Everywhere in downtown Singapore one can see the logo of the Games, visible here in the center of the arch and on the supporting columns, the blue silhouette of a person whose legs, arms and head (in the shape of a red flame) form the five points of a star. At the top of the columns are the mascots of the games, Lyo and Merly, which look like children's toys. They also can be seen in numerous places around town.
It is symptomatic of this city-state with a paternalistic government that organizers of this sport event can come up only with such infantile and artless symbols.
Singapore will celebrate tomorrow the 45th anniversary of its birth as a nation after its separation from Malaysia. It has accomplished much in 45 years and is one of the Asian economic miracles, but in a tightly controlled society (the People's Action Party has ruled for 45 years and has control of the media) in which the arts have not been a priority until relatively recently, creativity and an artistic sense are hard to come by ...
