My Home

I took, step by step, down the walkway. The airport was so familiar; nothing had changed at all, save a few minor renovations. Or is it? Change, the only constant, must have had an effect on the little red dot. Something had to have changed.

As I queued up to clear the customs, the changes slowly became clearer. The sounds, all around me, had changed so much. The usual crying of the babies was so soothing but yet so strange and complicated. The parents as usual, were comforting them, but not with the English language but instead French, Malay and Chinese.

Soon, it was my turn to clear the customs. As I walked through the counter, the Malay man bade me “Au Revoir”, using French instead of his native language. I continued my walk, hastily pushing my way through the crowd. Something was different from this people. They lacked the usual friendliness of Singaporeans. They seemed, strange, different, foreign, and far-away. Things had changed

I was puzzled. Why, I wondered, were there so many Africans, Americans, Australians, Frenchmen, Englishmen and even the Japanese and Koreans, but there was just no sight of a Singaporean. No sight of the familiar scene, of a traditional Singaporean family. It was so strange. Maybe I had been away too long. Things had changed

I stepped on, collecting my luggage and heading out of the airport. As soon as I stepped out, a chill went down my spine, and the bitter cold wind bit on my bones. Maybe this was the ultimate change, that of the weather. The catastrophic global warming situation had caused the atmosphere to change drastically, weather became unpredictable, and the little sunny red dot was covered in bitter snow and ice. Things had changed

Over the next few days that I stayed on in Singapore, I discovered many shocking changes. Chinatown, little India and Geylang Serai were no more. In their places stood: mini Munich, Beautiful Birmingham and Pretty Paris. The culture we once had, the beautiful heritage, was no more. We were just another part of the ever-growing European community.

I spent that night watching television, hoping against all hope to find, to discover the normalcy which was so familiar, yet so distant. In parliamentary news, it dawned on me that there was no more Goh Chok Tong, or any Lee Hsien Longs. Singapore was ruled, controlled and dictated by Caucasian men. They changed laws and ruler. Equality, justice and democracy became a memory of the distant past. Freedom was long forgotten. The morals and aspirations which we used to dream of were now just, dreams. The beliefs Singapore hinged on were demolished. Things had changed.

The Catholics, the Christians. Singapore was now spilt into these two major groups. They abandoned their principles, choosing