| Sunday, 6 April 2008 |
| hidden patriot in me rants |
I just have to get this off my chest.
Okay, so I was reading some online forum when I came across this entry about how Singapore looked like a nice and beautiful place to live in. I was feeling quite happy reading about the different wonderful things foreigners had to say about Singapore when I came across this entry: 'i live in singapore and i can tell you that there is nothing really beautiful about here.'
Reading that made me extremely angry. What got me angry was not that this Singaporean was lambasting Singapore (when foreigners were doing the exact opposite), but rather the way he was doing it - unsubstantiated, unbalanced, uncouth.
I mean, I'm not a patriot or anything and I also strongly feel that Singapore is not that perfect a place to live in, but come on, as Singaporeans, let's give this country some credit because while it isn't paradise, it isn't that bad a place to live in either.
I know that Singapore still has lots of room to evolve and develop into that perfect paradise (if it exists!) that so many of us aspire to live in and that yes, its still rather rigid, sterile and synthetic a place to grow up in, but the fact is, this country is still a beautiful one. I have done my fair bit of traveling around the world and to be honest, there are very few countries that feels like home the way Singapore feels.
I think we Singaporeans, especially the younger generation, really like to complain about life here in Singapore. We complain about this and that, on all sorts of matters ranging from media censorship to the lack of gay rights; from a lack of fun things to do to the lack of freedom of speech.
We tend to focus only on what Singapore lacks and not on what Singapore actually has, so much so that we are often oblivious and blind to the various benefits that we as Singaporeans do enjoy.
For example, we have beautiful parks to laze our afternoons away (just that NO ONE uses them!), we have a burgeoning arts scene that's steadily evolving and developing, we have many new exciting big events and developments coming to the country (F1, YOG, IRs), we have a developing and some would say, exciting nightlife.
Even if we want to comment of liberalizing society and the political system, we have to remember that we've come a long way compare to the times of our grandparents, and compared with our neighbours surrounding us, we aren't doing that bad in this aspect of development. Again, we tend to forget that liberalization takes time and even Western societies had to undergo hundreds, even centuries to achieve the kind of liberalization that they experience today, let alone us, a nation of ONLY 43 short years of nation building!
People just forget that our nation is a horribly young nation and keeps insisting that we do so much more than what we are probably able to achieve. Why not stop complaining, give it some slack and let it continue to grow and develop into something more natural and complete?
Perhaps it is us, young Singaporeans who don't really know what we are looking for. We keep saying that we want to live in a place with lots of opportunities, a place that's fun, exciting and vibrant, yet classy, with lots of culture etc.
We keep insisting on going overseas to enjoy 'the amazing life' there, as if everything that's Westernized or foreign is perfect.
But then again, I've heard many of my friends and relatives who have gone and studied/stayed abroad telling me that despite their experiences, Singapore is still the only place they feel truly at home. So when we are back in safe, friendly, comfortable Singapore, we feel bored, restricted, sterile. When we are abroad in exciting, fresh, challenging lands, we feel unprotected, lonely, lost.
So what exactly are we looking for? A land that's a mix of both? I highly doubt you'll find such a place in the living world.
I am certain that as our population becomes more and more liberal and educated, such debates on whether Singapore is truly that beautiful a place to live in will continue to persist. I have nothing against such debates, but they should be carried out in a mature, constructive manner that's balanced and not something that's so uncouth and so narrow minded.
I know that National Day's still a few months away, you never know when the hidden patriot in me wants desires to take over.Labels: randomness, society |
posted by voldemort33 @ 01:41  |
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