As Singapore celebrates its Golden Jubilee, I find it an opportune time to just wax lyrical about why I love my country, quirks and all, as my way of wishing my home a Happy 50th Birthday. Moreover, I think there are too many Singaporeans who complain about Singapore but there are in fact, a lot of things to be glad and thankful for.
1. Safety
As a female, I’m thankful that I grew up in Singapore and can go out till late drinking with buddies till the wee hours of the morning without fearing whether I’ll be raped or robbed as I walk down the streets flagging a cab. Needless to say, it’s not as if Singapore does not have any crime but I really do not need to walk around with a pepper spray in my bag.
2. Education
I’m glad that I’m multi-lingual thanks to schools forcing me to take Mandarin, plus the option of learning a 3rd language if you do well, and then teaching the rest of the syllabus in English. Like many of my peers, we do not need to worry about whether we can even go to school as government schools are free and there are various scholarships/grants/payment options to our local universities available. I wouldn’t be surprised if we had one of the highest percentage of uni graduates per population. The fact that our lingua franca is English means that even if some of our population have really bad grammar etc, they still understand English a lot better others. Thanks to my education, travelling is a hoot as I do not have a fear of language barriers. Most of the time.
3. Food
We Singaporeans are soooo spoiled when it comes to food. We have variety of cuisines and prices WHILE having the ability of calling certain dishes uniquely ours. Of course other countries have tons of yummy food too. But Singaporean food is…well, Singaporean. Even my cousin who lives in the US and does not really identify as a Singaporean eats and craves Singaporean food like a Singaporean. 😛
4. Convenience
Due to our efficiency as well as lack of size, Singapore is really super convenient. Want to get from one end of the island to the other? MRT is only a stone’s throw away, or just flag down a cab or sit on a relatively ‘long’ bus journey. Want to get some groceries? There are tons of mini marts/ supermarkets or even wet markets in every neighbourhood. When I was in Japan, the nearest supermarket from my flat was a good 30 minute walk away. Ditto for when I stayed over with my bro in both Melbourne and London.
5. Less gender discrimination
A Taiwanese ex-colleague of mine once told me that many Asian women would like to be Singaporean because Singaporean women have a reputation of having the most freedom to do and say whatever they want. It never occurred to me when I was younger that other Asian women did not have the same access to education/ careers/ jobs as I did. Or that in some Asian societies, the woman is expected to give up her career once she is married and with child. Needless to say, I am very thankful that I am an independent woman and able to proudly say so. I guess that is probably a factor as to why others say that Singaporeans tend to have a bit more Western outlook in life.
There is no such thing as a perfect country, just as there is no perfect government. There are many things that can be improved but nonetheless, this is home. Truly.
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