A Tale of Two South-East Asian Democracies

Author's Note: All copyrights for the images in this comic go to their respective owners.

Yesterday marked the 80th Anniversary of Indonesia's independence from the Netherlands. However, the run-up to this special milestone was filled with protests against President Prabowo Subianto's austerity measures and the decline of democracy in Indonesia. One method used by the protesters was flying the Straw Hat Pirates flag from the anime series One Piece, which tells the story of Monkey D Luffy and his friends doing battle against rival pirates and corrupt authorities. This protest method was started by truckers who feel that the austerity measures are doing more harm to the working class. It proved to be so popular that some of the Indonesian authorities consider this method of protest an act of treason that threatens to divide the country.

Contrast this with Singapore's Housing Development Board (HDB) getting a Sega license to have Sonic celebrate SG60 with Sonic's Golden Ring Rush in 18 different malls in the run-up to the special National Day commemorating the 60th anniversary of Singapore becoming a sovereign nation-state. This is a huge win for Sega as far as their presence in Singapore is concerned.

At the end of the day, if you want to celebrate a milestone Independence Anniversary, making the people happy is far more important than you think.

SG60

Can you believe it's been 60 years since Singapore was ejected out of Malaysia? What began as one man's day of anguish became a day synonymous with true independence. Since then, we have been celebrating that very day.

Happy 60th National Day!

A Ghost Town Named Neo Tiew

If there was any part of Singapore that carries the title of "ghost town", it has to be Neo Tiew Estate. The entire area was en-bloc in 2002, with the residents moved to Jurong West. Since then, the estate is currently used by the Singapore Armed Forces for FIBUA (Fighting in Built-Up Areas) training.

VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!

Today is the day Singapore goes to the polls. As Singaporeans cast their votes, the big question is, who will prevail?

The Face of Under One Roof

Sad news, folks. Moses Lim, the man who was the face of Under One Roof, passed away at the age of 75 yesterday. His health was not in good shape since 2018, but it was in 2023 when he revealed that he had a slow pulse rate that he decided not to return to the spotlight.

Farewell, Moses Lim. You were the face of Under One Roof and Singaporean sitcom in general.

The Final Farewell Message Before RTS Became SBC

Remember the final End of Transmission announcement on 31 January 1980 before Radio Television Singapore became Singapore Broadcasting Corporation? If there was a final farewell message at the end of that End of Transmission, it would have said "Thanks For Watching! Goodbye For Now!" If such a farewell message did exist, TV viewers would have made their final goodbyes to Radio Television Singapore before it became Singapore Broadcasting Corporation on 1 February 1980.

Rejecting The Present, Embracing The Past

The Mercedes-Benz Citaro was not a terrible bus. It was, however, not as appealing as the Mercedes-Benz O405. Sayori from Doki Doki Literature Club knows that the future needs to be like the past, but better. That's why some branches of Christianity would prefer that we discard our Present-Tense Culture if we are to preserve the heritage that created our national identity.

Salute To The Nation

In this National Day-themed comic, four stick figure NS Men salute to the flag of Singapore with "1965" in Arcade font on the flag's white stripe.

Happy National Day to all readers from Singapore, including myself.

The Overdue Handover

Today is the last day of Lee Hsien Loong's reign as Singapore's Prime Minister before the historic handover because tomorrow marks the day he hands the reins over to Lawrence Wong. Lee Hsien Loong was already mulling over handing the Prime Minister role to Lawrence Wong before the pandemic, but the pandemic delayed his handover plans. In other words, this is a handover that was long overdue.

Volvo B10M The Ol' Reliable

Can you imagine that SBS Transit has been part of Singapore's roads for 50 years? Well, the Volvo B10M was a part of SBS Transit's bus fleet for over 30 years, meaning they have been the "Ol' Reliable" for more than half of the 50 years SBS Transit has been moving commuters on Singapore's roads. If that's not incredible, then which part of Singapore's public transport history is?

The Flag of Singapore that never was

While Colonial Singapore did have a flag, it is unknown if there was a flag design contest in the years leading up to self-rule in 1959. If there was a flag design contest, the proposed flag of Singapore featured in this comic would have been one of the many competing designs that eventually lost out to the current flag.

Keeping Up With Commodore

As an Australian Commodore C64 commercial slogan goes, "Are you keeping up with the Commodore? 'Cause the Commodore is keeping up with you!" The title for this comic is loosely based on that catchy slogan from the Australian Commodore C64 commercials.

There was a time when during the days of arcades being prohibited in Singapore, computer shops would let people play on computers for a rental fee. One of these computers people played on was the Commodore C64. It was simply put it, the saviour of the video game scene in Singapore during the 1980s. The Commodore C64 also became popular in Poland in the years that followed after the fall of communism (In 2016, an article was written about a Polish auto repair shop in Gdansk being the owners of a Commodore C64 that was still running for 25 years). Commodore's C64 also laid the foundations for the Amiga, another Commodore product that, like the C64, has a special place in our hearts long after Commodore went out of business. It gets better when you find out that Sega had ports of After Burner and Golden Axe on both the C64 and Amiga, even when the Sega Genesis was already available on the market at that time. How's that for an incredible legacy?

Tofu-dreg Hotel

There have been many terrible things that happened on the Ides of March, and one of them happened in 1986. That's right. We're talking about the Hotel New World Collapse in Singapore. But what we hardly know about this building collapse was that Hotel New World was one of those tofu-dregs building projects, and it was showing troubling signs several years before that fateful Ides of March in 1986...

The inquiry on the Hotel New World Collapse found that the concrete used in Hotel New World's construction did meet international building safety standards, the quality of the building foundations also met international building safety standards, and the soil the building was built on was stable. However, the one factor that made Hotel New World a tofu-dregs building project was that the draftsman did not factor in dead weight.

For a structure with building plans that did not factor in dead weight to last 15 years is an incredible feat, and that's because Hotel New World was built on stable soil with building foundations and concrete that met international building safety standards. Unfortunately, 33 people died, including Hotel New World's owner because the building plans did not factor in dead weight. As a result, tofu-dregs building projects are no longer allowed by Singapore's construction authorities, resulting in no building collapses after Hotel New World's collapse.

Stronger Together

Author's Note: The title of this comic is based on 2022's National Day theme song and is also found on the Singapore flag featured in this comic. And yes, that is the top of the SAFTI Military Institute Tower featured in this comic.

Need to know more? Below is the 2022 National Day theme song, Stronger Together:

All in all, in these dark times, we will be Stronger Together. Happy National Day.

Annual Online Sale 3

Once again, Shopee and Lazada are having an annual 6/6 Sale, which as you know, coincides with the D-Day anniversary. Unfortunately, the ongoing conflicts in other parts of the world have made important anniversaries of famous or infamous events from past conflicts mean nothing at all because the biggest cataclysms are on the horizon...

Console and Computer Equality

Let's face it. All of these consoles and computers featured in this comic would have moderate success in Singapore if not for the video game prohibition of 1983 that saw arcades banned for several years. Part of the prohibition included Singapore Broadcasting Corporation banning any telecast of video game commercials whatsoever. Even educational games such as Oregon Trail and Basic Math/Fun With Numbers were also affected by the prohibition.

While video game consoles and home computers were not banned by the prohibition, the period of that prohibition greatly affected the Commodore C64 and the Colecovision, and these two gaming machines were more popular than some of these consoles and computers featured in this comic. Sometimes, we just cannot have nice things, all because we had to protect our morals.

The Road Ahead

Let's face the reality. The Dark Times have gotten a lot darker as the Bible prophecies foretold. However, this bad news is actually preceding the best good news ever, and it's about being liberated from the evils that this Earth is suffering from since Genesis 3.

To say that I am acting like Jeremiah, you must remember that despite being one of the Holy Bible's biggest prophets of doom, Jeremiah was also one of the Holy Bible's biggest messengers of hope as well. That's why there is a glow of light at the end of the road symbolising The End of the Dark Times.

Speaking of a light at the end of the road, this year's Singapore National Day Theme Song is called "The Road Ahead", which this comic's title happens to be named after, and it is about facing the future.

Here is the music video for The Road Ahead:

If you think I do not like being positive, keep in mind that I actually like being positive. However, I am not positive about the future right now because the turbulent times are going to be even more turbulent than they normally would. This means that the Bible's prophecies concerning these turbulent times are finally being fulfilled slowly but surely...

Remembering Bukit Ho Swee

Today marks 60 years since the biggest firestorm in Singapore's history. Even though the firestorm was called the Bukit Ho Swee Inferno, the inferno actually started in Kampong Tiong Bahru. It was just that the wind conditions and the hot air caused the firestorm to spread northwards into the Bukit Ho Swee squatter settlement. The inferno was eventually denied from spreading further north by a block of flats in Delta Estate. It took 22 fire trucks and several hours to eventually extinguish the inferno. Despite the size of the inferno, the death toll was just four people. That's a very low number regarding the inferno's size, and that is excluding the chickens and pigs that were burnt alive in the inferno.

The Housing and Development Board (HDB) constructed apartments to rehouse the homeless people shortly after the inferno. To this day, Bukit Ho Swee HDB Estate stands as a monument to the memory of those who perished or were made homeless by the inferno on that fateful day.

Annual Online Sale 2

Another comic about Shopee and Lazada having an annual sale? And it's on the eleventh day of the eleventh month? The only problem is that the recently released Command and Conquer Remastered Collection will not get a special discount on Veteran's Day whatsoever, unfortunately.

Happy Veteran's Day to all armed forces veterans of the Free World.

Annual Online Sale

It's the annual 9.9 Sale, and e-commerce sites Shopee and Lazada are giving out special offers. However, the Sony PlayStation and the Sega Dreamcast are being left out of this annual special offer sale on their anniversary day. After all, who wants to celebrate milestone anniversaries of video game consoles that are no longer in production with a special offer sale?

Speaking of anniversaries, happy anniversary Sony PlayStation and Sega Dreamcast.