Top five career moves for Singa the Lion
There’s nothing quite like death to make a point. Even when it comes to telling Singaporeans how ungracious they are.
Call it clever marketing or whatever, terminating (via resignation that is) “Singa the Lion” has certainly worked for its zookeepers at the Singapore Kindness Movement.
Nothing like the "death" of a local icon (who had been pretty much been ignored of late up to this point, frankly) to spark buzz on social and mainstream media -- it’s way more effective than holding a press conference and feeding guests with bee hoon and juice boxes.
It’s an old tactic though.
The comic gods killed Superman when readership of his comics started plunging, and he was dutifully resurrected after a while.
And who can forget when the leader of the Autobots, Optimus Prime first died (he’s died and come back alive many times) in the mid-1980s. I was in primary school. I couldn’t sleep the night my pretend girlfriend in class told me about it. I swore to take revenge on Megatron, if he ever came to the western region of Singapore, that is.
So, as you can tell, there’s nothing like some kind of extreme measure to pump up interest in something. Now, with Singa, part of the interest stems from the public’s anticipation on what will happen next – if or when the character will return to life.
So while the “courtesy” lion takes a break and wonders if he will get to make a comeback, here are some other career options for him to consider.
1. Singha Beer Spokesman/Mascot
Singa has given up on Singaporeans so maybe he can venture to Thailand to “find himself” while earning a few bucks working for the Singha beer brand. If he needs some pointers on how to make it in the corporate world, maybe he can seek out another famous local mascot, the Productivity Bee. In his heyday in the 1970s and 1980s, ‘Teamy the Bee" was a big shot celebrity. Who knows what happened to him. Perhaps he quietly quit because he couldn’t get Singapore companies to be productive enough.
2. Member of Parliament
Imagine how fun it would be to have him sitting in during Parliament sessions! Of course, his opponents will focus on his flaws and point at how his roar turned into a whimper when he resigned from the Singapore Kindness Movement. But as we all know, just like in showbiz, people don’t tend to remember your mistakes very long in politics. And he could quite possibly eat up his rivals, literally. Other political candidates won’t be able to do that.
3. Assistant national football coach
Okay, so the FAS has already hired a coach for the Singapore national team but maybe Bernd Stange needs a crash course on local culture. Singa should keep watch. He should send them his resume to keep in their files, and pounce into the game just in case the new coach messes up. But he should also consider maybe teaming up with legendary football icon Fandi Ahmad who runs his own football academy. There's been criticism that Singapore hasn’t given back much to Fandi after all he has done for the country. Singaporeans have supposedly failed Singa, too, by not becoming gracious enough.
4. Flight steward
With complaints that service on Singapore Airlines is on the way down, what better way to boost the airline's image than a big furry orange lion. Singa is the expert in all matters related to courtesy and graciousness, so all he needs to do is get a shorter haircut and he could be a shining example of excellent service in the skies. What a great way then it would be to fly.
5. Merlion Park Security
Some say the Merlion is actually Singa’s great-great-great-great-great grandfather who had a thing for mermaids back in the day. Recently, protesters at the Merlion Park were arrested. Singa could be the perfect security guard to be stationed at the park. He could be a walking tour guide regaling tourists with ye olde tales about Singapura as well as on the significance of the Merlion (while biting off the heads of protesters).
The writer is a freelance journalist. He can be reached via @SatishCheney. He stresses this article is not to be taken seriously. He still misses ‘Teamy the Bee’.
