing the artifacts of the camp touched me in a deep way and generated a lot of thoughts.

The powerful can become the powerless very quickly – Nobody thought that Singapore would be conquered by the Japanese and people continued to throw back Slingers at the Raffles Hotel right up until the occupation. To conquer the island, the Japanese feinted an attack on the east side while sending in troops (on bicycles no less!) from the northwest. Quite suddenly, the Japanese had seized power and the former elite of Singapore had become prisoners.

Changi is on the west. Source: Poets against the war

It is easy to dehumanize other people – After initially treating the prisoners well, the Japanese forced the POWs into hard labor and many died from the horrible conditions including torture and a lack of food and medicine. The Japanese justified the harsh treatment because the soldiers had acted dishonorably by surrendering.  It is quite easy to look at groups of people in any society and list reasons why they deserve to suffer.

These men needed medical attention, but the Japanese guard refused.
Finally, at the end of the day, they could go, but the guard wouldn't allow
anyone to help them. As a result, the two men with malaria carried
the man with cholera. By Ray Parkin. Source: Petrowilliamus.co.uk

Leaders in society need to recognize how quickly power can change and how easy it is to write others off. We should seek to create a society that provides justice to everyone and not just those that can afford to protect themselves. Jesus' parable of the Good Samaritan is a powerful example of how love should cross societal, cultural, and religious grounds, even when it comes at personal cost.

Changi POWs after Japanese surrender
Source: Romford Recorder

The power of love

In one building, men had turned one of the rooms into a chapel. Using smuggled supplies including pool chalk for paint and tools for brushes, Bombadier Stanley Warren painted five murals, including this moving piece: 

Source: Cofepow.org.uk

I couldn't believe that the POWs would dedicate a significant portion of their small space to promote compassion for those who were torturing them, oppressing their people, and killing their friends. It must have been so difficult to love your enemies when you were treated so poorly.

The whole experience became more real as I read messages from children of foreign soldiers who had lost their lives defending a land far from their homes. Next to these messages were notes from Singaporean schoolchildren thanking the soldiers for protecting their land. As I wiped tears from my eyes, I remembered once again that war should never be thought of as simply an abstract idea. The witness of those who suffered reminds us how peace must be fought for and how war must be the absolute last resort.