Thursday, 11 October 2012

Q: Do you know what makes you Singaporean?

This a post that has been inspired by the exchange I have had with my reader Glenn on the issue of one's nationality. Glenn and I don't quite see eye to eye on the issue and that made for a very interesting exchange. Allow me to quote him, "To me, there's clearly something more about this little book than a permit to enter other countries. It is a symbol. Nationality is as much about your past as it is about your future. Retaining it is my pledge that my future is tied to Singapore, that if Singapore goes down I go down with her. You might say it's stupid or naive, sure. I accept that. But I think that some things surpass rationality and pragmatism. And I also think that an absolute belief in rationality is no less naive. You are free to be pragmatic about it, but I choose not to. Sure, I might be handicapped in employment and mobility by holding on to my Singaporean passport, but that's a handicap I gladly accept."

 I did then point out to him that whilst I do not hold Singaporean nationality, I am more Singaporean than a lot of new citizens originally from China- such as Li Jiawei and Feng Tianwei who didn't grow up in Singapore and barely speak English. I was brought up in Singapore, I speak English, Singlish, Malay, Mandarin, Singdarin and even a smattering of Tamil. I was educated in Singapore up till the age of 18 and served NS. All these experiences created a wealth of experiences that are uniquely Singaporean and more to the point: Li Jiawei and Feng Tianwei never ever had any of these experiences. There is a big difference between having these experiences and a pink IC.
If only there was a better word than 'Singaporean' - as the term tends to describe someone with Singaporean nationality, eg. Feng Tianwei but not me; rather than someone from Singapore regardless of their nationality. I also wish there was a term that could describe one's cultural identity rather than one's nationality per se. That's why I am so bothered by the term 'Chinese' here in the UK, because people always just assume that I am from China if I use the term 'Chinese' to describe myself. Sometimes I settle for the term 'British-Chinese'  as a compromise, but it is a tricky issue indeed - one that I'd love to discuss with my readers. 

So over to you LIFTers - what makes you 'Singaporean' and by that I am referring to your cultural identity rather than your nationality? Leave a comment below, as always, let's get discussing. Thanks!


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17 comments:

  1. Winking Doll12 October 2012 at 02:28

    Quirky off-the-cuff answer below...

    As a Chinese Singaporean, we are the rare Chinese who enjoys curries and insist on specific types of chilli (fresh-cut chilli padi with soya sauce, lime-chilli, garlic-chilli, peanuts-chilli, sour green chilli, etc) to go with specific dishes. In addition, we enjoy durian and its desserts -- durian-cream puff, durian hotcakes, durian ice-cream, etc.

    We like to borrow words from various languages and merge them into a single sentence by switching between languages mid-sentence.

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    1. Limpeh Foreign Talent12 October 2012 at 10:39

      Mind you, I always have a big bowl of DIY chilli sauce which is the kind you get with chicken rice. Having said that, I have 2 sisters - one loves spicy food like me, the other one can't stand anything with chillies in them. And I am not fond of durian mind you, not touched it in years and don't miss it.

      In terms of mixing languages, that occurs all over the world where people speak more than one language. I am now encountering Konglish - Korean-English, the Korean version of Singlish... yes I am learning Korean now :)

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    2. Limpeh Foreign Talent13 October 2012 at 17:03

      PS. peanuts-chilli?!?!? That's new to me!

      Delete
  2. hujan_batu12 October 2012 at 16:43

    Eh. Common conflation: ethnicity, citizenship, culture. That all used to be thought of as the same, pre-widespread immigration (in general, not just Singapore). Me: ethnically Chinese, Singapore citizen, most-def-not Singaporean culture.

    Growing up, didn't go to public school or live in public housing. Spent entire adult life till 05 in the US, after ORD. Now I'm back in SG and doing something I never thought I'd be doing. It's having served NS that ultimately made me come back to Singapore.

    So. Much the opposite from you in many ways, if roughly the same age.

    For the record, encourage all young Singaporeans to emigrate for a minimum of two years, if they can afford it. No tourist crap. Two months isn't enough. Go somewhere. Live in different cultures. Don't kill anyone.

    But don't go mad. Because too many people fsck off in a flounce, hate on SG, and secretly long to be back (not talking bout you, Limpeh, friends' parents). Sucks to be them, cause they can never back down.

    But go. Fsck off. See if you like it out there. Hell, that's what your ancestors did. You like it, stay there. You don't, come back. You change your mind, hell, can always emigrate again. But the only way to not have regrets is to not go mad. Cause then you're stuck in your position.

    Me, got three main tests of Singaporean.

    1) Love the food. Any kind. Obsess about it. Only dinner conversation is where the next meal is. It's the ultimate diplomacy -- all get together to share a meal.
    2) Complain (actually, pretty British). About everything. No exceptions. Never happy. This is good. Because you want things to change. To be better. The only point where people stop complaining is because they've had enough and want to leave or when they're too beat down to care.
    3) Swear in Hokkien. You know it's true -- it's the best way to deal with stress. Perfect language for expressing strong emotion. See Talking Cock the movie for details.

    Of course, going through NS is a crash course in all three.

    My two cents.

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    1. Limpeh Foreign Talent12 October 2012 at 19:45

      Hi there - can I just put some numbers to my case to contradict what you've written about fucking off in a flounce. Let me show you how long I had stayed in the UK before I was able to naturalize as a British citizen.

      3 years undergrad at university (doesn't count towards anything immigration wise)
      5 years working here to obtain permanent leave to remain (PR status)
      2 years as PR before I could naturalize.

      That's a total of 10 years. Count them. 3 plus 5 plus 2 = 10 long years before I was even in a position to start my application to naturalize as a British citizen. And that's considered FAST compared to the US! It takes an even longer time to get a Green Card for the US.

      Even if you want to speed the process up, well you can't! The US or UK (or whatever country) government will set a path for potential migrants to take which always begins with the migrant working a few years with a work permit before being able to apply to be a permanent resident - and then a few more years before being allowed to naturalize as a citizen. No amount of 'flouncing' can speed this process up.

      I held on to my Singaporean passport for over ten years after leaving Singapore. No amount of 'flouncing' or desire on my part was going to persuade the UK Home Office to issue me with a British passport until I had gone through the same process as everyone one else. During those ten years from 1997 - 2007, sure I could've waltz back to Singapore on my Singapore passport anytime, but I chose not to. I waltz back in 2011 as an British FT, bwahahahahaha!

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    2. hujan_batu13 October 2012 at 14:10

      Flounce; fsck off; poorly chosen, my bad. But the substance stays the same. Citizenship isn't necessary to emigrate. And anyway, nuance was for someone else, not you.

      Ironically. You, me, probably very different approach, but similar views. Do something. It's hard, but do it. It's the only way things change.

      General advice: Go somewhere else, young Singaporean, then work out where you want to be. If it's there, good for you. If not, move around. If you feel unhappy, change it. Then make up your own mind.

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    3. Limpeh Foreign Talent13 October 2012 at 15:17

      Well, there are things we can do impulsively. For example, I once bought a jacket solely for the colour which I liked v much. Then after I got home, I was like, oh I realized I didn't like a lot of things about it (nice colour, bad design) and I made a silly mistake. You can take back and exchange/refund within 14 days but I didn't. I thought, but I like the colour! It will grow on me. Well it didn't. I gave it away to charity eventually.

      So even with something like an impulsive shopping decision, I had 14 days to regret it and change my mind. Likewise when it came to emigration, the whole process took 10 years and I had 10 years to change my mind.

      I am trying hard to think about an impulsive decision that is not reversible in any way - and perhaps it's more like, I was supposed to hang out with my friend Mark today but he got drunk at a party last night so he is too hungover and had to cancel our plans today. So the moment he had consumed too much alcohol last night - that's it, it's irreversible. The damage has been done.

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    4. hujan_batu13 October 2012 at 18:41

      Not so much impulse but emotion. Course, emotion can cause impulse.

      I know people who have emigrated mad. Almost every conversation -- about buying car rims even -- leads back to Singapore and how much happier they are where they are.

      Newsflash -- you don't show you're happy by saying you're so much better off compared to something else. If you're happy, you talk about what's intrinsic to what makes you happy.

      Anyway, these people will not return to Singapore, no matter how much they want to. Because then they will not have been consistent. So they sit unhappy where they are.

      For avoidance of doubt (evil, useful phrase), this isn't about you. Don't know you. Purely from personal experience.

      Anyway, substantially think we agree that being Singaporean is more than holding a passport. It's the culture too. Thing is, culture changes. Right now, changing faster than people are comfortable with. But that's life. Adapt, improvise, overcome etc. Whether here, or elsewhere.

      BTW, any misunderstandings, hard feelings etc; purely my bad for not putting message across.

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    5. Limpeh Foreign Talent13 October 2012 at 18:58

      In my case, you have to remember that I had a very difficult relationship with my parents - so it was not so much getting away from Singapore per se, it was getting away from my parents to try to establish a life away from them. Given how small Singapore is... my parents live in Ang Mo Kio - where do you want me to run to? Changi? Tuas? Pulau Ubin? You can see that all these places are not that far away at all and accessible from AMK within an hour.

      Now I may be simplifying the situation here as my decision to emigrate was very complex - but I wanted to demonstrate that it's not always about Singapore per se; in my case, it was more about my family, rather Singapore. I don't know about the people you're talking about - but there are other factors to consider you know that have nothing to do with buying property or cars or education etc. There you go.

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    6. hujan_batu14 October 2012 at 04:50

      Yep, totally agree re parents. I needed my time away too. Nine years. Took that long to work out a lot of things in my head. Came back to Singapore, made peace, stayed as far away from them as I could.

      Anyways. It's never just about Singapore per se. If all persons' motivation could be summed up so simply, life would be much more predictable. Ooops. But in the end, in the end, in the end, it all boils down to not going away mad.

      Eh. That is personal experience, btw.

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    7. Limpeh Foreign Talent14 October 2012 at 11:41

      Yes, I am glad we agree on that one. I think there comes a point where one has to learn to gain his independence, spread his wings and fly - that's the only way to grow up. I look at my two older sisters who have remained very, very close to my parents and they almost seem to seek their permission and approval at every turn - and I'm like good grief, you're both in your 40s and you still crave their approval? Isn't time you learnt to grow out of that kind of mindset?

      If you have the kind of parents who have a more hands-off approach who are willing to let you stand on your own two feet without rushing in to try to be a part of that process, then great. You can live on the same street, even in the same house and it wouldn't be a problem.

      Can I throw religion into the mix as well? My family are Christian and I am a militant atheist. I'm not just one of those Christians who have stopped going to church, I am not agnostic, oh no, I don't believe in a god(s) or divinity of any kind. Sundays were awkward to say the least as they go off to church and my mother still talks in terms of "the church this, the bible that, the pastor says this, Jesus blah blah blah etc". It's like, look I wanna get along with my family but I just don't believe in god or religion at all. It's awkward to say the least.

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    8. hujan_batu14 October 2012 at 20:13

      Heh. Different side, same coin. Personal belief -- force kids to leave at 18, or at most 22 (bit hard re: university). Makes a world of difference.

      As for religion. No comment other than not dissimilar experiences.

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  3. Unknown13 October 2012 at 13:37

    Haha interestingly, I agree with Glenn. I had wanted to comment on your blog the previous (first) time I visited this space. I'm 19 this year, an undergrad living in Melbourne (a Singaporean who studied mostly in Singapore, then NYC & Perth before moving to Melb very recently for university). Before chancing upon your space, I had always been under the impression that singaporeans who want to 'get out' of singapore are those who hasn't got out of singapore yet. Yep, you proved me wrong completely LOL. Let me explain why I thought so - my appreciation and pride towards Sg grew directly proportionate to the number of places I lived in. I felt that I didn't 'know' Sg until I left Sg, & I believe that's what made me treasure home so much more. On many occasions I find myself loving & hating my heartland at the same time but like Glenn, holding the singapore passport is very important to me.

    Perhaps compared to you (or Glenn), I'm much less 'Singaporean' (I actually don't think I am v singaporean at all. Except for the little part on academic competitiveness?? HAHA but really I might think that's an "Asian" thing) yet like Glenn, that passport speaks the most for me. I do not like chicken rice, nor laksa, nor nasi lemak AT ALL. Curry rarely exists in my dictionary & I HATE durians (no durians, please). But I still love food: Fried carrot cake, soy beancurd, bubble tea, ......... (the list doesn't end). To add on, I dislike swearing in hokkien plus dislike ppl who swear in hokkien! I mean thats SO crude? :\ Sorry, just being frank. I don't think I'm 'Singaporean' in those ways at all & I find it hard to speak about this explicitly because fellow singaporeans who do not know will be inclined to think I'm not recognizing my 'background'/'culture'. Which isn't true, I just don't think I should be define as a Singaporean in those ways...

    As above, I summarize the third point about Feng/Li.. We don't know them personally & do not know what they truly feel about Sg (I think they should be given the benefit of doubt instead of us just making assumptions). I feel this way because if I do not love a country I see as my home, I will NOT play for that country at all. Naive? Haha! Just me perhaps. But I want to mention that precisely because the passport makes such a BIG difference to me, it irks me when immigrants holding Singapore passports do not love Singapore or are not the 'real' Singaporeans. During my encounter w 2 Chinese men on my flight to Japan, they were clearly from China (accent) & their behavior (which made me somewhat uncomfortable as I was sitting in between them throughout the miserable journey e.g. unhygienic actions, you know) were just very unlike men I came across in Sg. I felt so disturbingly sad and annoyed because I (foolishly or stupidly) did not want ppl to think Singaporeans are like them (they were holding Singapore passport!!!!!). But of course, they may be the outliers of Chinese holding Singapore passports, right? It just wasn't pleasant basically :\

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    1. Limpeh Foreign Talent13 October 2012 at 14:27

      Hi Doreen - a longer reply will follow later today, I just wanted to point out the obvious (or maybe not so obvious?) - you're a woman. I'm a man.

      Singaporean women don't have to serve NS. Anyway, may I direct you to a post I wrote earlier this year specifically for S'porean women on the issue? http://limpehft.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/part-1-limpeh-debunks-some-ns-myths.html

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    2. Limpeh Foreign Talent13 October 2012 at 17:08

      OK a few more points for you.

      1. Local foods - all a question of taste, to each his/her own.

      2. Hokkien - I grew up in a Hokkien-Mandarin speaking home, I speak Hokkien with my mum and Mandarin with my dad and I can't ever imagine swearing in Hokkien with my mum; like just no way. It's just a language for ordinary, everyday communication for me, rather than swearing per se.

      3. Those PRCs on the plane - I feel your pain.

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  4. Glenn13 October 2012 at 21:14

    I don't know what makes me Singaporean. I don't know what makes a Singaporean. I don't know what Singaporean culture is. But I know it when I see it.

    回春, had a poke around your blog and looks like we're in the same profession. Hopefully I'll make the same move home soon.

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  5. Green Ogre16 October 2012 at 05:07

    Laughs. I am Singaporean because I spend time and effort to get to the best makan places. And then join the queue.

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