This is the first time I am spending August 9, Singapore’s National Day, away from home. In previous years, August 9 always fell during the school term hence there was no chance of being anywhere but in Singapore. This year, the day still falls during the school term, except that school is now located in Sydney.
\nThe Singapore community in Sydney is not celebrating National Day today, but the Temasek Club is organising a National Day Dinner which will be held next Saturday in a chinese restaurant. I will be attending the dinner with my uncle & his family. Apparently, the organising committee is planning to play the video of the National Day Parade (NDP) during the dinner.
\nPersonally, I would really like to have a look at a special publication which is being given away in the NDP goodie bags this year. To my knowledge, the publication is a compilation of responses which Singapore citizens sent in to the question “What does it mean to be Singaporean?”.<\/p>\n
\nI am interested to read what people have to say. I am sure it will be a mix of tongue-in-cheek responses to the more serious, patriotic-sounding ones. I could come up with a couple of tongue-in-cheek ones. For example:
\n1) Piling their dishes at buffets
\n2) Queueing up without knowing what they are queueing up for
\n3) The only people in the world who pepper their speech with words like ‘shiok’, ‘lah’, ‘wah lau’, ‘kiasu’ <\/i>etcetc. Well, at least we can lay claim to our pidgin form of English, fondly known as Singlish.
\n4) Food being a national obssession. It’s positively a religion!
\nOn a more serious note, I always ponder what it means to be Singaporean. I sometimes have ambivalent feelings towards my country. At times I think there’s not much point in being Singaporean because the rights of the citizens do not seem to differ much from that of permanent residents. Ok, only citizens can vote, but judging by Singapore’s political scene, most citizens never get to vote in their lifetime anyway! More often than not, it’s going to be a walkover for their constituency.
\nI wished Singapore could be bigger in terms of geographical size. It’s too urbanized and crowded for my liking. I wished there were more quiet, restful and scenic spots around. However, this is something that cannot be changed so there’s no use complaining about it.
\nI wished people could be more open-minded and Singapore society in general, to be less stifling. I wished people could be more civic-minded and be more mindful of public property. If not for the diligent cleaners who clean the streets of Singapore every day, the city would be no different from a rubbish dump! If only Singaporeans were more environmentally-conscious and more efforts were made by the government to encourage recycling!
\nI wished people were more socially gracious. Ringing mobile phones in cinemas and musical & theatrical performances are still the norm. Not giving up seats in the buses and trains for the elderly, needy and pregnant women is typical.
\nWell, the list of ugly Singaporean behaviour runs long. This is only the tip of the iceberg. BUT I must add that not all Singaporeans are like that. Those who are gulity of the above-mentioned things are (I hope!) the black sheep.
\nWhat keeps me rooted to Singapore is the fact that it is the place where I grew up and it’s where my family and close friends are. The quirks and sometimes distinctive behaviour of Singaporeans is viewed by me with a mix of amusement and bemusement. The funny thing is that I feel more Singaporean when I am abroad. These days, I think nationality defines a person more than race does. But that’s a whole other issue to be addressed altogether.
\nFor dinner tonight, my uncle has decided that we’ll be going to a restaurant called ‘Kopitiam’ which serves Singaporean cuisine. I guess that’s our own little way of celebrating Singapore’s National Day! \ud83d\ude42
\nHappy 38th Birthday Singapore!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This is the first time I am spending August 9, Singapore’s National Day, away from home. In previous years, August 9 always fell during the school term hence there was no chance of being anywhere but in Singapore. This year, … Continue reading