"Excuse me, are you Singaporean?"

I hollered about this on Twitter and Facebook last week, but thought I should plonk it here for posterity.

Magazine publisher Burda Singapore decided to launch a new women's magazine, August Woman, and they hired my smart and funny friend Ci'en to be the editor. A month before I moved house, Ci'en contacted me and said hey, for our debut issue, would you like to write the "Last Word", an opinion piece on the last page of the magazine about any current social issue.

Despite being behind on packing, and still having to buy stuff for the new flat, and having no idea what I would write about, I said yes.

Fortunately, I made Ci'en's deadline with a piece that made her happy and that didn't require much editing. It's called "Excuse me, are you Singaporean?" (yes, with a nod to you-know-who) and here's a line that was cut from the final version (because of word count) that gives you an idea of what it's about:

...whether they’re pink-NRIC-carrying non-Chinese, work permit-carrying migrant workers or non-white travellers.

The magazine is selling for $6.90 in stores now --- look for the classy white cover with a black and white photograph of Kylie Minogue on it.

If you read women's magazines, grab a copy. If you don't but wouldn't mind supporting my writing, grab a copy --- I promise you that my article doesn't mention a single cosmetic product or fashion tip, although it does talk about how we look to each other.