Today is a day of introspection, for Singaporean bloggers have been charged with the unforgiveable sin of being infantile. By who, you ask? Know only that he is a non-local. I will not link the entry here, since doing so will not only provide the writer more credence than is his due, but will also render my blog more mature by hyperlink association.

The latter must not happen because I must remain infantile, if only to spite.

Rather than rage and rant in a philosophical defense of local blogs, I will instead write about what I call "mental colonialism".

Any one who has studied a bit of local history (heck, history period) knows what colonialism is. Mental colonialism is its less tangible counterpart. Like its cousin, mental colonialism seeks to impose a set of foreign rules, guidelines and perceptions on the subverted. Unlike its cousin, mental colonialism is still prevalent today, and can be seen in international prescriptive politics where politicians blithely criticize other politicians using their own set of moral and political values. More often than not, Singapore has been accused by Western observers to be technocratic. We are likened to brainless and apathetic lambs, while any display of outspokenness, whether appropriate or not, is lauded as a sign of maturity.

In a day and age where their own political administration and ways of life are in unheaval, these mental colonialists cannot but help impose their standards on others. In little or significant ways, they tell us how we should speak, how we should think, how we should behave.

Now, we are told how to blog.

I am constantly amazed at their audacity. On the other hand, I also wonder why these people do not return to their own country, or if they are already there, why they continue to bother with us. Out of goodwill? So that we can see the error of our ways and repent?

It is not that I am narrow-minded. Anyone can post a comment below this, and tell me in no uncertain terms that I suck. By all means, offer suggestions and comments. This is not a society that does not condone voices which are not our own.

But, and it's a huge but here, do not tell us how to run our lives. The age of colonialism is over. South East Asia might have been under the thumbs of Western super powers for a long time (some say we are still under their economic thumbs), but we are slowly coming into our own. Grow with us by all means, but do not enforce standards of western thought and perceptions on us, or label us ignorant, uncivilized brutes when we reject prescriptive advice.

Globalization might mean that the lines between East and West have been blurred beyond recognition, but that does not give anyone the authority to disrespect our ways of life.

Is this an over-reaction to a sole, disrespectful, possibly elitist Westerner? Very likely. I have foreign acquaintances too, and am not so stupid as to lump all of them together. Do not mistake this post as a diatribe against all things Western: I am a person brought up by both bah gwah and McDonald's.

But do I think that labeling Singapore blogs as infantile is a disturbing instance of mental colonialism?

Undoubtably yes.