{"id":4617,"date":"2009-08-08T14:49:15","date_gmt":"2009-08-08T06:49:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/techielobang.com\/blog\/?p=4617"},"modified":"2009-08-08T14:49:15","modified_gmt":"2009-08-08T06:49:15","slug":"this-post-will-be-in-red","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/techielobang.com\/blog\/2009\/08\/08\/this-post-will-be-in-red\/","title":{"rendered":"This Post Will Be in RED"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tomorrow will be Singapore’s 44th Birthday. I will dedicate this post in RED<\/strong> on my thoughts about our National Day.<\/span><\/p>\n

More than 10 years ago, I went on an overseas assignment. I met up with my counterparts and started to talk about our countries. To my surprise, he thought that Sepang is in Singapore and he never really knows about Singapore.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, I started to think what the identity of Singapore is. How can we differentiate ourselves amongst the rest? Is being Kiasu<\/a>, Kiasi<\/a> part of our identity? That was many years ago..<\/span><\/p>\n

\"delconi\"<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>Fast forward, I started to recognise Singapore. It is NOT the Kiasu or Kiasi. Look around us. We are surrounded by people from all walks of life. That is Singapore. Multi-racial, multi-cultural and living together as one big family. I bet many of us Singaporeans have friends from different culture, different religions and from different countries. We are able to walk, work, enjoy life together without even having any thoughts of our race, religion or culture. This, to me, is the true Singapore that I have not notice before.<\/span><\/p>\n

Having travelled to different countries, I realised that Singapore is unique. We blend in easily to other cultures or religion without feeling awkward. This, I believe, is due to how we are being raised in Singapore.<\/span><\/p>\n

I heard people complaint about life is difficult in Singapore. It is true. However, if we compared with many other countries, we are much better. Bear in mind that we do not have natural resources.<\/span><\/p>\n

People might laugh at us at speaking English (or Singlish) but I think that is unique. I can see that our aunties and uncles are catching up by speaking Singlish. What is best when you can combine what we are best at, multi-racial, in a simple sentence? It is an art to master Singlish.<\/span><\/p>\n

I remember when Hotel New World collapsed in 1986<\/a>, many volunteered to help. Singapore, at that time, does not have a great system for such massive disaster. Now, we have a world class SCDF (Singapore Civil Defence Force) and DART for special operations. They have travelled the world to save lives (Tsunami, Earthquakes and etc).<\/span><\/p>\n

And when there was a hijack of Flight 117<\/a> at the Changi Airport in 1991, the world suddenly realised that Singapore can take care of itself. We have our SOF<\/a> (although they were called Commando at that moment) storming the aircraft and rescuing the hostages.<\/span><\/p>\n

And when SARS hit Singapore in 2003, being a small country with people living closely to one another, we are able to brace ourselves to fight the epidemic.<\/span><\/p>\n

With so many economic crises over the years, Singapore has managed to pull through well.<\/span><\/p>\n

All these incidents have made Singapore stronger and better. Now, we are capable to produce Newater<\/a> and become a world class example (Water Week<\/a>) for other countries to learn in such a short span of time.<\/span><\/p>\n

With this, I wish Singapore a Happy 44th<\/sup> National Day! I am certain that we will continue to prosper. <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I am also looking forward to the year 2015.<\/span><\/p>\n