Singapore Watch

In a month’s time, I would finally be done with College. Well for now that is. In today’s world, they say a Bachelor’s ain’t enough, but that’s a decision for the far tomorrow. Being a soon-to-be fresh graduate, quite a number of people have asked me if I plan to stay here in the US, go through the normal route of getting a H1 work visa, then upgrade to applying for a green card, and eventually becoming a resident alien in the USA, or … if I was coming home.

Since I started schooling over here, I’ve been telling everyone, “I’m going home after I graduate.” Whenever I profess my intentions, I would get weird responses like:

‘You’re one of the very few rare Singaporeans who get to go abroad, and still want to come back to Singapore.‘

‘A very large number of students who go overseas to study end up liking it there, and never come back.“

Puzzled, I ask why that is so.

“The Government’s so restrictive, everything cannot do … plus it’s so hot here.”

“It’s so expensive to live in Singapore. For the price of a HDB Flat, you can get a nice house overseas. Cars also so expensive. In short, it’s a really expensive place to live in.”

“It’s so stressful to raise a kid here. We want our kid to enjoy growing up, and not have to be bothered by the over-competitiveness here. Not to mention, it’s not cheap too.

“You crazy ah, here work-life so stressful. In fact, some of these people have no life.”

“You siao ah.” (short and simple huh?)

So what makes me want to go back?

A Unique Identity

Coming overseas had made me even more proud of my Singaporean Heritage. I hate it when someone mistakes me for a PRC, not because I’ve anything against China, but because I’m proud to be a Singaporean, and I don’t want to be associated with something I’m not. Even though most of our ancestors only came to this tiny island two or three generations ago, I know many no longer have any connections to their roots in their ‘mother land’. We don’t realize it, but Singapore is very unique in lots of ways.

Singlish, though greatly argued about, is part of this unique identity. I was out in LA last winter, reading a book in the small alcove of the USA Hostel ‘library’, when I heard two people speaking in the hallway. I immediately told myself, those people are Singaporeans. I put down my book immediately, and went out to meet them. True enough, they were Singaporeans, and we hit it off immediately. Our accent is like sweet music to my ears, especially when heard in places where it’s least expected. Nobody else in the world has an accent as distinct as ours. Well, nobody except maybe Malaysia.

Let’s talk about food. Need I really say more? That’s one of our favorite past times and for good reason too. Hawker centers are non-existent in the US, nor do they have stalls specializing in just one food. Chicken rice for example, or hokkien mee. The closest you get to hawker centers are food courts, but even then, all Asian food is usually lumped into a single stall. Thus, we get uniformed-sucky-food throughout all Asian food stalls in the US.

Government. Yeah, they may be very restrictive in a lot of sense, but they do it with good intentions. I love to tell people of how Singapore turned from third world to first in less than 30 years. From a small fishing village, we’ve become a bustling metropolitan city, just like Lee Kwan Yew foresaw and promised.

You know, whatever we feel, our Government is still much better than the British who surrendered us to the Japs. My friend and I were appalled when we heard that some people were studying about ‘The Fall of Singapore‘ in a history class, here in the US. We were all ready to go confront the professor. I mean how can our Singapore fall? What is he talking about? We strive so hard to maintain stability.

But a quick google search will tell you that that fall was under the British rule in WWII, in other words, pre-independence history.

When foreigners express their concerns about the government being too authoritarian, I patiently explain that that was neccessary for our country to progress that rapidly. America has trouble getting bills passed because the Democrats are always fighting with the Republicans. A strong single party led by a man with foresight was neccessary to get us where we are.

Now that the goal has been accomplished, it’s time to start diversifying the government for checks and balances. After all, if there should be just one generation of corrupt leaders, it will be enough to ruin everything that has been done. But is there an opposition party that is worthy of this position? It doesn’t seem so at this moment.

We have such great efficiency in our country, from the fixing and building of roads to a well-connected public transport network that continuually expands to cater to the population. We fail to realize this efficiency, because that is what we grew up with, and learnt to expect. 3.5 years ago, when I arrived in the US, the airport was under construction. Till this day, the airport is still under construction. That would never happen in Singapore.

We have roofs over our heads, no ghettos and such, free education for our kids, up to the age of 16, the ability to get around the country without having to own a car, religious freedom and more. Our government is continually trying to bring big companies into Singapore, to ensure the stability of our future, and often looking into new ventures to further advance this nation.

Sure we may not agree with all the decisions made, like the casino, but which is worst - not agreeing with something the government is doing, or getting upset with a government that’s not doing anything at all.

Growing Pains

Singaporeans right now can be likened to kids who are in their teens, who are at the age where they no longer want to be controlled by their parents. They wants their views heard; they want to be a part of decisions made; they want to be seen as equals, and most importantly, they want to feel as if their presence matters, that their contributions count.

Unfortunately, some of these teens are choosing to run away from home instead of seeking to make changes happen. To them, they don’t believe that there is any way to escape the grasps of parenthood except to leave, cause we all know that ‘a leopard never changes its spots‘ right?

You know, with advances in technology these days, a leopard can change its spots if it is truly desired, through this magical thing called - plastic surgery.

Jokes aside, a lot of people murmur about the government, about the lack of an opposition party, and all that. That’s what we’re famous for. Complaining. Very few people think of solutions to make the country better, like actually forming an opposition party that actually argues logically and advocates for changes. Well, those who do, end up getting ‘run’ out of the country, by wrongfully attacking the dominant party and getting sued in the process.

You know, the ‘Land of the Free‘ isn’t perfect. But what makes America American, is that Americans are willing to make a difference in this country they call their own.

We can migrate.

Migrate to Australia, where politicans like Pauline Hanson would ‘adore’ you, by using you as their agenda for politics. Migrate to the US, and we’ll be just another group of Asian-Aliens (not quite asian-americans yet), who will slowly lose their Singaporean Identity in favor of an American one, where all that’s really left of being Asian is your skin color and features. You’ll have Singaporean gatherings overseas, and you’ll talk about home, because you’ll miss home.

There’s only one place that I personally would call my own, and I’m proud to be ‘Made-in-Singapore’.

Home is Where The Heart Is

Why do I want to go home? If the above reasons are not enough, in all honesty, I want to go home, because home is where the heart is. My family is here, so are my friends, I love my church, the food, the history, I want to fall in love, get married with a Singaporean, so that among other stuff, we can talk about the good ‘ole days. I want my kids to be taught in our schools. Our education system may not be perfect, but it’s still a much more decent models than others I know.

Han questions ‘What it means to be Singaporean‘. He argues that no one misses Singapore per se. I beg to differ, because it is the “people, places and things” that defines Singapore.

No matter what you dislike about your country, I find it hard to just call it quits with a place that I grew up with, that I spent time in, where my memories lie, where the people are, where I’m rightfully defined a citizen. Its our responsibility to make things work. It’s easy to choose an entity like the ‘Gahmen‘ to make the enemy, but break it down, and you have to realize that the Government is made up of people like you and I. We all want better for our families and ourselves. Everyone can make a difference, no matter how big or small, no matter politics or otherwise.

Last Words

Being abroad has allowed me to appreciate Singapore more. I miss our NDP celebrations, and those ‘propaganda-like’ national day songs. I miss reading the Straits Times and learning about all the funny happenings in Singapore, or what people are debating about on the forums. I miss those tcs8 chinese dramas, even those from the days when it was still called sbc.

With the best of our country not desiring to stay in Singapore, we’re being forced to recruit the brains from other countries, who would love the opportunity of calling our country their home.

Maybe Singapore is just destined to be the land of immigrants.

Or maybe we just need to look in from an external perspective.

Related Articles:
- ‘I want to come home‘ by Joshua Wolfe at The Electric News Paper (Feb 17, 2002)
- ‘Emigration Essay‘ by KnightsofPentacles at Singapore Serf (Sep 30, 2004)
- ‘A Singapore without Singaporeans‘ by Goh Meng Seng at Young PAP (Jan 11, 2005)
- ‘Nation without Nationhood‘ by KnightsofPentacles at Singapore Serf (Jan 18, 2005)
- ‘What it means to be Singaporean‘ by Han at Wananbe Lawyer (Apr 28, 2005)
- ‘Who are you and where are you from‘ at serialdeviant.org (Apr 30, 2005)
- ‘A letter to Mr Brown‘ by Fool of a Took at The Drunken Taxi Cab (May 03, 2005)
- ‘You want to what??‘ by Enuwy at View Finder (May 06, 2005)
- ‘Singapore and Home‘ by Adinahaes at The Lovers and the Dreamers (May 06, 2005)
- ‘Some very good blogs‘ by Heather at The Girl from a Tiny Island (May 16, 2005)

Disclaimer: Please note that this is not a post against migration, nor am I against migration. Everyone is free to make the decision that is in their best interests. I’m just hoping that it is for the right reasons. Everybody is entitled to their own views, and you don’t have to agree with mine.

For some reason, I feel compelled to state that I have no political affliations, and have no interests in being affliated in anyway to anyone, anywhere.

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