Chloe showed me this video. Very funny and like what Hossan Leong promises, it’s a concise history of Singapore. But to fully understand all the references and the humour, you probably would have to live in Singapore for quite a while. Nonetheless, the two paras after the video would help in explaining some of the lyrics of the song (in italics) to some extent.

Singapura very strong
Big guns all pointing wrong
Japanese came on bikes
Invade us from our backside

IMF must smile more
Want to protest go indoor

“SINGAPORE: Civil Society Organisations have expressed disappointment with the 14 by 8 metre space allocated to them for indoor protests within Suntec Singapore.

Police say the IMF/World Bank joint secretariat had been consulted when choosing the site.

The area, demarcated by four poles, is where protests will be allowed during the Annual Meetings.

Police say a sizeable number of delegates who come in coaches will have to pass through this security checkpoint before entering the convention hall, hence giving the civil groups ample visibility.

Over 500 civil society organisations have been accredited by the IMF World Bank, but the police does not expect the majority of them to stage an indoor protest at the same time.

The police added that even though demonstrations are allowed here, they will move in to control the crowd if the crowd got too rowdy.

Wooden placards and metal poles will also not be allowed for safety reasons, and police will provide cardboard and paper poles.

This protest space is offered on a first come first served basis.”

See full Channel NewsAsia story here.

Full lyrics to song here on Hossan Leong’s blog. Think I also saw Marianne, an old schoolmate of mine among the audience in the video.