Put 2 And 3 Together And In Praise Of Yawning Bread
Remember Story 2 about the Chinese Model Answer and Story 3 that there is no openly legal gay places. It's about Total Control as practised by the ancient Chinese, as a result the Govt. will never allow the gays the legal recognition. Hence, they have every right to watch over us to gather any incriminating information on our "illegal" activities. It's about not letting the people have their privacy. There are so many laws in Singapore, it's about enforcing the law so everybody has to be closely watched.It's about using the gays as a convenient example of why such laws are needed. Heh, if you protest the "toilet flushing" law, then are you against Confucian family values that these laws are based on that also condemn homosexuality. Dumb arguments but at least with this type of convoluted logic, they can deliver long lecturing speeches with straight faces. Some of these chaps are not much older then me, it makes one wonder how they became so much wiser to lecture to us like my grandfather. Yeah, it's about some people are "leaders"; but like the Chinese say, the winner is the king and losers are subjects. If they won, the rest of us are losers. These laws are for our own good and END OF FEEDBACK.
All avenues of open discussions are controlled but then along came the Internet. Expected reaction, it must also be controlled. Hence, Singapore is the first to come out with laws regulating the Internet. But we got to assure people that we do not monitor what they do on the Net so that some of us may hopefully become the mini-Bill-Gate of the Internet in this new intellectual continent.
Then, one day I saw the Homepage of Yawning Bread on this new frontier of freedom that is the Internet. His analysis of the gay situation in Singapore is interesting and thought provoking. His stories on his personal life are daring and classy. Remember putting 2 and 3 together ? and Total Control ? Gays in Singapore are afraid to reveal their identities, much less talk about their personal life. Then came the bravest act of all, he and a group of friends went to apply for the right to form a legal gay group. That is as dangerous as a group in China applying to form a democratic party ! For the good of everybody else, somebody has to do it. The rest of us knew it would be rejected but we just want to know how it will be handled. Sure enough, it was rejected and no reason given. That's the privilege of Total Control, end of discussion. Since then, I really admire him, hence this story is written and dedicated to him. In fact, he even went to deliver a talk on gay matters in a international public conference here in Singapore. From the little amount of coverage in the local news and reading between the lines, he was well received by the audience if not the Government..Guys like us just hide behind anonymity, analyse that things are dangerous and well, that gives us a good excuse to stop there. I just hope that if anything should happen to him, there will be enough of us to lend him a helping hand. Let's hope nothing happens.
In fact, my stories are inspired by his pioneering initiatives. Of course, I do not profess to be a classy writer that he is. If his writing is refined enough to publish as a coffee table hard cover, mine would be a cheap trashy paperback :-)
I just hope my trashy stories does not destroy the gay cause that he took so much pain to buildup. I too actually have a point to prove with these stories that I hope may help his cause.The Government can pretend to sweep homosexuality under the carpet but that does not mean we do not exist ! By "pressing down hard on the carpet" only means that we have to claw harder and longer to get out even to breathe. Imagine if the heterosexuals are denied recognition, then heterosexuals will spend much of their energy and time cruising around to have sex too. That takes away the time that we have to contribute to society. Gays come in all types and professions. We can contribute as much as the gays who are very productive in the west. If the Government hope to build up an entertainment industry, the crazy creativity of the gays are needed to find new markets to fight against the established leaders. At one time the local television sudden came alive when someone brought in talents from the local entertainment scene. There are straight and gay talents but the sudden release of creativity lifted the boring and predictable local shows. Unfortunately, somebody was uncomfortable with the gayness that shone through all these creativity. So, came the orders to manage these creativity. The results as I can see is disastrous. The shows soon fall back into boring routines. Popular shows that used to generate excitements and anticipation are now just best forgotten. Then people start debating whether creativity can be managed like an engineering building blue print. I guess some people never learn; you can't have Total Control and expect spontaneous creativity, you only get engineered boredom delivered on time, on budget and perfect to specifications. Try managing the creativity of Leonardo De Vince and you'll probably produce an almost photographic picture of the famous model before cameras are invented; great for engineering precision but will it be a Mona Lisa ? By the way, Leonardo was gay.