"Emancipate yourself from mental slavery - none but ourselves can free our minds." - Bob Marley.

Two weeks ago, I was invited by the Oriental Daily News to give a talk on the tale of two cities - Singapore and Johor Baru (JB) that is - along with a Singaporean panelist. The event was held in Foon Yew High School in JB, my alma mater, and graced by the special appearance of Tang Liang Hong , the political dissident who crossed swords with Lee Kuan Yew and fled to JB, forcing the latter to forego all his diplomatic niceties by branding JB a city "notorious for shooting, mugging and car-jacking" way back in 1997 (no politics on campus! Nab the troublemakers!).

Raised near the southern gateway of Malaysia, I can empathize with the Chinese in Johor in regard to their profound ambivalence towards the island state. We all grew up watching Singapore TV, and many of us learned to hum Majulah Singapura joyously before we were taught to sing Negaraku in solemnity.

Being the closest First World country to Malaysia, many Johoreans naturally benchmark their daily life against what they see on Singapore TV: from the highly efficient MRT and superb bus connection to the bizarre mania over Hello Kitty toys few years ago, and often watch with simmering jealousy the political and economic clouts of Chinese Singaporeans. Ah! The unpatriotic and ungrateful lot.

In short, as far as the Chinese in the south are concerned, there is virtually no escaping from the omnipresent Singapore.