Paranoia

I couldn't find a picture of the faregates at the Singapore MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) system on the internet. Those that I did find where too small compared with the picture of the Seoul faregate/turnstile in my last blog entry.

In this age of the digital camera, where you can capture almost any image on your own, taking a picture of the faregates at the Singapore MRT system may be a simple, even trivial, undertaking, particularly when the MRT station is downstairs where I live. However, it may prove a costly undertaking. That's because the MRT (subway) system in Singapore is now heavily patrolled by arms-bearing soldiers. It is now not uncommon to meet a pair or more of these soldiers either standing or walking through the tunnels carrying mean-looking automatic rifles where, usually, only commuters are seen.

So, no, I will not be taking any pictures in or around the MRT stations whether they are above ground or underground. It'll probably save me having to explain myself in the police station. Neither will I post any picture not taken by me to avoid any mistaken suspicion that this blog is anything but a personal journal. If you want to look at a Singapore MRT fairgate, you will need to surf over to the respective SMRT / Transitlink websites to look at them, if they are available in the first place.

I do not apologise for this paranoia, for as Andy Grove said in his book of the same title, only the paranoid survives. And this is exactly the approach that Singapore is taking with regards to the terrorist threat. I am all for it though it might take away some of my 'civil liberties'.