This is Singapore

This is Singapore. The iconic tourist symbol of the Merlion, a half-fish half-lion constructed fantasy of the public sector, stands phallic in front of the still nascent skyline, spewing an endless flow of treated water into the very reservoir it uses to supply itself.

I was born here a quarter of a century ago, and have returned once again after a four year sojourn. The same Merlion, now scrubbed down, has been relocated to a more prominent position unobscured from the Nicoll Highway bridge. This proves that even the most sacred of government fantasies can be transplanted and cleaned up when the need arise. Just as the urban fabric of Singapore has witnessed, new buildings continue to plough over the native land, new land rises from the ocean, nostalgia giving way to pragmatism.

This is the country I call home, and even more so now that I am a civil servant.