Scantily Clad Babes In Singapore

National service for
Chingay 2011

Stop the press! Singapore is among 9 locations chosen for the 2011 issue of Sports Illustrated, along with others such as Philippines' Boracay Island and the Canandian town of Banf. They say anyone who tells you they buy Playboy to read the articles may be a liar, but those who pick up copies of SI make no pretences about their purchase. And it's not about the swimwear either.

Fashion photographer Wee Khim accurately noted Singapore is an unusual pick to photograph bikini babes as the beaches here "are not pristine" and there there are "no wide open spaces or beautiful horizons." Truth hurts. Annex IV of MARPOL 73/78 (International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution From Ships) does not require vessels below 400 tonnes to be fitted with a sewage treatment plant. Yup, those little boats you espy on the horizon while inclining on Palawan Beach are dumping nasty stuff into the water.

It appears that the Singapore Tourist Promotion Board (STB) "invited" the magazine to shoot here. At a price. When asked how much it spent to invite the magazine here, Chang Chong Pey, Executive Director of Brand Management, Destination Marketing and Strategic Marketing at STB (now that's quite a mouthful right there), declined to say. President Ong Teng Cheong probably had a easier time querying about the amount of Singapore's financial reserves. So, you can tell us, but then you'll have to shoot us?

Each time the civil servants embark on a spending binge like money is going out of style, they always claim to help profile Singapore as fun/ vibrant/ exciting /cool (delete where applicable). Didn't taxpayers already shell out for F1, YOG, etc? Besides, Singapore was already featured on Top Chef, The Martha Stewart Show, The Amazing Race, and De Dana Dan the Bollywood movie? Oops, was taxpayers' money involved there too?

If it's bikini babes STB is after, you would have thought the PA had already put on quite a show at Chingay this year. The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations lists "too much of a good thing" as a proverbial phrase and dates it from the late 15th century. It's still applicable today.