Exquisite torture in a fancy hotel.

Well that's what it felt like to me anyway. having to sit through 1.5 hours straight of boring talk was irritating. not even army makes you go through that lor. (lectures cut at abt 45 min for a 1-5 min toilet break. depending on your sergeant's mood.) some more i was hungry and there was so little food. grrr.what's a tea session without a huge buffet spread. this is Singapore man. ><

ok joking aside, i really had (and still have) some misgivings about the way tourism is going in Singapore. it seems to me like a very single-minded and high-handed approach. from what i heard today, STB's methods and activities seem to centre around bringing high-profile events to Singapore, and developing/redeveloping various places to better cater for an expected boom in tourism arrivals in the coming years.

I have no problems with the events thing. Over the years we have had various artistes, bands, and musicals coming to perform in Singapore, including Eric Clapton, Tokyo Kosei, the Phantom of the Opera and the Nutcracker. we have the Mosaic Music Festival, we have Biennale, we’re going to have F1 racing and soon we’ll have an upcoming Youth Olympics to host. We're even hosting a segment of the 6-party talks over the North Korean issue. All this is well and good, and will likely lead to a more vibrant exciting life in Singapore. What i dislike is the concept of redevelopment, or as i view it, commercialisation.

is commercialising everything really the best way to increase tourism in Singapore? I mean, sure, it ups the tourism "receipts" and generates revenue for Singapore, but i feel it is slowly but surely eroding what is truly unique about Singapore. First the National Stadium goes, replaced by a Sports "Hub" (overused term), then we have the Singapore Flyer (it ISN'T unique please!) which just smacks of plagarism, and then we have the Lake District (:O!) that's going to turn the Chinese Gardens and Lakeside area into some mega shopping mall - beside amazing waterfront condos.

Ok. i know it's progress. and i'm probably an old stick-in-the-mud who refuses to embrace change. but still. is this the place, the country we're really expecting the tourists to visit and remember? a place where everything is engineered, commercialised, and built specially to appeal to them? where's the uniqueness in that? The landscape, i've always believed, is a reflection of a nation's culture. Sydney has its Opera House, we have our Esplanade. Miami has its Palm Beach, we have our Chek Jawa. Cambodia has its Angkor Wat, we have our Sri Mariamman Temple (ok not really but you get the idea). Why are we deliberately modifying the Singaporean landscape to resemble others'? Why are we even starting to name our new towns (districts?) like other countries'?

Does Singapore still have a cultural identity, or have we already thrown our heritage away modifying our unique aspects to court foreigners and to make them spend more money?

Worse, is the Uniquely Singapore programme alienating locals in their own land?