40 on 40: Episode 10: Creating and Capturing the Singapore Experience

Episode 10: Creating and Capturing the Singapore Experience

First aired: Thursday, August 18, 2005, 7:30 pm
Episode summary by Singapore TV

NATIONAL SERVICE - The definitive experience of being Singaporeans for any Singapore male - and their mothers, girlfriends, sisters and wives. National service is not just a rite of passage for males growing up in Singapore, it provides the avenue for guys from all social and cultural background to interact as equals and find common ground.

CHINESE DRAMA & LOCAL TELEVISION - The maturing of television in the 1980s provided Singaporeans a chance to see what they had been missing for the first 20 years of television - local stories and local characters. Where Dallas, Charlie's Angels, Hawaii Five-O and Hong Kong serials once dominated prime time, suddenly Singaporeans saw the flowering of local talent bringing to life very local stories - and it all started with Channel 8 dramas. The dramas created our very own celebrity craze. And they captured not just a Chinese audience, but subtitle reading audiences as well.

SOCCER - In the heyday of the Malaysia Cup, soccer came to symbolize what it meant to identify yourself as Singaporean. Across races, backgrounds and experiences, people were united by the Kallang Roar. Today the S League tries to create a different Singapore experience - an identification with one's neighbourhood. Is Singapore too small for this to happen or is that a dream ahead of its time?

by MediaCorp

About the show

Lim Yu Beng hosts this 13-episode exposé into Singapore's many systems made good. Identifying 40 truly Singaporean trends, and crossing the nation's 40th birthday to end in late August, 40 on 40 will make you rethink home as you know it. English subtitling will also be included in each episode to allow everyone to enjoy the show, including the hearing impaired.

It's a chance at questioning what could have been and what if some trends were continued. For example, imagine if water rationing is still the norm, going on holidays meant a trip up the Cameron Highlands, that National Service was not compulsory for every male, and if there was no Esplanade?

To keep you warm and fuzzy, reminisce about how there was a public debate on what kind of seats MRT trains should have (steel or cushions), the first ATM machines springing up in 1970s for accessible banking and the "Stop at 2" baby campaign. Fast forward to the present and you would say hello to the emerging norms of a Singaporean household today: an indispensable tuition teacher, the ever-necessary maid in tow, and the kiasu Singaporean parent keeping up with the education system. Ah. Home sweet home.

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