The Singapore Song - Rony Tan
Personally I find this song better than the NDP theme song!
Pastor Rony Tan dedicated this song to Mr and Mrs Lee Kwan Yew and 'our protective and caring government'. Agree - we indeed owe a lot to MM Lee and his team who led our country towards independence and from then on towards success.
(That said, as I highly respect and am very grateful to MM Lee and the founding fathers, I can't accept the praise 'a protective and caring government' and gratitude towards the current government in the continuous tense. The loss of the ability to critique will be harmful to us in the long run.)
However, as to how Singaporeans feel towards Singapore - well, there is definitely one camp of people, who always leave comments like 'don't ask me to be patriotic when 1) everything also have to pay and I have no money to pay 2) more and more FTs filling up jobs, all they do is wayang and they get more money 3) you FT stop telling me how good Singapore is, I have served NS and you haven't etc. etc.' on ST Forum online. And from those comments there are ones from the middle class who are really struggling with their jobs and lives.
I have served NS - have dug holes in places ranging from Tekong to Peng Kang, walked through the forest of Lim Chu Kang in pouring rain, slept with ants and millipedes and spiders through the night, nearly got struck by lightning - alright I think I can comment.
NS is an eye-opener. Some people agree with me while some don't - it highly depends on your NS experience. For me, living, working and playing with people whose idea of getting a part-time job is selling nasi lemak but still insist in maintaining and modifying his car, people who have to take off from work because he has to go to court for his brother, and people who insist in leaving early because he has to be around when a medium is chasing spirits out of his sister's body - is really an experience.
(One of the most interesting encounters I had was, there was this guy accompanied by his friend who ran to me (I was in one of the company stores trying to get stuff for my medics) shouting, 'Medic! Medic! Help me!!' When I asked him what is the matter, he pulled down his pants, and showed me his, hmms you know what, painted in BLUE. I resisted my urge to laugh and well, asked him to go and show it to MO (or threatened to stick an IV needle inside, I can't remember exactly...).)
Thus, I know that to those people who made the ST Forum comments, it is not very fair to preach to them the standard JFK 'ask not what your country can do for you' thing and ask them to be thankful of what they have. They themselves do not feel that they are being fairly treated; and this is a pretty subjective thing especially when these people do not see a lot of stuff that the government people see.
There is a difference between actively, willingly sacrificing for one's country and being passively sacrificed by one's country. These Singaporeans - there is a substantial number - feel that they are being sacrificed by their country and worse, they don't know what they are being sacrificed for. And they are not happy - very.
My main dissension against an elitist education system is not that of social class exclusion, neither is it problems with social mobility, but the lack of diversity in social experiences (STA Travel: Experience is Everything :P). Officers and politicians lacking in diversity in social experiences will not form a good team, certainly not one comparable to the 'protective and caring' one described by Pastor Tan. They would have the tendency to sacrifice citizens using 'national interest' as a reason without giving those sacrificed people a cause. They won't be 'protective and caring' because they lack the experiences that enable them to look down, and in; they will be pure technical bureaucrats who serve the abstract notion of 'national interest' and not the nation's people.
(As I am writing this, I can't help but link this also to medicine... In this case, people = patients, national interest = curing the disease. It takes an awful lot to be a good leader and a good doctor; a good leader and a good doctor must both have a genuine interest towards people, not just national interest, not just the science...)
(Grace said: That's why there are so many lousy doctors in Singapore :P)
(Actually, after talking to James and then Grace that day, I was thinking whether I actually have an interest towards people. I have been saying that I did not want to practise because I don't think I can be a good doctor... I am still not too sure now, but I think I can see myself changing. When Prof. Anne said that they might be able to structure some clinical stuff for me to do if I can join SICS in the end, my immediate reaction was excitement...)
As National Day draws near, as we celebrate the 43rd birthday of our country, we should always remind ourselves - while looking up and out, we should also look down and in; open up our minds, listen to what others have to say, and gain more experiences; and while benefiting from the system, think of how we can use our experiences and skills to benefit our people as much as we can.
Despite my identity crisis, I know which team to cheer for in the upcoming Olympic Games - hahaha I am sure you do too!
Labels: Policy and Politics
