O Singapore! Stories in Celebration is a satiricalshort story collection written by Singaporean writer Catherine Lim, first published in 1989[1] by Times Edition Pte Ltd. The stories are meant to poke fun of the parochial Singaporean government and its people.
"The Malady and The Cure": A civil servant, school principal Mr Sai Koh Phan, is wracked by a painful malady which incapacitates him. He is horrified by the prescribed cure – going against the admonitions of the ruling political party.
"Sorry...Temporary Aberrations": The Vice-Counsul is affected by spells of leering jokes during his public speeches, and traces the cause to a Chinese young man affected by hereditary licentiousness.
"Kiasuim: A Socio-Historico-Cultural Perspective": A Caucasian professor writes an anthropological paper on the most salient phenomenon on Singapore soil: kiasuism.
"In Search of (A Play)": An unmarried couple, the westernized Miss Sharilyn Zelda Lee Swee Mei and Chinese-educated Mr Chow Pock Mook, are aghast at their dates as arranged by the nation's Social Enhancement Unit (SEU).
"Goonalaan's Beard": An Indian keeps his beard uncut and unwashed to protest over Singaporeans' spinelessness and materialism.
"A Singapore Fairy Tale": A young man has to stump the Wise Man of Singapore in order to marry the most beautiful princess in the country.
"The Concatenation": Mr Wong Cheer Kia and Mrs Esther Wong debate whether to have another child.
"'Write, Right, Rite'; Or 'How Catherine Lim Tries to Offer only the Best on the Altar of Good Singapore Writing'": The author tries to write the Great Singapore Short Story for the International Writer's Conference in Oslo, only to be inundated by protests and requests from Singapore's various statutory departments.
