One big personal downside for me if National loses this election: it will render obsolete my overused device of transitioning seamlessly from making fun of Don Brash's Singaporeanwifeisms, to making fun of Singaporean politics.
You might just have to put up with a lot more anecdotes about my mother. Liddat also can.
Although I barred his nomination for last month's Asian Freedom Slag Awards, Singapore's Mr Brown has just linked to me as part of some grober culture thing called Blogday. I worry for all those S'poreans who clicked through and wondered fruitlessly, like Don Brash undoubtedly has, just what a 'Maori' is. They may also be wondering who the hell 'Brash' is, whether you can eat a 'Brownlee', if this 'Treaty' is something to do with free trade agreements, and what's an 'election' anyway?
Dear S'poreans: New Zealand is having one of its free and fair general elections campaigns. We have them every three years, and they are loads of fun, honest! Politicians get heckled, mud gets slung, race cards loaded, policies get made up on the fly, people decide on the fate of their country, usually by voting for the person they despise the least, and best of all, no-one gets sued, imprisoned or bankrupted. We have this thing here called 'healthy disrespect.'
Most relevantly for all of you in Singapore, the leader (Don Brash) of the main right-wing party (the National Party) uses his Singaporean wife as a symbol of his... uh ...I dunno, international-banking commitment to human rights and free speech? Preference for a one-party corporate state? Or... um... a love of pretty secretaries?
Depending on how the next few weeks go: that may be one of the last gasps of this torturous motif, or the beginning of a longstanding tradition.
Director of Singapore Rebel Martyn See was interviewed on Radio New Zealand this morning, and chose his words very carefully. It's very likely that he is facing prison or an enormous fine for producing a 'political film'. He said he's trying not to think about it, as stressing too much about becoming a political prisoner would really interfere with his daily work routine.
Linda Clark: Is there anything in this film that is seditious or dangerous?
Martyn See: Not at all, I was very careful of that, the defamation culture in Spore is well known...
The film does not contain a single mention of the Singapore Democratic Party at all. It was basically a portrait of an opposition politician going about his work. [...] It’s [beyond] censorship, it’s like I’m making pornography now. [Also illegal in Singapore by the way.]
Clark: What does [the way you've been treated] say about your government?
See: If you ask me these questions off the air, I can answer you honestly.
Singapore Rebel is receiving a free screening in Christchurch, next Wednesday. Or you can just download it here.