Neil Humphreys > Quotes

“Cultural connections? Where did you learn that? In your metropolitan police cultural classes? He was an Indian Muslim. I’m a Chinese bastard. Apart from eating satay, I’ve probably got more in common with you than him. And we’ve got nothing in common.”
― Neil Humphreys, Bloody Foreigners

“Haw Par Villa is the nutty exception. It's mad, slightly unhinged and overwhelmingly rubbish. Without a doubt, Haw Par Villa is the Louis Tussaus House of Wax of Singapore. There is no higher compliment (...) For it's own sake, Haw Par Villa still had to be terrible, macabre, distasteful and offensive.”
― Neil Humphreys, Saving a Sexier Island: Notes from an Old Singapore

“The rising wave of nostalgia and an increasing interest in heritage sites and historic buildings is perhaps not only a sense of yearning for a lost Singapore, but also the recognition that neither 1959 nor 1965 marked Year One (...) In all the campaigns and features on Singapore's 50th anniversary that I've come across, the Kranji War Memorial was never mentioned. It just doesn't fit the slender narrative. That's such a shame because the cemetery is a fitting, dignified tribute to thousands of Singapore heroes, both local and foreign.”
― Neil Humphreys, Saving a Sexier Island: Notes from an Old Singapore

“No one in France has that accent. No one has a French accent like that, except on TV, when English actors show that they are French by speaking English in a French accent that no French person ever actually uses. But we have come to accept that. We want Hercule Poirot because it sounds intelligent and travelled and cultured and everything that we’re not, British or Asian.”
― Neil Humphreys, Bloody Foreigners

“New becomes stale and old becomes fresh. The impractical, ageing estate long ago left behind to Singapore's pioneers and their homemade tofu stalls takes on a certain irreverence and originality; an anarchic streak even. It goes against the architectural grain. It stands out in a crowd, a rebel with curves. The reclusive behaviour only adds to the appeal. So the old place becomes "hip".”
― Neil Humphreys

“You may disagree. Personal history and national history do not always overlap, a point often overlooked in some of the broad strokes applied to the SG50 celebrations. But do consider your choices. In the age of Buzzfeed, we love lists. Make your own. No two lists will be the same, but collectively, they all say the same thing. They are all in search of a soul.”
― Neil Humphreys

“The residents blamed the "Gahmen", naturally. Since the explosion of social media, those "Gahmen" guys have been blamed for everything from HDB flat prices to the price of oil, climate change, the shortage of Hello Kitty dolls and kids not clearing their trays away at hawker centres.”
― Neil Humphreys, Saving a Sexier Island: Notes from an Old Singapore