The little island call home. Why will I stay?

Here I stand on a little island named after a lion and many call it the Lion City when historically there is no lion on the island before the Mandai Zoological Garden opens on 27th June 1973. How this young prince saw the lion was still a mystery. Many many years later, a certain Englishman of the sea got lost in the sea and landed on this little island by accident. He later went on to make this little island a free port between merchant ship of the East and West. His name went on to be prominent today in a popular hotel and shopping center. We might had been born in China, India, Europe, Malaysia, Indonesia or any where else if Raffles and his crew met with a ship wreck or had ended somewhere else in South East Asia. If I could still remember my text book, it was the year 1819 where the fate of a tiny fishing island was changed forever.

Today our little island is more than an island itself. Its a metropolis, an land area of zero natural resources but filled with industries, commercial building, residential estate, recreation buildings, shopping center in every neighbourhood, roads and tracks snaking all around the island. Soon, we will have more parks, more canal transform into natural rivers (man made), a race track, casino, and the Asia largest underwater Aquarium when the casino are completed on Sentosa. How in the world we survived this 44 years with nothing to provide the world trade in the beginning (no oil, no gold, no coal, no metal) is still one great achievement. I tell my Ang Mo friend in US that we only got people, their skills, talents and attitude to sell...thats all. Thats how we survived today.

However, ask the question that in the event that we are invaded by some foreign nation.... the many respond we all heard around us is that most will get the first ticket out of the country, most will say we will never last more than a week, most of us had enjoyed the fruit of Singapore achievement but will never think its worth cultivating new seeds after eating the fruit. Its not worth it, with the cost of living going up, stressful lifestyle of pursuit and a mono party government as many like to talk bout it in the kopitiam. Take the money and migrate to Australia or Canada. Maybe Thailand be a good choice or if rich enough, stay in Europe.

Reflecting on all this negativity sometime makes me question myself. Besides been in the military with obligation to serve and defend, what the hell will I want to defend at all? A little rock of concrete jungle? Soon I realize that this country is grown and build by people, no natural resource to start with and if I gonna hang on to it till the last breath of its life, it will be for the people too specifically for family, friends, close colleagues (brother in arms) and the mentors I had throughout my lifetime. If not for all this people, I don't think I got any emotional attachment to this country at all let alone stay and defend it in times of conflict.

Been staying in the States for 2 years plus and I admit its a wonderful place to live in with the 4 seasons. At the end of it, you can't felt a sense of emptiness or void inside. The experience oversea can be artificial sometime when you know you are just a tourist there. To be honest, I just miss all the good food in Singapore that two years I was away. We had almost all kinds of food from all race and religion compacted into our little island, than we had fusion of all this variety and simply just had good food to boost about to my foreign friends.

The National Day spirt in our neighborhood had been getting colder and colder each year. This year, our family is the only few unit one hanging the flag out and the block opposite is even more jialat, only 1 unit hang the flag out. Maybe many of us are getting frustrated or losing faith. However if all of us stop believing in our country for its capacity to progress and be a better place for everyone, I believe what an analyst said might come true...

"No nation in history, without natural resources, are able to survive for a century"

For me, we naturally had human resources since I am natural born Singaporean :). Its the only resources we got to make things happen on this little island other than making more babies. To me, the little island is called home and I will stay as long as my people and all my favourite food are around. Happy 44th Birthday Singapore (and to those born on this day).