Several of my friends on FB posted their declarations of love for Sg & how proud they are to be Singaporeans on the 9th this month. I don't know why I don't feel the same sentiments. Perhaps I'm an ungrateful person. I stopped watching NDP many years ago. It's pretty much the same to me every year. A march in, march out parade followed by dance performances by various groups & lastly, the fireworks. When I was in Sec 2, my school was chosen to perform in the NDP. As I was not in an Uniformed Group ECA, it was compulsory for me to participate. I hated it. I kept getting yelled at by the choreographer who was a dance teacher in my school for not doing the movements with enough energy. I didn't understand what the hell she was talking about. My moves were right. I didn't get them wrong unlike some others. Why are you yelling at me for? When I finally got what she meant by watching the dancers (from the dance group ECA), I found it even more ridiculous. This isn't a small scale performance. You think you can see how forcefully I'm dancing in a group of 500 students & cameras shooting from the sky? I did grow to enjoy it later on anyway. That was my only stint in the NDP. Did I understand what is national pride then? Probably not.
Yes, Sg indeed has come a long way. So has other countries. This is the natural path of progression. I just feel that instead of differentiating ourselves by nationality, why not consider all of us as inhabitants of this earth? Regardless of race, religion, nationality or even species, we all share this earth. Why is there a need to 分你的我的? Why is there a need to prove that I'm better? If 1 day, we can rid ourselves of this need to possess, perhaps we will attain the elusive world peace.
It is not about being ungrateful, but about calling the "brainwashing" aspect of NDP for what it is.
ReplyDeleteWith or without NDP, Singapore still has achieved a lot, why must wait for 1 day each year to be proud of our Singaporean heritage? Also why should the material development aspect (note the frequently repeated myth/hoax that Singapore grew from "a fishing village" pre-PAP) be more worthy of our national pride than other aspects? E.g. of other aspects worth boasting about: social diversity, the development of our own slang with selected words that enter international English dictionary.