Inquisited.com

Its one day after Singapore’s 43rd national day, and I thought I’d spare a minute to reflect on the issue of national solidarity. Recently, I polled a small group of friends who had spent time abroad on whether they took pride on being Singaporean. The consensus was a resounding “not really”. I suspect they’re not alone in their views, given the nation’s strong Europhillic disposition.

This sentiment seems most pronounced among the nation’s intelligentsia (or at least those who consider themselves such), a good proportion of which have, or are considering moving overseas. Having actually lived abroad for more than half my life, I can say with some certainty that the grass is indeed greener on the other side. But the issue remains: A great deal of Singaporeans don’t identify with the country. Why might this be the case?

Part of the problem might have to do with the country’s colonial legacy, but the other part I think, is caused by the government’s incessant harping on how Singapore should always imitate that other country. How Singapore should be like the Swiss in banking, imitate the oh-so-refined accents of the Brits, the Brazilians in their swanky football skills or whatever. With annoying regularity, politicians beat on this to death at every chance they get. Its kind of like how your parents used to compare you to the geekiest kid in grade school: “why can’t you be more like perfect peter or smarty sandy?”. Remember how irritating that was? The other thing that was ever good for was deflating a kid’s confidence, or in this case, national pride.

Of course, the government’s line might be a natural consequence of Singapore’s collective low self-esteem, rather than the cause of it. But that’s still no excuse for the lack of inspiring leadership. A lot of government-sanctioned events and cultural festivities seem incredibly contrived and passé. Combined with the constant nagging on how the other kid’s always better and you have the perfect recipe for an insecure and outward-looking citizenry. One might argue that a national identity can only arise from acts of self-expression that are unrestrained from moralizing or politicizing. Only then will you have identifiable traits of true “Singaporean” culture that people can identify with and feel proud of.

Incidentally, this is reminiscent of a scene from the movie “Cool Runnings”, an inspiring flick about the first Jamaican Bobsled team to take part in the winter olympics. The captain of Jamaican team realizes that the swiss team is really good. In fact, he admires them so much that he tries to get his teammates to imitate the swiss in every single aspect of bobsledding. The idea, of course, is that if they all act swiss they’ll be just as successful. Needless to say, his fellow bobsledders don’t appreciate the posing and the team doesn’t get very far.

One of his teammates finally speaks up.

“All I’m saying, man, is if we walk Jamaican, talk Jamaican, and is Jamaican, then we sure as hell better bobsled Jamaican.”

And that is the crux of the issue. Just like it can with a bobsled team, morale and make or break a nation. Recognizing and appreciating culture has a lot to do with this. Since no two countries will ever develop in the exact same way, trying to imitate another blindly would be a lot like the Jamaican bobsled team counting down in German. Let a thousand flowers boom and have faith that Singapore will forge its own way guided by its own culture. The Swiss will tread their own path. The British will tread their own path. The Jamaicans will tread their own path.

So must Singaporeans.