Saturday, July 29, 2006

Singapore Loves You...not

Ask not if your country loves you, or ask not if you love your country?
Which should come first?

As National Day approaches, I want to write about our love for Singapore or the lack of it and vice versa. Here is the question...in your heart do you truthfully love the nation? Sadly for me, no. Honestly and seriously NO. Is that ungrateful or worse disloyal? Let me explain further.

Singapore does provide the facilities that is impossible or difficult elsewhere. We have alot of material achievements and belongings. We do have far above average living standards. We feel safe and very secure. But does that make us a nation? Do we have any national identity?

Nation identity? Isn't that the bak chor mee or the roti prati? No, it's not all that. A nation identity is something that bonds a group of people together, something that transform a piece of empty land into a collective nation. It's the "glue" held the people together to form this notion called "nation". What consisted of this glue? Here are some of the most common ingredients.
  1. Race
  2. Language
  3. Culture
  4. Religion or Ideology
  5. History and Geography
In Singapore case, a, b, c, d and e are all out. Our forefathers came from all over Asia, with not a single common thread among us. Singapore is born without much of a choice and by accident. After being unceremoniously booted out the Malaysia, we were cast adrifted with no identity of our own. After over 40 years of intenstive "nation buliding", unfortunately but unsurprising we are still without any identity of our own. As such, how can I or anyone love a nation that does exist only on words and paper but not in the heart and soul of the people. In Singapore, the state is always before the individual. Individuals work for the good of the state but never because of the love of the state. It's the same way that ants work for the good of nest but never for the love of the nest. It's only with an identity, that people can truthfully love their nation.

So what are we doing wrong?
Well, nothing.
Yes, we are done nothing wrong.
Buliding a nation identity takes a more than a lifetime. Look at China, India, UK, all of them have long histories and tough struggles; wars, kings and tyrants before forming their own nation identity. Singapore would be no exception to the rule. Singapore is still young as nation goes, not even half a century old and without any natural ingredients of nationhood mentioned earlier. (a ~ e)

But we have done nothing much right either
In the 40 last years, Singapore had been actively educating its citzens on how rich we are, how clever we are and how many bulidings we have bulit. All of these are legitimate tools of nation buliding, making us feel better about ourselves and developing a sense of pride. However, times have moved on, but the methods have not.

From the recent news on Racial Harmory Day, we are still harping on along the same lines all these years. "You are a Malay, I am a Chinese. You respect me, I respect you." We have been told that Singapore multi-racial society needs very careful handing and thus deserves special attention. However, Singapore multiracial society isn't really unique at all. Due to the effects of globalization, there are hardly any countries in the world with racially homogeneous population.

Instead of bluring the racial lines, we emphasize it. Instead of all being Singaporeans, you are a Malay and I am a Chinese. I don't think the current campaign is heading in the right direction to bulid multiracialism as a pillar of our identity.

Young Singaporeans (as in post-65), have "national education" consistently drummed into us, from primary school right up to tertiary level. The syllabus under national education consists of nothing but "teaching" us to love our nation. Perhaps a small amount of such "education" is neccessary as well as healthy every National Day. Having it as a complusory school curriculum for 10 straight years is certainly a fatal overdose.

I am not sure what the older generation thought of such 'education". From their view, maybe it's still relevant because of their firsthand experiences during the early 50s. But for the young and connected, it is rather disconnecting from reality. Singaporeans have become very educated in the last 40 years and are very capable of searching their own answers. The kind of government hard sell is no longer viable to young Singaporeans of today.

Coming to National Day. I doubt many Singaporeans do truthfully appreciate the significance of National Day, for most it's just a welcome break from school or work. For others, the National Day is a great excuse and the perfect opportunity for get togethers and family gatherings. Celebrating the nation birthday is often, no more than an afterthought.

Not sure how many Singaporeans agree with me, but I find NDP to be extremely repetitive and predictable. Let me do a fictional imagaination: our ever reliable MediaCorp did a blooper and shown the 2005 NDP instead, are you confident enough to spot the differences?NDP2006 wouldn't differ too much from the above "formula". However, many Singaporeans don't mind much as there is always a spectacular fireworks display as the finale.

From the TV news, we have Singaporeans of all walks of life are "celebrating" National Day. From photographers on the Benjamin Sheares Bridge, couples in hot air ballons, and families in Fullerton One, they are all the most fantanised by the NDP fireworks display. It would not be unfair for a casual observer to have thought that it is Singapore Fireworks Festival.

Take away the goodie bag and the fireworks, I think we would start having trouble filling up all the seats. National Day has thus lost its meaning and failed its purpose in inducing pride among Singaporeans. Personally, I had lost any interest in the NDP after participating firsthand during my NS days but that's another story.

NDP2006NFD
Which day are you really looking forward to?









All is lost?....Not so
If there is any that has gone in the right direction, it is language. 40 years ago, even Chinese of different dialect groups settled their differences with violence partly because they have no idea what each other was talking about. In just 40 years, we have gone of a dozen of different languages and dialects to a single common language, English. I think that is rather admirable achievement indeed.

Language as I mentioned eariler is one of the natural ingredients of nationhood. Language is far and away the most potent ingredient, why? For men to respect and bond with each other, there is no other way but to communicate. If we can communicate in the same language, understanding and respect would come more easily. From understanding and respect, we can search out for common ground and purpose and in so achieving our identity.

The world's only superpower, United States of America is perhaps the best example whereby language forms the basis of nation identity. United States is similar to Singapore in its immigrant society. The United States espouses the world's most ethnically diverse population yet they all share the "American Dream". A land where the most lowly of orgins can make it big. Their people break down into Caucasian (71%), African American (12%), Latino (12%), Asian (4%), Native American (0.9%). Isn't it far more diverse than Singapore? and let's not go into their differences in religions. Thus, United States like Singapore only have one ingredient of nationhood. Therefore, I see no good reason why we cannot succeed as they did and bulid the "Singaporean Dream".

Solutions?...die die must offer some.
Well, there is no simple solution. People bond faster with crisis, such as wars, dictators, natural disasters etc, however we don't really want those stuff, right?

Singapore with all its world class housing, world class transport, etc has the world highest emirgation rate, second only to East Timor. Why is it so? There are probably many reasons. However, the lack of a sense of belonging is certainly one of them.

It's high time that Singapore should take the first step and start giving Singaporean some love first. Not with material wants a la progress package, but with compassion and genuinity. Instead of our typically hard and fast rules, couldn't we relax a little and allow individualism to stand out more. Instead of labelling us as "quiters" or "stayers", shouldn't be more proactive in winning the hearts and minds of our own people? No, I don't mean more balloon clappers and cheerleaders. In fact, we want less of them and more genuine openness and trust in our everyday lives. Singapore can start by treating us as intelligent people; people who can tell the right from the wrong without the State telling us the right and the wrong. Singapore should allows Singaporeans to explore and find their own identity on their own, which would be more impressive and long lasting than a state imposed identity.

Question is: Will Singaporeans return the love of the State? The answer is: You never know if you never try.

edited : Further editing and correction.



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posted by wert | Saturday, July 29, 2006 | Email This!


2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks for this article. Well, you're not alone in your feelings regarding NDP. Most of us are pretty jaded, I suppose. NDP reminds me of the movie musical 'Chicago', with all of its distracting "razzle-dazzle" strategy of blinding the audience to the real issues surrounding them.
Incidentally, I agree strongly with your point on the need to blur the racial lines instead of emphasizing them. Frankly I'm sick of the never-ending repertoire of reports on how the individual races are performing along education, social, financial segments thing.

Mon Jul 31, 04:18:00 PM 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Today, we're not belong to any racial in Singapore..."You are a Malay, I am a Chinese"... NO! We're SingaPOOR...

Thu Aug 23, 08:00:00 PM 2007  

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Disclaimer: This blog is not intended to be authorative or clever in any way. It was based on rambling of a half crazed creature, so treat it as such and let it be! I was asked to keep my dangerous thoughts and unbalanced views all in one safe place , and so I did. Objectivity, Accuracy, Responsiblity and any High Standards are certainly not part of this blog's features. However, I must stress that I do not strive to mislead people, confuse people, and much less undermine our national strategy.