Who Says We Singaporeans Don't Have A Sense of Humour?

Why do some people still maintain that we don't have much of a sense of humour? Perhaps we have selective and sometimes short memories, but as a nation we now can laugh - sometimes - at ourselves.


The 'old lady' of newspapers in Singapore, the Straits Times, recently heralded their 'scoop' of the capture of a runaway terrorist in big display advertisements spearheading its latest circulation campaign. 


Then they followed up with this piece (see below) in the newspaper, again with the infamous Mat Selamat front and centre.


Just in case any of you do not know of Mat Selamat, he's the terrorist with a gamey leg who managed to escape from what was thought to be a high security detention centre in Singapore - and was at large for about two years. His escape hogged the headlines of our local newspapers for some time and also made the world news.


Despite our very best efforts to track and trace him it was our Malaysian neighbours across the two Straits of Johor crossings who eventually located, captured and returned him to the Singapore authorities.


Wouldn't you say that we possess a finely tuned and unique sense of self-deprecating humour?


Why ever not? C'mon, he has appeared in sufficient print advertisements to remind us of his presence (or should I say absence?) and recent return. The alternative is not particularly flattering.

Anyway our Deputy PM and Minister for Home Affairs has said that a full report will be forthcoming.

In a commentary piece in Forbes magazine entitled

Why We Will Have Bigger Disasters

Kenneth G. Brill, 09.21.10, 11:00 AM ET

The author said that: 

"disasters require between five and 10 (often minor) problems--typically seven--to line up before a major event occurs. There are almost always warning signals that go unheeded. It is time for business schools, boards of directors and especially government regulators to become proficient in the emerging critical body of high-consequence/low-probability knowledge so they can make prudent choices to protect the public and their companies.'

Will we see any disasters? 

Thus far there have been only minor hiccups namely the YOG which we under costed by three times (not including the misprinting of certificates of appreciation for 45,000 volunteers), glitches in computation of new fares for our public transport, and a few 'acts of God' like the flash floods which visited us this year.

Singapore's regarded as being so well run that it is easy to be a tad complacent. 

Lord Mandelson, Labour's 'spin doctor' and better known as the 'Prince of Darkness' was appropriately complimentary when he spoke at a luncheon:  

"There is an eternal, persistent, restlessness about Singapore. It must always do things slightly differently, slightly better than before."

Let's hope our ever so polite guest proves to be right (or should I say correct?). 

But why should I care? I will be dead and gone by the time a disaster strikes - if at all, as long as we only experience the warning signals during my lifetime.


In any event, if I have learnt anything in my 60-odd years, it is don't believe all the hype and don't believe all you read. Including my ruminations.

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An example of humour from talkingcock.com, a website: