What's the point, Singapore?

There's been a campaign playing on the TV recently.

About a man "travelling" through the decades, strumming the guitar, against backdrops of iconic buildings and streets, flashing his pearlie whites, singing with a perpetual plastered smile - as if there isn't a care in the world, as if he doesn't have any bills to pay.

"Let's make our world the most beautiful home...."

And the chant went on and on and on..........



The official info tab that came with it.

"This music video brings viewers on a journey to witness the key milestones that took place in Singapore's transformation into a clean and green city. "Lets make our world the most beautiful home"... "



The irony is, this music video actually brought tears to my eyes.

Hell no, please do not for even a nanosecond think that I am TOUCHED by the cheesy jingle. Neither am I that swayed by the campaign's message that I'll cease emitting carbon dioxide by never exhaling again..

In fact, I wouldn't give a hoot for this campaign.

Or for any campaigns for that matter.

The truth is, I miss the scenes of the backdrop.

I caught shots of Cuppage Centre, Fitzpatrick at Supreme House (the former Park Mall) in the MV.

And of course, the old skool wet market.

They were all part of my growing up. Come weekends, my dad would always bring the whole family out to Cuppage Centre for the very famous Beef Noodles. Thereafter, we would drop by Fitzpatrick for grocery shopping.

The visit to the wet market just a street across was a weekly Sunday morning affair with my mum.

She would bring me along, stopping at the fishmonger first, then the vegetable stall, turned around to the tofu stall, proceed to the butcher, then get eggs, finally proceed up to the second storey for wanton mee for breakfast.

Sometimes, we would pass by the shoe stall, and mum would buy me a pair of canvas shoes.

I also got my first bra from one of the stalls there.

I remember her conversations with the stallholders:

"Today's Bai Cang Yu (white pomfret) pretty or not? Fresh one?"

"Can include a few stalks of spring onions?"

"Give me 50 cents of tau gey (beansprouts)."

"Am cooking sweet and sour pork tonight for 5 persons. Give me an amount suitable, and the best cut u recommend for the dish!"

Come a few weeks before Chinese New Year, my mum would make a reservation for a good-sized chicken as offering to the ancestors.

I remembered once, I went alone to the butcher to get some meat, only to realise that I've not brought enough money. The Uncle told me it's ok, just pay the rest the next time.

These were precious pieces of my childhood memories.

Recently, news have sprouted that more wet markets are giving way to "supermarket-operated markets".

Along with that, are gone with the communality of the old wet markets, where A knows B and B knows C and D etc.....

Searching for a good babysitter/nanny? Ask around the market.

Want coconut milk from freshly grated coconut? Get it from the market.

Want to know the ratio of garlic-shallots-chilli for chicken rice chilli? Ask around the market.

Of course, the dirty linen can be asked around the market too.

The point is, Sean would never get to know this communal way of life that his mum grew up with.

The main reason that the wet markets have to go is that the new ones, with their longer operating hours, can cater to the needs of the current market.

Is it really?

Do I really need to listen to "retail personnel" speaking with heavily China-accented mandarin?

Do I really need to ask them what cut of meat do I take for sweet and sour pork, only to be met with blank empty stares?

So what if I can buy meat/vegetables/eggs/salt/tofu/cotton wool/foolscap paper at 9.48pm, can I get them to throw in some stalks of spring onion for me out of goodwill?

Don't get me wrong. It's not the loss of freebies I'm feeling sore about.

It's the loss of belonging to a close-knitted community that has grown old together, where grand-parents bring their grand-chidren along for their marketing, and where these grand-children grow up together, and then bring their grand-children along to do marketing....

It's almost like the loss of altruistic relationship building.

Generations and generations of memories, are all but to give way to cater to the needs of today.

It's a pity then, that people today do not need such memories of altruism.

The brains behind the campaign must be feeling quite pleased about themselves now.

Sleek effects, smooth transition from the old to the modern, maybe a catchy jingle.

"Let's make our world the most beautiful home...."

Yeah right.

How to make it beautiful? When you are slowly but surely hacking away the walls of it?