Part 1: Home - This is Home

I wrote a series of 3 essays, on the subject of Home. Each dealing with a different theme. This is part 1. Will publish the other 2 in the course of the next 2 weeks.

Home
Whenever I am feeling low, I look around me and I know
There’s a place that is deep within me wherever I may choose to go
I will always recall the city, know every street and shore
Sail down the river that brings us life
Winding through my Singapore

This is home truly, where I know I must be
Where my dreams wait for me, where the river always flows
This is home surely, as my senses tell me
This is where I won’t be alone
For this is where I know I am home

When there are troubles to go through, we’ll find a way to start anew
There is comfort in the knowledge that home’s about its people too
So we’ll build this our dreams together just like we’ve done before
Just like the river which brings us life
There’ll always be Singapore

For this is where I know it’s home
For this is where I know I’m home

Music and Lyrics: Dick Lee

Home, the theme song of this year’s National Day Parade. Watching the NDP live at the stadium isn’t something new to me, this year was the tenth time I watch the parade or preview live at the National Stadium or Padang and that is excluding the two times I was a performer. Watching the NDP doesn’t really stir up feelings of patriotism in me; instead they always invoke memories of the past and hopes for the future of Singapore.

Memories of the past

I took part in NDP twice, in 1998 and 1987. In 1998, I was shot an arrow by my JC1 civics tutor and was “volunteered” into joining the NDP Cheerleaders for that year. I will never forget what my friends called the chicken suit; our costume, a yellow and orange (like the colour of this blog and tagboard) set of shorts and T-shirt. It was quite a disgusting sight. But it was a pretty fun experience, considering that TPJC had to send 2 contingents instead of 1! (BTW the “hero” JCs that were spared were TJC, VJC and HCJC) The post-parade was what I enjoyed the most!

But still I took part in the parade albeit a little grudgingly. I went through with it mainly to fulfil my CIP hours; and it filled up 2 years worth! But go back 11 years, and my 1987 experience was a lot different.

1987: Citizens of Tomorrow. I was in Yamaha Kindergarten (now called Kinderland); only 6 years old and I volunteered to join the National Day Parade. We were the youngest group of participants ever in an NDP; and if I am not mistaken, we are still holding that record! Our mass item was entitled Citizens of Tomorrow, a little prophetic ring to it!

I have very little memories of it. All I remember was that we had to run out into the Padang, release a lot of balloons and then we had to perform some dance routine and then run out. A few days ago, feeling really nostalgic, I decided to check online to see if I could fine any pictures of NDP 1987. Guess what, I actually managed to find a lot of pictures!

On the National Archives website, I actually found an entire photo album of NDP 1987! And it showed, a whole mass of kids running out into the Padang, releasing a lot of balloons and then running out again. It really brought back a flood of memories!

But the one thing that struck me most was this: all those small kids in the pictures were no longer small kids! They are now like me, 22 and 23 year olds; the Citizens of Tomorrow have all grown up, and I wonder what has happened to all of them.

17 years can make a huge difference. Some of them may no longer call Singapore their home; some may have even passed on. But I am still here, at home, and there is no place like it and in all honesty, I will have it no other way.

Hopes for a future

Singapore is home to us, and sometimes, we take that for granted and sometimes we need to look at it from a much different perspective.

We are about the only nation in South East Asia that has some real measure of religious freedom and tolerance. We are free to worship any God we choose! And we chose Jesus. Thank God that the Singapore government does not throw people into jail for that. Thank God our churches are not burnt down on a Sunday.

We always curse the government for its bi-lingual policy. I was one of those who did, and still do. But look at it from this angle. We are the ONLY NATION IN THE WORLD in which the overwhelming majority of the population are given a chance to learn and speak both Mandarin (the language of mainland China) and English. No other country, not even Hong Kong or Malaysia can stake that claim. Thank God, for we are in the most strategic position in the World to evangelise to 1.2 billion Mainland Chinese; and no small part due to the MOE’s bi-lingual policy.

How often do we hear of people complaining about the Singapore way of life? How often do you curse the school you attend? How often do we declare that we that there is something wrong about the education system? Everyday? Probably.

But if not for our schools, our education, we would not be more literate than 70% of the world’s population. If not for our way of life, the HDB flats, our economic policies, the foresight and fortitude of our government, we would not be the top 8% wealthiest people in the world. Remember the 1cent coin I gave out at Jubilee? That 1cent coin, though no longer useable in Singapore, still makes you wealthier than 5,704,000,000 people in this world.

We may be called a nation of robots who led by a bunch of “stromtroopers who are always dressed in white” who in turn are led by people who are “still wearing their school uniforms” and are controlled by the “Dragon of the Lee Dynasty”. Say what you want, if not for the government, Singapore would not be what it is today. Say what you want, if not for them, we would have dirt-roads instead of highways, kampong slums instead of HDB flats and swamps instead of parks.

Say what you want, if not for the government, we would not be the blessed nation we are today. You don’t have to go very far to see these blessing, just join the next mission trip up to COSI and you will see the difference. We are blessed. And we take it for granted.

Singapore is Home. Stop taking it for granted and look at what Singapore has been blessed with and compare that to our neighbours. And before you call the National Day Parade, the National Day Charade, think about the government who has given us so much freedom and compare that the other Chinese Christians who truly suffer for the sake of the Gospel. Thank God for Home.

Let’s be the blessing to the rest of the nation, the rest of the world.

PS: At the end of Jubilee, some youth obviously felt that a 1cent coin will take up too much space in their wallets and left it behind on the pews. Not one youth, but quite a few.

PPS: This version of the article has been "toned down" the original version had much stronger language. If you want an original version, ask me for it.