Write a letter to Singapore

There are a couple of other blogs which I read - friends' blogs (to check out how they are - I've been checking one particular one quite frequently cos she has been updating quite frequently on the progress of her recovery - yes it's you Ms doughnut!), political ones(to stay in touch with different viewpoints), gossipy ones(to stay tuned to the grapevine), bitchy ones (ditto)..

There is this particular one which I try to read quite often, as I like the way he reminisce his life and the things happening around him. Minute observations, 每一天小小的感动, celebrating his haves and and sharing his thoughts on the have nots。

Anyway, Lucian Teo started a site (http://stories.sg) to invite netizens to share their own stories on various issues, to share their personal feelings and thoughts. The inaugural topic was timely, as it came just before a significant day. It was to write Singapore a letter - if Singapore was a real person, what would you say to her?

It has been quite interesting to see what some people has posted so far. It then dawned upon me, that like treating your parent, it's a love/hate relationship with the place I have called home for the past 30 years. You love her for the comfort, memories, familiarity, efficiency. Yet, you wish that she would stop restricting you to do the things you like, manipulate your decisions by whimsical incentives or threats, or make life more difficult as it is with all the mechanical rules. You just wish for her to be different or like some other parent who are nicer/more exciting/more interesting/more humane.

We are so used to grousing, but would we trade to make somewhere else our home? A lot of us would if we have the chance I know, but a lot would not have wanted to give up citizenship cos it seems a fail-safe option to know that there is a reliable government, which is not as volatile as some of those elsewhere, and also somewhere you know is secure enough to live through your later years. But yet, we know that the system is not perfect (and perhaps suffocating to some)and we wonder if there are better choices or decisions which could have been made.

Do you ever feel patriotic when you hear the "Majulah Singapura"? I know I didn't when I had to sing everytime during morning assembly or during inspection parades. But I did when I first heard it on the pitch in an overseas tourney. It defined you..while in a foreign land. The part of the identity nailed in when you are facing the flag pole when the red-and-white-one crescent-five stars flag rises amongst the other flags of foreign land.

Go on..try writing Singapore a letter and see where it leads you - the love or hate path. As you can see, it got me thinking quite a bit :))