Casinos in Singapore ? -- A Qing-dynasty Chinese perspective

The Qing-dynasty traveller 李鐘玨 (Li Zhongjue) published 新嘉坡風土記 ("A Description of Singapore") following his visit to the British crown colony in 1887.  Among Li's many observations and impressions, Spore Sprout found this topical paragraph, which he translates freely below (with apologies to more authoritative renderings that may be extant), for the amusement and reflection of fellow modern-day Singaporeans:

In spite of strict prohibitions imposed by the British, gambling flourishes in Singapore.  There is a casino known as Skymaster Co. that is particularly notorious for touting, and is difficult to shut down on account of its many affiliates.  In years past, some Chinese had petitioned the Executive Council to take a leaf out of the book of the Dutch and relax completely the prohibitions against gambling, but instead impose heavy taxation on the gambling revenues, which could then bring in several hundreds of thousands of yuan in additional tax revenue.  Notwithstanding significant support for the proposal at the time, the Colonial Secretary pronounced that the British could not follow Dutch ways in this matter, as the body politic would be injured thereby.  The Colonial Secretary put aside the proposal and continued to seek ways to root out gambling in Singapore -- it may be said that he too was capable of apprehending the greater good.

Li's text reads in relevant part 當時頗有韙其議者而輔政使司謂英國不能如荷蘭辦法致傷政體屏置不議仍求禁絕之法此亦可謂能識大體者矣。

How much was several "hundreds of thousands of [Qing-dynasty silver] yuan" worth?  By my rough calculation, this would run in the multiples of S$2,000,000 today.   Spore Sprout uses the following ratios: one Qing yuan = one tael of silver = 40g of siver @ US$360 per kilo @ S$1.40 per US$1.  So, as the children say, "millions and millions of dollars."

A whiter shade of pale

We skipped the light fandango
turned cartwheels across the floor
I was feeling kind of seasick
but the crowd called out for more
The room was humming harder
as the ceiling flew away
When we called out for another drink
the waiter brought a tray

And so it was that later
as the miller told his tale
that her face, at first just ghostly,
turned a whiter shade of pale

She said, 'There is no reason
and the truth is plain to see.'
But I wandered through my playing cards
and would not let her be
one of sixteen vestal virgins
who were leaving for the coast
and although my eyes were open
they might have just as well've been closed

She said, 'I'm home on shore leave,'
though in truth we were at sea
so I took her by the looking glass
and forced her to agree
saying, 'You must be the mermaid
who took Neptune for a ride.'
But she smiled at me so sadly
that my anger straightway died

If music be the food of love
then laughter is its queen
and likewise if behind is in front
then dirt in truth is clean
My mouth by then like cardboard
seemed to slip straight through my head
So we crash-dived straightway quickly
and attacked the ocean bed

I was cleaning up in the kitchen the other day when A Whiter Shade of Pale came on and I tried to sing, or sync, along.  I can't for the life of me remember when I first heard the song, although it must have been years after Procol Harum had a big hit with it.  I know because I remember my very first pop song -- "Beautiful Sunday" by the singer Daniel Boone, which came out years later and had many of the school children in Singapore humming along happily for a while, and yelling "Hey, hey, hey."  When I read that PM Lee Hsien Loong sang a song about Sunday mornings at a recent karaoke session, I chuckled and recalled my school days fondly.  I am quite sure that it was this song that the PM sang, and not "Sunday Morning" by the Velvet Underground, which would have been a different proposition altogether.

Lucky me

 

Spore Sprout is a lucky man.  Look at the beautiful view from his roof top at sunset.

叻傻？

"叻沙"是新加坡美食，那"叻傻"呢？

維基百科介紹叻沙如下：

叻沙又称喇沙，是在新加坡和马来西亚存在的峇峇文化（即华人马来人混合）的地道食品，通常用作面条的汤底。材料包括虾米、虾羔、蒜茸、干葱、辣椒、香茅、南姜及椰汁，制法是将它们煮多个小时。

新加坡人皆知 laksa (ai hum) 之美味。

叻傻則是筆者所造一詞，指近日由南海网评论员黑靑的评论《新加坡人很傻》引發的一場風波。 黑先生文章在此。作者解釋他其實是运用反讽的写作手法來讚揚新加坡人守規矩，說法完全可信， 見此。

唯獨一群新加坡讀者如韓山元先生感覺“莫名其妙”， 指责有人“道德沦丧”。 我倒覺得我們大可不必如此义愤填膺地鞭笞作者。君不見作者早已自稱“黑青”，連聲叫“痛” （見黑青，我的痛，新加坡不懂 ）。

新加坡舊稱叻埠，源自巫文“石叻”（selat) 即“海峽”。 君可知“叻”乃粵語常用字，意指 “精明能幹”， 即“傻”的相反?

叻人不傻，何來“叻傻”有之？

圓形臭豆

這叫部落格的話，那我該歸屬那一個部落－－”老驥“族 ？（”老幾“可能更貼切。）”舊移民“？”新遺民“？ ”現代派“？ ”後現代派“？ 還是見證大國崛起的”後蘋果派“？

話說李光耀資政在今年普通话推广活动启动仪式上表示：“再有两代人的时间，普通话就将成为我们的母语。”  若真如是， 這兩代人可有得忙了。 不為什麼，就只因為我們現在的華語程度和水平太低－－作為母語， 可能連親娘都聽不懂。想起兩岸三地文人搞大中華文化區沙龍活動有時還不忘邀請新加坡代表，不禁汗顏。  單看街頭招牌廣告的中文翻譯吧－－香港有”百事可樂“， 台灣有”得來速“, 新加坡則貢獻了麥理芝蓄水池週邊小道“圓形臭豆走道” （馬來原文是什麼，在中文翻譯的震撼下也給忘了。）

Which football club is the Workers' Party of Singapore?

Spore Sprout imagines that the WP, like a football club, must wish to be well-supported.

So, which football club would the WP be most like?

One team comes readily to mind ... Manchester City FC have lots in common with the WP:

• SKY BLUE team colours
  
  
  

  Check out the Manchester City and WP teams in home colours.
  

  
  
• PERENNIAL UNDERDOGS in their city
  
  
  

  MCFC, affectionately known as City, play second fiddle to that other eminence in Manchester football (better-known, better-looking and, until very recently, better-endowed). As the supporters of Manchester United do not tire of pointing out, City have not won a trophy in English football since 1976. That's probably as long as I can recall the WP winning any "trophy" ... the PAP has won every single General Election called in Singapore since the day the WP was formed: calling the WP the underdogs in Singapore politics does no injustice to the facts.
  

  
  
• CLEAR IMPROVEMENTS in recent performance
  
  
  

  Things are looking up for City. Two seasons ago, City beat United twice in the English Premier League's Manchester derby fixtures. Not once, but TWICE in one season (that's not happened since 1969 in the old First Division). Likewise, the WP's performance in the 2006 GE was regarded by many Singaporeans as an improvement upon past showings, even if the number of elected MPs from the party remains at ONE.
  

  
  
• Financial prowess?
  
  
  

  City's recent rise is directly attributable to the financial prowess of the Club's rich owners. The only English club to have spent handsomely in the transfer window this summer, City outspent Manchester United by close to S$425 million in (net) transfer fees. Ouch! The WP is definitely in penury by comparison, whether to City or the PAP. What's more, City money has come from foreign owners -- first Thai then Arab -- I can tell without too much reflection that similar arrangements would be unworkable for the WP. But wait -- the Thai ex-owner of City was former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra (of Shin Corp fame) -- perhaps HE would do a quick deal without too many qualms about the politics involved?
  

  
  
• A turn-coat from enemy ranks?
  
  
  

  City's recent rise is overseen by the young coach Mark "Sparky" Hughes, a former Manchester United player who had, in a total of 345 appearances, scored 119 goals for the Red Devils. Would the WP need a turn-coat from their more successful rivals in order to banish their "small club mentality" and turn to winning ways? And if so, would they need a Tan (most populous surname in Singapore ... hmmm...), a Lim (second most populous) or ... goodness gracious ... a Lee (third) to do the trick?
  

  
  

It seems that a case can be made that Manchester City is the most WP-esque of football clubs. But, truth be told, ANOTHER is closer to my heart.

Futbol Club Barcelona play in a different league from Manchester City. While officially in the Spanish La Liga, many of us secretly think that FC Barcelona, or Barca, play in a league of their own (or perhaps with the Dutch national team of the 70's in a League of the Beautiful Game). I think the WP can feel proud to be compared to Barca, for the following reasons:

• Heart in the right place
  
  
  

  Ever notice the advertising hoardings that pass for football players' jerseys these days? Even clubs as well-off as Chelsea, Manchester City and Real Madrid sell the space on their players' chests like so many pieces of walking billboards for money. Not so Barca. After 107 years of its history with a logo-free shirt, Barca decided in 2006 to carry the logo of Unicef (the United Nations Children's Fund that provides long-term humanitarian and developmental assistance to children and mothers in developing countries) for free. This meant a donation of valuable publicity to Unicef (arguably worth more than the S$50 million a year that Liverpool just sold its shirtfront to StandardChartered for), on top of additional cash donations to Unicef of S$1.5 million a year. This is part of Barca's outlook on life that is "mes que un club" ("more than a club" in Catalan) -- the club is proud to wear its mantle as an ambassador for its region (Catalonia) and its people, to be seen as a "staunch defender of democratic rights and freedoms" and to promote its "humanitarian and caring" philosophy that is based on its "concern for its people."
  

  
  
• A history of speaking Truth to Power
  
  
  

  As a result of its beliefs and what it stands for, some of which deeply unpopular with reigning regimes in Spain, FC Barcelona has had its grounds closed, its president executed, its emblem redrawn and its name changed -- but Barca persisted, often in defiance of the powerful. After the Spanish civil war, Barca's home stadium was one of the few places in Spain where people continued to speak Catalan freely in the face of a nation-wide ban of the dialect. There were also the famous finals in 1943 for the Copa del Generalisimo (Generalisimo's Cup, long since renamed the Spanish Cup) against Real Madrid, the team supported by General Franco for whom the competition was named. Barca had won the first leg 3-0 and led the second leg 1-0 at half-time, before going on to lose that match 1-11 (this feat required conceding one goal every four minutes). Lore has it the Real Madrid goals followed a half-time visit to the Barca dressing room by General Franco's director for public security, toting a gun. At that coercive display of power, the Barca president resigned in protest following the match, and I guess during the match the players "resigned in protest" after their own fashion.
  

  
  
• A belief in the right way to do things
  
  
  

  There have always been those who believe that football is about more than winning and losing -- it is about playing the game the right way. Barca play attacking football not so much because Barca believe it will win them matches, but because it is what Barca believe the game is about (i.e. "going out and beating the other lot, not waiting for them to die of boredom" -- Danny Blanchflower). This point would be clearer if Barca, like say the Arsenal, did not win so often. That 2009 Champions' League semi-final match at Stamford Bridge, which Barca had no right to win as they did, pitted Barca's technique, nuance and flourish against the strength, obviousness and obduracy of Chelsea's "tactical" game (otherwise known as "sh*t hanging from a stick" -- Jorge Valdano). Barca won, but barely just (and I think undeservedly). The point is that Barca will play "football," however many victories others manage to eke out with "anti-football."
  

  
  
  

  This philosophy is instilled in Barca's fabled academy for young football players, whose graduates make up a disproportionate number of the players (and coaches) in the Barca team each generation. From the head coach Guardiola, to Valdes in goal, Puyol and Pique in defence, Xavi and Iniesta in mid-field, and Messi and Bojan in attack, much of the current Barca team has played together for years, in a system and with a philosophy that is "Barca." This football philosophy embodied in Barca players was at the center of an infamous post-game exchange between Cesc Fabregas, the captain of Arsenal and a former graduate of the Barca academy, and Mark "Sparky" Hughes, then coach of Blackburn and who had played for a season at Barcelona. According to Huges, "He came up to me and asked me if I played for Barcelona. I said I had a long time ago. He then said, 'That's not Barcelona football'. I said, 'I don't have Barcelona players'."
  

  
  
• A semblance of Democracy

Unlike most football clubs in England (with which Singaporean fans are familiar), Barca is organized as a not-for-profit organization mutually owned by a broad base of over 150,000 members, or socios. The members elect the club's board of directors, which discharges its executive functions in consultation with representatives of the club's supporters. Much has been written about Barca's governance, including by academics with titles like "The Model of Governance at FC Barcelona: Balancing Member Democracy, Commercial Strategy, Corporate Social Responsibility and Sporting Performance." In contrast, the larger English football clubs are owned with few exceptions by a small number of rich (and in the case of Liverpool, apparently-not-so-rich) shareholders. Which structure is more responsive to the supporters' demands? Go ask Liverpool fans.

• Proof of Performance
  
  

  Lest all the romantic talk so far clouds our judgement, Barca's performance speaks for itself. Barca are the reigning European champions, reigning Spanish La Liga league champions and holders of the Spanish Cup -- winning the first-ever Spanish European Treble, a feat unmatched even by the redoubtable Real Madrid.
  

  
  

All these may seem like a tall order for the WP to match. Do not forget, however, that WP already shows unmistakable resemblance to Barca:

• Year of Rebirth -- 1957
  
  

  In 1957, David Marshall gave hope to many Singaporeans and new life to his political career by founding the Workers' Party of Singapore. In the same year, Barca's new home was completed -- the Camp Nou stadium, still the largest in Europe at a capacity of just under 99,000, or 120,000 before standing areas were banned -- and gave a new lease of life to Barca.
  

  
  
• Enemies in White
  
  
  
  

Barca are not the most decorated club in the history of European football, or even Spanish football. That honour belongs to Real Madrid Club de Futbol, the club of Di Stephano, Puskas, Zidane, Raul, and latterly Christiano Ronaldo and Kaka. FIFA, the international governing body of the game, voted Real Madrid the most successful football club in the 20th century (having won a record 31 La Liga titles, 17 Spanish Cups and a record nine European championships -- compared to Barca's 19/25/3 haul in the same competitions, and Liverpool's 18/7/5 and Manchester United's 18/11/3 in their English equivalents).

Real Madrid is not only the most successful football club in history, it is the richest. If there had ever been any doubt about this point, it was wiped clean off of any doubter's mind with Madrid's outlay this summer -- a whopping S$355 million paid in (net) transfer fees, dwarfing Barca's S$190 million (and besting Manchester City's impressive S$285 million outlay, Liverpool's S$6 million pocket change, and the righteously parsimonious Manchester United, which MADE gains of over S$140 million in net transfer fees.)

If Barca had a history, so did Real Madrid. If Barca stood for dissent to the Franco dictatorship, Real Madrid was clearly "Franco's team." Madrid's home stadium is named after Santiago Bernabeu, a former president of the club who fought with Franco's army during its invasion of Catalonia. Just as Freedom and Democracy are Barca's rallying cry, Madrid's by-words are Authority and Control.

Do all these -- the dominant success, the seemingly unlimited resources, the authority and control -- remind the WP of anyone? They should. And if more clues are needed ... Real Madrid's home colours are all-white: white jerseys, white shorts and white socks. There is no getting around it: just like Barca, for their place in history the WP must "FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT -- AGAINST THE MEN IN WHITE!"