When what is yours is NOT yours

We learn something new everyday and today, I learnt something new about myself and my country.

It turns out after all, that my body isn't mine. It belongs to Singapore.

I guess somewhere in my subconscious mind, I had accepted that to a certain degree, brainlessly accepting the practice of applying for exit permits whenever I traveled. Still, applying for exit permits is so demeaning - that you need permission to travel abroad still grates on me. This starts when a Singaporean male is 13 years of age and above.

There is also the small matter of a $75,000 bond or 50% of the combined annual gross income of both parents, whichever is higher, if your exit permit exceeds 2 years or more. So that's how much a Singaporean son is worth. Now we know.

Anyway, I became accustomed to the whole practice.

This piece of news though was a shock to the system. Basically this young gentleman traveled to Amsterdam where amongst the many delights that he partook of - he indulged in the consumption of drugs, specifically a cannabinol derivative. He was eventually found out and arrested and admitted to the consumption of drugs in Amsterdam - 10480.89 kilometers away from Singapore. Let's lay aside the information that he was found with cannabis at his home after he returned from Amsterdam.

The prosecutor in charge of his case had this to say - that as a Singaporean citizen, we are not authorised to take drugs both outside and within Singapore. I am in no way advocating that what the guy did was right but surely there must have been an error somewhere. Authorised? For something he did abroad?

Curious, I looked it up at Singapore Statutes Onlines and sure enough there it was - an actual law, prohibiting any Singaporean from consuming drugs even outside of Singapore.

As I said, we learn something new everyday and what I learnt today irks me.
I applaud the fact that we are tough on drugs and consumption of drugs but in my heart is the sad realization that I have discovered yet another set of unseen chains upon me.

It's restrictive and I hate it.

Today, I learnt that;
1) We are literally Singapore's resource.
2) We cannot do whatever we want to ourselves.
3) They were not kidding when they wrote the lyrics to "We are Singapore"
4) We need authorization to travel abroad (if you happen to be male and Singaporean)
5) We need authorization to consume drugs (I don't want to but damn, layer upon layer of restrictions)
6) I am fed up with restrictions
7) How many more obscure rules are there waiting for someone to trip over them?

Altogether now ..."We are Singapore, we are Singapore"