Pink Dot 2014: For Family, For Friends, For Love

Pink Dot 2014: Pink Dot believes in the Freedom to Love!
Daniel Smith Watercolours with De Atramentis Ink on Moleskine

I was there to be counted.

The first Pink Dot SG event took place at the Speakers' Corner in Hong Lim Park on May 16, 2009.

It started as a dot of about 2500, made up of pink umbrellas and then it grew, as love does, into 4000 the next year.

And then it exploded. Exponentially.

“More than 10000!” screamed the headlines in 2011. It also inspired the organisation of international renditions of Pink Dot in locations like Utah, New York, Hong Kong, Anchorage and Koahsiung and subsequently Okinawa as well in 2012.

And then, in 2013, the number multiplied again, like any healthy organism would, into more than 20000. A night Pink Dot event recorded the love and acceptance of an illuminating pink glow shining bright against the evening backdrop.

And then this year. 2014.

It is the first year where the event received negative attention. The opposition came from organisations that preach love as a universal language.

"You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life." ~ Winston Churchill

How did the public respond to the opposition? By accepting the message that is preached, of course, and made a record-breaking turnout of 26000 persons in attendance at the Pink Dot event.

I believe that every individual has the right to live their life as who they are, without fear and prejudice. I believe every individual has the right to live their life with dignity and grace.

I am proud to stand up and be counted. I will always stand up for this cause to be counted.

To find out more about Pink Dot and what it stands for, click here.

Pink Dot over the years...

June Sketchwalk: Whampoa - Masjid Hajjah Rahimabi Kebun Limau along Whampoa River

Masjid Hajjah Rahimabi Kebun Limau
Daniel Smith Watercolours on Moleskine Folio Watercolour Album - A3

The Masjid Hajjah Rahimabi Kebun Limau is sited on a 573 square metres land on Kim Keat Road. It started as a 2 storey building mainly serving as a surau (prayer hall) for the Kebun Limau Muslim community. In 1981, Mrs. Hajjah Rahimabi Ahmad Angullia donated $1.6 million to the building of a new mosque on the site.

A mosque was then built on the existing plot and renamed Masjid Hajjah Rahimabi Ahmad Angullia – Kebun Limau in honour of the generosity of Mrs. Hajjah Rahimabi. The two domes on the roof forms skylights that reduce the need for artificial lighting.

I remember hearing its evening calls to prayer as a child: the Sunday ones were especially poignant. That hour marks the end of the weekend and the imminence of Monday the next.

The Whampoa river runs along next to the mosque. What is now part of a series of storm canals in Singapore used to a natural river. It was then made into a canal and later into its current state: a water park that connect various housing estates along its journey to the Marina Barrage.

Bottle Tree Park hits the deep end of the pond...

View of the 'kelong' over the pond at Bottle Tree Park

Daniel Smith Watercolour on 12" x 9" Saunders Waterford Rough White paper

"Last ditch efforts to save Bottle Tree Park in Yishun have come to nought, as the attraction will close by the end of next month.

The park, which first opened 10 years ago, will finally close its doors after its operator moves out of the leafy surrounds, despite recently putting in a bid to re-develop the area, whose lease expires on Aug 18." - Caroline Khew for MyPaper

I read the above with a tinge of sadness, though it wasn't unexpected. Everything on this space-tight island-nation-city-state runs on the mantra of 'commercial viability' and 'highest bidder'. For a long while, it has been a wonder how this place sustained itself profitably - a piece of land with no entrance fee and charges only for dining at the restaurant (which isn't all that, honestly) and a 'fishing fee' for a chance to fish in the ponds.

Call me a cynic, but I guess I've been proven right, regrettably. The current tenant has since lost its lease in a bidding war to the rights of the land. The future of the land now hangs in the balance: will continue with its current hippie vibe or will we see a brick and mortar colossal, bright shining in the sun with its metal and glass?

It's not rocket science, I suppose.