The King's Madness

The Lion City -- was this named after proud and haughty lion? or a brave and inquisitive lion cub Jupiter, whose notions of justice, equality, and love may surprise even the most severe male chauvinist. Most people think that polygamy is the pet dream of a male paradise. But who wins and who loses in this paradise? Our young Jupiter faces this dilemma as he grapples with a social system that will ultimately force him into the wilderness. He is destined for greatness. But what is the price he has to pay? And is he willing to pay it? The Singapura legend tells of the founding of the Lion City. This is an alternative narrative that explores which notion of social justice and gender politics is this city founded upon.

We all know that the prince in the Singapura legend was not monogamous. He was polygamous. But it was polygamy reserved only for the few rich and powerful. For every king or prince or minister who had more than one wife, there was one more poor man at the bottom of the social hierarchy who would have no wife. And everyone else in between had only one wife. Everyone else had to be monogamous, That was the zero sum game of gender ratio for our prince and his society.

In contrast, the gender politics of a pride of lion is polygamy without restraint. The king lion drives every other male lion away. His is the winner-takes-all-wives version of polygamy. The question is : does our little lion cub subscribe to this version of polygamy?