What Does It Mean To Be A Citizen Of Singapore?
The Collective Identity Of A Nation On Her 53rd Birthday
August 9 is Singapore’s National Day.
The city is decked out in red and white; our national colours of choice.
But what always strikes me during this season is how every shopping mall, supermarket and shop takes the chance to blast National Day songs for at least 2 weeks leading up to National Day.
Defining our national identity through music.
Each year, a new National Day song is commissioned, selected and performed by one of our local music artists. This song usually serves as the backdrop for the entire ‘patriotic’ season.
Over the years, local artists have tried all kinds of styles and renditions of patriotic songs. They have attempted rock songs, mainstream pop music and remixed songs.
But these songs never caught on with the general public.
They were too mainstream. Too hard to sing. Too boring. No ‘feels’.
I personally cannot name a single National Day song for the last 10 years.
But somehow, nothing has resonated with Singaporeans like the old classics of several songs dating back to the 1980s and 1990s.
This classic song, Home; was originally performed in 1998 and has been brought back again and again in different shapes and forms over the years.
I mean, just check out the comments on this song dubbed as THE National Day Song performed in 1998:
Local singers and composers have tried their hardest to replicate the success of the classics with limited success.
And our government recognises this.
This year, our National Day song, We Are Singapore is a remix of a widely popular song originally composed and used in 1987.
We clearly love our classics.
Clearly, these classic songs have ingrained themselves in our consciousness.
Why do we feel a collective pull towards the past?
Is it because we yearn for nostalgia and the good ol days?
Or perhaps these songs bring us back to a simpler time; where all we had to worry about handing in homework, earning brownie points with our friends and what to eat for school lunches?
Perhaps.
These songs bring me back to childhood memories of attending the parade together as a school class. Under the hot Singaporean sun, we would watch the parade together as a class, wave the flag in rhythmic sync and sing community songs and recite our national pledge as a collective whole.
Regardless of how we felt towards each other; for that moment at least, we felt united as a collective national unit.
We were, daresay proud to be Singaporean back then.
Am I still proud to be a Singaporean now?
This time of the year is always the time where I’ll reflect on my own identity as a Singaporean.
What does it mean to be Singaporean?
Is it this?
Google, ironically tells a different story about us.
Ouch.
When I was studying overseas, I always enjoyed telling people from other countries about Singapore. I would tell them about the ingredients of our street food, share the history of Singapore or where people went for leisure in our tiny island state.
Some of them would ask me:
“Do you guys still ban chewing gum?” (Answer: Yes)
Or “wow, your English is so good!”
I loved answering these questions as it was an opportunity to share more about where I grew up in.
After all, Singapore has a big part to play in defining the things I enjoy, the opportunities I have access to, the food I crave and people I meet.
Does that make me patriotic?
Maybe.
Yes, Singapore is not perfect.
But neither is any country out there.
“Welcome to Singapore, ladies and gentlemen, and to all Singaporeans and residents of Singapore, a very warm welcome home.”
Anyone who has sat on a Singapore-bound Singapore Airlines plane would have heard these words announced from the aircraft’s speakers upon landing.
Upon hearing these words,
There’s a collective smile and rush of happiness in the aircraft cabin.
You are fatigued and the synthetic smell of airplane air-conditioning clings to your clothes, but your mind is abuzz with anticipation, eager to be reunited with the familiar, yet comforting landmarks or see loved ones we dearly missed.
What does home mean to me?
Is it hearing the sound of familiar accents and phrasing of words when you step off the plane; the sound both jarring yet immediately taking you back to the sensations and sounds of home?
Is it the heat and humility that embraces you with widespread arms the minute you step off the aircraft like a long lost friend? Her grasp is firm — reminding you (sometimes uncomfortably) of the country and environment you left.
Is it the familiar cityscape that sprawls out that reminds you of the fast-paced life you left behind with glee, yet sits before you — reminding you that the respite you earned (and paid for with your own hard-earned money is temporary?
Is it your family who you’ve only spoken to through fuzzy and distorted Skype video calls for the past nine months who are finally present in the flesh?
Or is it the sensation as your partner wraps you in their arms. Your bodies and limbs somehow fit together perfectly; filling the spaces like they were made to fit together, almost like a long-lost jigsaw puzzle. You feel your body decompress, releasing tension you never knew you had.
Ah, you sigh in contentment; it does indeed feel like home in her arms.
Perhaps it is one or all of these things.
Singapore has been the setting, the backdrop, the silent actor, the supporting cast and lead actor in all these scenes of my own life.
And for this, I am grateful.
