Ravi Veloo, Today Online 17 May 08;
FUNNY how foreigners find Singapore magnetic and exotic enough to blow a chunk of cash winging all the way here to see, sniff and taste it, but somehow we ourselves don't find one of the most famous cities in the world all that interesting.
In Buenos Aires, they serve a Lomito Singapur. You can't find another steak there named after any other country. You can find "Singapore noodles" on the menu in many countries, including Chinatown in Chennai. But not here. The name Singapore seems more saleable abroad.
You hear us mentioned in the movies from James Bond flicks to the latest Pirates of the Caribbean film. Never mind the infamous Saint Jack, which was banned here for decades.
Old-time crooner Bing Crosby and his favourite film buddy, Bob Hope, himself one of the world's most famous and beloved comics, knew our name before most of us were born — they starred in a black-and-white 1940 movie called Road to Singapore, with the sex bomb of their generation, Dorothy Lamour.
It was the first of Crosby and Hope's many other "Road To ..." films, the other cities including, Morocco, Zanzibar, Rio, Hong Kong, Bali, even Utopia!
Yet, we save our cameras for other countries.
Why do we find Singapore so boring?
Maybe one clue is the music we don't play. You don't see our people enjoying each other's tunes. We've built a mental wall against each other, which it takes foreigners to break down.
Even half-a-century ago, you were more likely to see locals wiggling their hips to Latin cha cha cha, singing Guantanamera in Tanah Merah, than enjoying the mesmerising bhangra music of the Sikhs. That is, until some Londoners embraced the ancient music of their Sikh immigrants and mixed it up with Western music. Only then did our young find it cool, as bhangra rock.
Sure, there were some valiant attempts to synthesise the music we get here. There was even a band called Culture Vulture, which included Chinese, Malay and Indian instruments in its original, pioneering music. They failed to find a market. We wanted Led Zeppelin or the Top 40.
But you don't need to synthesise another culture into your own to enjoy it. We go to foreign lands to appreciate their difference.
It's not just ancient music and cultures that Singapore has to offer. All the tourist attractions we have put so much money into producing and promoting abroad should be just as compelling to us. Maybe the Singapore Tourism Board could put some (low-cost) creative effort into promoting our attractions to Singaporeans, notably Sungei Buloh, which should be something more than just a school trip.
And why doesn't somebody start a company offering holidays to Singaporeans — in Singapore.
It's not such a silly idea. The hotels are already doing it with their weekend specials.
There are some small outfits who do try to offer tours with Singaporeans in mind, but the response is lukewarm. From what I understand, these tours are poorly put together in the first place.
There is a bonus to internal tourism. When you like your country, and enjoy it and the various cultures here, you can't help liking its people, too.
The writer is a media consultant.
