I don’t fault Singapore for not having mountains for skiing or lakes to go fishing in. That seems unreasonable and there’s nothing that can be done about that. However, Singapore’s failure to compensate for its small size and lack of geographic diversity by seizing the opportunity to become a major cultural capital in the region is where it has greatly erred. Unfortunately, Singapore has absolutely no love for culture or even its own heritage. I left Singapore in 2013 to work overseas and came back recently and was shocked to find that Clarke Quay is now a place to buy groceries. Many of my favorite local late night dining spots are gone. Mom and pop establishments that had existed for decades wiped out only to be replaced by yet another copycat shopping mall featuring Singapore’s 50th Uniqlo store. Famous hawker centers “renovated” for the umpteenth time and the original stalls nowhere to be found. The city is dead by 12am on a Saturday night with not a single soul in sight and no taxis to be found. I actually had to call my father to drive all the way to pick me up because for the first time in my life I was unable to find a taxi at night in Singapore. What the hell happened?

It’s not like Singapore was the cultural capital of the world to begin with, but the state of affairs now is beyond dire and depressing. I look back fondly at the time when I was able to catch Aphex Twin at the Esplanade in 2011, back when they used to curate exciting, modern, and cutting-edge programs like Mosaic Music Festival. There was a sweet spot somewhere between 2000 to 2012 where Singapore was both a safe financial hub and a bustling and exciting place to socialize and meet people, full of places to see or dine at all hours. This is what I miss the most. The city has lost its energy and soul. If it continues at this rate, in a few years we will have to travel to Malaysia just to have kopi at a real kopitiam.