Merlion – Shane Lim

Note the brilliance of the Merlion and how it is the very paragon of our virtues! Its petrified mien and ridiculous fin- esse are monumental millstones in our history. Our history! Did we mention our rise from third to first-world port of call, girls and boys? How the Singapore Girl, proud, flying, lion-face of the nation, and the National Service Boy, tail-end job of keeping us afloat; did we mention how they came to be? No, we weren’t always this glamorous. Our proud immigrant forefathers dug deep and sank roots; Built this port town from scratch and gave it a name. When all the digging and sinking and scratching was done, we cleared our rivers of pollution and our streets of corruption and if it wasn’t clear enough, we dropped three of these Merlion babies around Singapore to remind everyone (and ourselves especially) how we started out as small fry by the river, grew large by the river, then began spitting on tourists who came to see the river – not that we spit on foreigners – goodness, no; rather, we bring them to our little southern island paradise and smother them with a little sentosa, which translates, in our national tongue no less, as peace and tranquility. Here our musical fountains continue to challenge conventional wisdom: We can make our fountains sing! Just like that We steer the questions to the grotesque charms of our facades, our textbook-worthy miracle and success story and preoccupy ourselves with showing everyone (and ourselves possibly) what we can do, in the hope they reciprocate with “That’s nice” or “How interesting.” Just enough to divert attention from the fact that no one really questions which genius came up with the Merlion, no one really asks who we are.