Passport V

"How was your stay in Singapore?" asked the guard at the Singapore Airport, prior to entering customs. Surprised by the question, I answered from the gut, "Amazing." He smiled honestly. "That's great to hear." He inspected my passport briefly, and said, "Have a nice day."

"You too."

Manufactured politeness should be an export in Singapore. Except, it might not be fake. There are all kinds of people -- overseas Chinese, Malays, and Indians -- who are living in a virtual state of paradise. If they were ever to return to their own home countries, they would return to incredible poverty. And, they know it.

They appreciate the strong hand of the government that allows all to co-exist in a strange, forced peace. In a region filled with authoritarian governments, Singapore is but another. But is it the same as others? It seems more a benevolent dictatorship to me. More than a few have concluded similarly.

My taxi driver to the airport ranted for the twenty minute drive how wonder life was in Singapore. His parents had immigrated the prior generation and the government had always shielded him from outright racism. They cannot prevent subtle racism, but outright expressions they can, and do. This is a rarity among minorities in Southeast Asia. And, the locals appreciate it tremendously.

The other page has my mainland China permit. I never used it; I was supposed to travel to Beijing to install some risk analysis software for my job, but it never panned out. Politics (local, not national) intervened. The back office is fighting with front office. To maintain profits on the Bank of China account, we are delaying the installation of this software in the back office for fear that it may reduce sales!

Regardless, the stamp is beautiful. And weirdly, it continues the Asia trend of English language everywhere. Doesn't this anger the nationalists? It must. There are few countries that have resisted the Roman characters as intensely as the mainland Chinese government, but even they use them liberally on my visa.