National Day 2006
in nomine patri, et filii, et spiritui sancto amen
Dear Singapore
You were a kampung at Jalan Hwi Yoh when I was a small boy. Everything was communal and everyone was everyone's neighbour. I did not understand what race was.
You were the reason I saw Minister Mentor (Prime Minister then) Lee Kuan Yew at an election rally at Braddel Heights CC in 1976. As he walked past, a small boy yelled out to him and he walked over to him and he sheepishly extended his left hand. MM Lee laughed, withdrew his right hand and shook hands with him. I was that small boy.
These leaders are people whom I respected for turning Singapore into what it is - from yarns spun by my grandmother and mother, where these leaders stood out and fought for the common people.
You gave me my school and the teachers that taught me values that I still abide by. With it also come friends and foes that helped shape me and my life.
You made me do National Service. While there, You betrothed a "wife" to me - that I neither asked nor wanted. I thought I would not survive the training that I had to endure because of You but I did and is now an NSman. I detest NS Training (still) but I go anyway because of You. Even though I do not put up the Flag outside my HDB flat when Your birthday is around the corner, that doesnt mean I dont love You and the Flag.
You involved me in the National Day parade in 1991 at the National Stadium. My then-girlfriend broke up with me because I could not spend time with her as I was at the countless rehearsals every weekend to make sure everything was right for Your birthday. Looking back,there is nothing like the sight of 60,000 Singaporeans decked in red and white and waving the Flag for you. I am privileged to be a part of that.
This is what You mean to me.....the memories of my life, friends and family.
Alas, Your face is changing - the old guards that have made You into a beautiful place are slowly leaving us - Hon Sui Sen; David Marshall; Devan Nair; S Rajaratnam; Lim Kim San.... the only ones left are Toh Chin Chye; Goh Keng Swee and of course Lee Kuan Yew. Back then these leaders stood out to fight for the common people and led us through turbulent times.
Now, the Singapore I know is full of self and lacks any soul. Where the current leaders have a total disconnect with the people and policies are made where the rich grow richer and poor becomes poorer. Where our leaders worship the Golden Calf.
As David Marshall succinctly puts it:
"I never earned $60,000 a month or $90,000 a month. When I was Chief Minister, I earned $8,000 a month. Look, what is happening today is we are encouraged to and are becoming worshippers of the Golden Calf.
We have lost sight of the joy and excitement of public service, helping our fellow men. The joy and excitement of seeking and understanding of the joy of the miracle of the living the duty and the grandeur. We have lost taste for heroic action in the service of our people.
We have become good bourgeois seeking comfort, security. It’s like seeking a crystal coffin and being fed by intravenous injections through pipes in the crystal coffin; crystal coffins stuck with certificates of your pragmatic abilities.
What has changed?"
Click here for the full interview with this great man!
I had a conversation with a Serb; Indonesian; Vietnamese; Chinese and fellow Singaporeans - and we being males, I asked if they would stay and fight for their country and almost everyone of us had the same conclusion:
We would stay and fight so long as we have our families here - once they are no longer around, we would get out.
So lies the conundrum of roots - how deep our roots are in our country. And sad to say, with every policy; every price hike; every clampdown on "dissenting" views....You dear Singapore are losing more and more of Your children.
Let's see if the foreign talent will be here to stay and fight when the shit hits the fan!
I tell my friends to always remember:
The PAP is NOT You and You are NOT the PAP!
My family and I are planning to leave You ... to seek opportunities overseas. As Mr Ngiam Tong Dow said in his book "A Mandarin and the Making of Public Policy" - to paraphrase " we can do business or make our money overseas but will we come back and bring up our family here....that is the important question".
Will I come back to You so that Elise and Eliza will have the same memories of You? Or will You be a holiday destination?
Only time will tell.....
Majulah Singapura!
in nomine patri, et filii, et spiritui sancto amen
Dear Singapore
You were a kampung at Jalan Hwi Yoh when I was a small boy. Everything was communal and everyone was everyone's neighbour. I did not understand what race was.
You were the reason I saw Minister Mentor (Prime Minister then) Lee Kuan Yew at an election rally at Braddel Heights CC in 1976. As he walked past, a small boy yelled out to him and he walked over to him and he sheepishly extended his left hand. MM Lee laughed, withdrew his right hand and shook hands with him. I was that small boy.
These leaders are people whom I respected for turning Singapore into what it is - from yarns spun by my grandmother and mother, where these leaders stood out and fought for the common people.
You gave me my school and the teachers that taught me values that I still abide by. With it also come friends and foes that helped shape me and my life.
You made me do National Service. While there, You betrothed a "wife" to me - that I neither asked nor wanted. I thought I would not survive the training that I had to endure because of You but I did and is now an NSman. I detest NS Training (still) but I go anyway because of You. Even though I do not put up the Flag outside my HDB flat when Your birthday is around the corner, that doesnt mean I dont love You and the Flag.
You involved me in the National Day parade in 1991 at the National Stadium. My then-girlfriend broke up with me because I could not spend time with her as I was at the countless rehearsals every weekend to make sure everything was right for Your birthday. Looking back,there is nothing like the sight of 60,000 Singaporeans decked in red and white and waving the Flag for you. I am privileged to be a part of that.
This is what You mean to me.....the memories of my life, friends and family.
Alas, Your face is changing - the old guards that have made You into a beautiful place are slowly leaving us - Hon Sui Sen; David Marshall; Devan Nair; S Rajaratnam; Lim Kim San.... the only ones left are Toh Chin Chye; Goh Keng Swee and of course Lee Kuan Yew. Back then these leaders stood out to fight for the common people and led us through turbulent times.
Now, the Singapore I know is full of self and lacks any soul. Where the current leaders have a total disconnect with the people and policies are made where the rich grow richer and poor becomes poorer. Where our leaders worship the Golden Calf.
As David Marshall succinctly puts it:
"I never earned $60,000 a month or $90,000 a month. When I was Chief Minister, I earned $8,000 a month. Look, what is happening today is we are encouraged to and are becoming worshippers of the Golden Calf.
We have lost sight of the joy and excitement of public service, helping our fellow men. The joy and excitement of seeking and understanding of the joy of the miracle of the living the duty and the grandeur. We have lost taste for heroic action in the service of our people.
We have become good bourgeois seeking comfort, security. It’s like seeking a crystal coffin and being fed by intravenous injections through pipes in the crystal coffin; crystal coffins stuck with certificates of your pragmatic abilities.
What has changed?"
Click here for the full interview with this great man!
I had a conversation with a Serb; Indonesian; Vietnamese; Chinese and fellow Singaporeans - and we being males, I asked if they would stay and fight for their country and almost everyone of us had the same conclusion:
We would stay and fight so long as we have our families here - once they are no longer around, we would get out.
So lies the conundrum of roots - how deep our roots are in our country. And sad to say, with every policy; every price hike; every clampdown on "dissenting" views....You dear Singapore are losing more and more of Your children.
Let's see if the foreign talent will be here to stay and fight when the shit hits the fan!
I tell my friends to always remember:
The PAP is NOT You and You are NOT the PAP!
My family and I are planning to leave You ... to seek opportunities overseas. As Mr Ngiam Tong Dow said in his book "A Mandarin and the Making of Public Policy" - to paraphrase " we can do business or make our money overseas but will we come back and bring up our family here....that is the important question".
Will I come back to You so that Elise and Eliza will have the same memories of You? Or will You be a holiday destination?
Only time will tell.....
Majulah Singapura!
in nomine patri, et filii, et spiritui sancto amen
posted by ernie | 12:02 AM
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