Temasik Revisited...
 

Venue: The Terrace, M&S,Centre Point,Singapore

"Good afternoon.May I take your order?".
I turned to my wife,who is holding a piece of English scone."Earl Grey or English Breakfast?"." The usual",she replied."Earl Grey tea for two", I told the salegirl at The Terrace, a mini restaurant at the Marks & Spencer.While waiting for the tea and th scone to be heated, I scanned the place. There are four nice advertisement graphics that caught my tired eyes.

Take time to relax,
           Take time to refresh,
                   Take time to revive,
                                                                                                               Take time to retreat....
 
 

I smiled to myself and hope I could do all of the above while having my cup of tea with my wife. Honestly, only a few of us do take time to  do at least one of the above;not to mention all of them.It was a great challenge for me  to do all of that in the next one hour before we leave to the airport. This reminded me of the best English tea I had with my family at Stradford- upon-Avon besides the fireplace.  Anyway,I will try my best to enjoy my afternoon tea....

Singapore is our neighbour now. Formerly it was in Malaysia. Originally,it was a Malay sultanate. According to modern history book,it was founded by Sir Stamford Raffles, but the truth is that it was founded by Sang Nila Utama , a prince from Palembang,Sumatra .Then it was  known as Temasik. That is what I told my sons and keep repeating to myself,lest I forget. It is a lesson where my people should never forget so we don't lose anymore of our land to others.

The Terrace was quite full. We were lucky to get one empty table with four chairs. The patrons were half white and half brown. Now,the brown people like me can afford the English tea formerly enjoyed by our  colonial masters. While waiting for the tea leaves to react with the hot water to give the best taste and colour, I took off my shoes and put them up on one of the chairs. Likewise, my wife followed suit. Our feet were very tired after walking through many shops along Orchard Road. They deserved a rest and we deserved our cup of tea. It was drizzling outside and drinking the hot tea was great for my body and soul.It helped to refresh and revive me.

While massaging my feet, my mind wondered why there was 6.7million tourists came to Singapore last year and STB(Singapore Tourism Board) is targeting 8 million this year? At the same time, it has transformed itself from a third world country from early 6o's to first world country in less than 40 years.It is rated as one of the best cities to do business and second only to USA in business competitiveness.  What have happened to Singapore neighbours like Indonesia,Phillipines,Thailand, Malaysia and the rest? It is all in the newpapers for the last three years since the region got embroiled in the political and economic mess,and I do not wish to rub  salts to the wounds..

I am not saying that everything is good with Singapore, but it tried harder to make a tourist like me to feel welcome-more like a business customer than a foreign visitor. On arrival at the immigration check point, we were even given some sweets.  A day before I went to Singapore, I went to Maxis office to get a roaming service for my mobile phone. To get that facilities, I was told to bring my passport and to add another RM 300 for a deposit. That condition really turned me off. When I arrived in Singapore, I just went to a Starhub office near my hotel,fill a form and got myself a new prepaid chip and connected to the world. All it took was only  five minutes and $ 18. How I wish my country will learn how to simplify things for foreigners and locals as well. Similarly, I was told that if you got a good business plan for IT business, it is so welcome here that you can set up the office within a week with some venture capital thrown in. No wonder we are having brains drain to Singapore. According my friend at MTDC, we are a few years behind Singapore in capital venture in IT business. It is no suprise that the majority of Malaysian netpreneurs still got lost in the maze of our Multimedia Super Corridor.

"I managed to get half a dozen of pancakes for Munir",said my wife. It interrupted my wondering mind but it got me back to enjoying my English tea. Pancakes is my youngest son favourite for his breakfast. The ones my wife bought are quite nice but they are  not available at our local M&S,KLCC. "Now, let us go back to our hotel and take a taxi to the airport",I said to my wife and myself. I know she is still thinking about that  leather bag that is too expensive for people like us....may be on the next trip;-)