Last Saturday, we published an article by an undergraduate on her thoughts on National Day. Today, another undergraduate shares her views on Singaporeans’sense of belonging. Their opinions may reflect the feelings and hopes of some young people for Singapore.

　　When I was still a little kid and the time for NDP rolled around, the feeling surrounding those days was always one of excitement and camaraderie with fellow Singaporeans and this place we call home.

　　A love for fireworks, National Day songs and the flag-bearing helicopters had everything to do with it.

　　Now that I look back, those were days with a religious fervor. Kindergarten days were when I strove to cut perfectly shaped stars for my paper flag. Then there were the primary school days when excitement was unfurling the national flag to hang outside the house.

　　Secondary school days saw almost every July morning starting off on a somewhat sunny, optimistic note with the National Day songs echoing from the public announcement system.

　　Not everyone from my generation might agree with such sentiments, but then, the sense of national belonging is at the core, something special to each individual with different points of reference.

　　Leaving behind much of the excitement felt as a child, age and further education has allowed me to reflect on my sense of belonging and the basis upon which it stems, aside from the flags, the songs.... in a word, the intangibles.

　　Tangible entities like our excellent facilities: the airport, our mass transport system, our national air carrier; that all allows us the basic level of identification with Singapore.

　　But unlikely as it may seem now, these things may be transient, and should they fall from grace one day (touch wood!), what will we do for a sense of identification and belonging?

　　Before we got elevated to the status that Singapore enjoys today, our forefathers had no airport or MRT system to be proud of. They forged a sense of commonality in their collective effort to eke out a living and to mould a feeling of community and identity.

　　Today, it seems that besides the common thread of working towards better living standards, the younger generation have nothing common to work towards at the national level.

　　Personally, witnessing changes helped reinforce my sense of belonging. How we have become a society more open to ideas, more receptive of foreign culture and a country with a reputation that we can be proud of.

　　These are not, however, compliments in the absolute sense. We definitely have room for improvement: Think about the ringing mobile phones at performances, about the recent M1 handphone exchange fiasco. Improvement however, is provided that we assent that we can and must continue to move ahead.

　　 On our part, we have to assume moral responsibility to ensure the continuance and bettering of what our predecessors started.

　　In that same stride is where the sense of belonging can flow from those who worked for what we are today, to those who will work for what Singapore will be tomorrow.

　　When we talk about belonging, we attribute as the anchor our families and friends. These are the people who make Singapore feel like home, a place where we belong. Sounds familiar? You would probably have said that, that it is the synergy between people that creates the strongest bond. In times of national crisis, these bonds will matter in the fight for survival.

　　I am learning still, to see more of which we can be proud of. For every one Singaporean tourist who decries other countries’ backwardness, there’s one Singaporean volunteer in the third world bearing our flag, carrying out constructive work.

　　Statistically, I may be far from reality, but it helps by putting things in perspective. We could take as a reminder that three seconds of what we say and how we behave can wipe out what the volunteer has taken three weeks or more to communicate - that Singaporeans can be something else other than efficient, hardworking but ungracious.

　　It is not just a matter about how others see us. As can be seen from the amount of brickbats Singaporeans receive from ourselves on the newspapers, we do not exactly have a healthy self-image.

　　Over the years, what does one expect a young Singaporean to feel about his/her own national identity? What then does one expect a Singaporean who studied or worked overseas, who has experienced more gracious people and societies, to feel about being Singaporean?

　　The biggest mistake we can make now is to believe that we have got it made and that success is an irreversible process. We have room for improvement and it is from such improvement that we can make the Singaporean more love-able, maybe not to everyone but at the very least, to Singaporeans ourselves.

　　To have a sense of belonging is crucial to our continuance. This feeling of belonging entails loving and being loved. Should that be hard for a people who worked hand in hand to pave an amazing 36 years of progress? I shouldn’t think so.

　　(The writer is a final year student at the School of Communication Studies, NTU.)

　　上周六，我们发表了一位大学生对国庆的感想；今天，另一位大学生也从国庆看国民的归属感情结。他们的看法反映了年轻人对国家的感情和期望。

组屋区张挂国旗为国家庆祝生日。

　　小时候，国庆检阅礼即将到来的那一段日子，都会让我感到很兴奋，还有一种和其他国人和我们的家园认同的感觉。

　　当然，喜欢烟花、爱国歌曲，和载着国旗飞行的直升机，也是让我感到雀跃的原因。

　　回想起来，那些日子还带点宗教似的热诚。上启蒙班的时候，我总会为我的纸制国旗剪一些形状完美无缺的星星。上小学时，拿出国旗挂在组屋外时，最叫我感到兴奋。

　　中学的时候，一到7月，学校的扩音系统总会传来国庆爱国歌曲，让人每天早上都觉得有一个朝气蓬勃的开始。

　　不是每一个和我同年代的人，都会有同样的感觉。但是，关键在于对国家的归属感。因为基准不同，每一个人都会有不同的体会。

　　长大后，儿时的兴奋感觉渐淡，更高的教育也使我能够对自己的归属感，和这种感觉的基础深思。我指的是除了国旗，爱国歌曲外，那种无形的感情。

　　具体的东西，例如我们卓越的设备：机场、公共交通系统和新航，都能让我们对新加坡产生一种基本的认同感。

　　但是，虽然现在看来似乎不太可能，这些成就却可以是短暂的。如果有一天，它们不再带给我们骄傲，我们的认同和归属感也可能失去依赖。

　　新加坡还没有如此繁荣前，我们的先辈，并没有让他们引以为荣的机场或地铁系统。但是，他们有一个共同的认识——努力求存和建立社区精神及认同感。

　　反观今天年轻一代的新加坡人，大家除了努力赚钱提高生活水准外，在国家大事的层次上，完全没有共同的目标。

　　以我个人来讲，目睹新加坡的变化，例如，我们的社会已经更能包容不同的意见、更能接受外来文化，新加坡也赢得让我们足以自豪的声誉，这些都加强了我的归属感。

　　但是，我们肯定还有很多需要改进的地方。时常在演出场所响起的手机和最近第一通手机交换计划造成的混乱，都值得我们反省。然而，要改进，我们首先得同意我们可以，也必须继续向前迈进。

　　我们必须肩负道德上的责任，确保由先辈苦心经营，今日我们所拥有的新加坡，能够在我们这一代延续下去，并取得更好的成绩。有了为国家的将来贡献的决心，我们就能体会到先辈对国家的归属感。

　　谈到归属感，不能不提起家庭和朋友。是他们让我们觉得新加坡是我们的家园，我们属于这片土地。这些话，是不是似曾听说？很多人大概也这样说过。人与人的紧密联系，可以带来坚固的凝聚力。国家面对危机时，这种凝聚力可以决定我们的生死存亡。

　　我还在发掘还有什么值得我们自豪。许多到外国旅游的新加坡人，喜欢批评这些地方是如何落后。另一方面，也有一些国人代表新加坡，在第三世界国家充当义工，为当地的人民出一份力。

　　在国外的新加坡义工，花三个星期或更多时间努力向他人证明，新加坡人也能够关怀他人，并不只是如一般人所说，有效率、勤劳但缺乏优雅行为，却可能因为我们在三分钟里的言谈举止，完全被否定。这一点，我们需要时常提醒自己。

　　这不只是别人怎么看我们的问题。新加坡人通过报章对自己的批评，难道还不够多吗？我们并没有一个很健康的自我形象。对于一个年轻新加坡人对国家认同的感想，我们能有怎样的期待呢？一个曾在外国读书或工作，体验了优雅的社群的新加坡人，我们能期待他对身为一个新加坡人有什么感想呢？

　　如果我们相信我们已经成功，从此将一帆风顺，那就大错特错了。我们有很多地方还有待改善，通过改进自己，新加坡人才能变得更能关爱他人。当然，我不是说关爱每一个人。但是，至少新加坡人必须关爱新加坡人。

　　新加坡要继续生存，人民对国家的归属感是关键。要培养归属感，人们需要互相关爱。新加坡人在过去的36年齐心协力，为今日的成就铺平了道路，我相信这个挑战不会难倒我们。

　　（作者是南大传播学院四年级学生·叶琦保译）

《联合早报》

<<< 返回/Return