SINGAPORE, Nov 23 — There are moments when I lose all hope in this country.
When I see Lavender food court closed to make way for perhaps yet another high-rise fanciful condominium or the cost of owning a car and more recently when I read that from 2016 the shisha and all its accessories would be completely banned in Singapore.
Now I’m not partial to the pipe myself. On the few occasions I’ve tried it, I’ve found myself coughing and spluttering even before any smoke is inhaled. But that’s just me and I know a lot of people find the Middle Eastern pipe relaxing and some of my happiest memories see me sitting in the different corners of Arab Street holding a cold drink and chatting with friends as they puffed away.
Singapore’s shisha renaissance saw dozens of Middle Eastern bars open across Arab Street and Kampong Glam; it was perhaps part of the city’s transition away from being purely a business hub into a destination for night life.
But puffing away on your pipe listening to blaring Arabic pop and nursing a hot mint tea on a street corner is a world away from the city’s high spending mega clubs and casinos.
It felt different. Those little interwoven lanes. It was more relaxed. Side-stepping the tourists down Haji Lane to Baghdad Lane — it was a neighbourhood that felt real, lived in and soulful.
This activity was simple, social, fun — I won’t say harmless. I don’t doubt the figures and research that say the shisha is no less harmful than regular cigarettes but the point is we don’t ban cigarettes so why such a draconian ban on this one activity?
According to the parliamentary secretary of health and the Health Promotion Board who lobbied for the ban, the rationale is to prevent the habit from becoming entrenched.
However the board’s own research shows that just 2.6 per cent of Singaporeans occasionally partake in shisha — which hardly seems like an entrenched pastime, so why privilege certain vices and punish others? Gambling was banned in this city for decades but now it has been allowed to become entrenched.
Also with restrictions already imposed on these cafes in 2013 with indoor smoking banned and outdoor smoking permitted only in designated areas, the pastime was already in decline.
The number of cafes has fallen by almost 50 per cent in the last year. So again why the need for arguably the world’s most comprehensive shisha ban? In London, Paris and New York, outdoor shisha cafes still function and you remain free to import all the smoking paraphernalia you want.
There are also unfair racial repercussions.
It has always been particularly popular among young Muslims of Malay, Arab and Indian descent. People who don’t imbibe in alcohol, often favoured the pipe as a form of relaxation. The ban will undoubtedly have a disproportionate effect on the social lives of these young Muslims and the community they have built.
Is shisha marginalised because it does not belong to the majority?
Or is the main culprit the government’s fixation on real estate development? Has Arab Street been deemed too valuable for assorted hookah pedlars? After all, more revenue might be squeezed out of high-end boutique hotels.
But how much luxury can you squeeze into a country and how much of a country will be left if you remove every ounce of its charm to calculate profit?
Whatever the reasoning, it’s one less freedom and one less space for ordinary Singaporeans. And that’s a shame.
* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
