Singaporean First

On By ourblessedsg

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During my primary school days, there were countries I never thought we would ever be able to enter. China was one such country. I imagined the Chinese citizens aka hua qiao donned in grey factory overalls and reciting out of the little red book or chairman mao’s book. But much has happened since then. Though I’ve not yet been to China, China goods are found in every house (including mine) all over the world, Made in China. So the sleeping giant woke up years back and it costs less than 600 bucks to fly there today.

And this is quite confusing. China being a communist country doesnt quite seem to be on the connunist road anymore or maybe the communism I have read about has evolved to look pretty much like … $ingapore? So that’s good right? We welcome China and China welcomes us.

We ethnic Chinese are invited back to check out our Motherland (or is it Fatherland since they are comnunists?) and rekindle relationships in villages over ‘cha’ where our ancestors once originated from. Maybe even become a member of the Tan clan or the Lee clan there, take in a few calligraphy lessons and sing a few commie songs.

But China, specifically Beijing (since the CCP HQ is there) is going beyond these cultural exposure immersion trips. Beijing is calling on her/ his overeas foreign sons and daughters (huaren / ethnic Chinese) to support the mother/fatherland.

So this is what I take issue with.

Huaren (ethnic Chinese) does not = huaqiao (Chinese citizen). Many might dismiss this as Beijing being neurotic. Neurotic is the ethnic Chinese who goes in search of his roots and romanticizes the rich history of where his ancestors had come from, perhaps even stepping into their shoes so as to trace their once trodden paths. He explores and identifies himself with his “clansmen” of the same surname and relates with them. The neurotic builds castles in the air.

On the contrary, there is Beijing showing signs of psychosis. From the South China Sea to the One Belt, One Road (OBOR) policy, Beijing is adamant on its One Big Family agenda. That’s akin to the neurotic building his castle in the air and the psychotic actually living in the castle! Beijing has made it clear that only ASEAN countries that are claimant to the South China Sea will negotiate directly. But the negotiation does not fall on the responsibility of individual ASEAN countries. For the last thousand years, the waters of the South China Sea has been an integral part of the development of South East Asia as a region. Negotiation should be through ASEAN and not Beijing’s divide and conquer ruse. Is Beijing’s OBOR a strategy to push for its one big family policy? Is the purpose of this economic road also a political move to manipulate and control the boundaries it would cut across by ensuring the presence of China globally?

Beijing is delusional in its pursuit, oblivious to the Gen X and millenials who hold influence over this generation and the next. The global village is one of inclusiveness and renounces racial preferential treatment (of huaren) aka discrimination.

And to an ethnic Chinese, Singapore is home, not my great-granfather’s village in China. ASEAN is the wider network and the region I am a part of. My global world consists of all the other countries like the US, Europe, Africa, Australia, India, oh and China.

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Is this Kopi enough for you?

On By ourblessedsg

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A couple of months ago, I met a friend at a coffeeshop. I offered to order the drinks. His reply was, “Milo blah blah blah.” It was all BLAH to me because I had no idea what any of it meant. I know kopi-o and teh-o. Well, that’s about it.

Two reasons why I probably didn’t know kopitiam lingo despite being a 4th generation local. One, Singapore is so hot! More often than not, my drink would be a cold can of something. Two, I only need kopi-o or teh-o if it’s going to be a hot drink. Well, to be honest, I didn’t know there were options beyond those 2! Ok lah… there’s a 3rd reason. When I hear dialect, my brain seems to go into sleep mode. There’s dialect and there’s Tamil… same! So perhaps intentional ignorance is partly to blame. My friend who can order Milo blah blah blah for the record is not a Chinese! But I am! So I decided to figure this kopi lingo out! Going to Ya Kun to memorise their coffee list didn’t quite cut it for me.  I’m not the kind of learner who can memorise stuff and regurgitate it all out. If I could do that, I would have become a doctor by now. Unfortunately, for me everything has to have meaning and context and history… etymology.

So I gathered some kopi lingo and did some research. If there’s anyone out there as clueless as me when it comes to ordering your fix at the coffeeshop, I hope this helps.

  1. Kopi – Coffee with condensed milk
  2. Kopi-O : Coffee black. Orh means black in Hokkien. Now I know that cos when I play mahjong and the 8 circles comes out, Mum always says “orh” ey!
  3. Kopi-C: Coffee with evaporated milk.  ‘C’ stands for Xian Nai which means fresh milk in Hainanese. Back in the old days, the only kind of fresh milk available was evaporated milk
  4. Siew Dai : less base = less sweet. This is a Cantonese term. ‘Siew’ means less. ‘Dai’ means base. When coffee is made at the kopitiam here, the 1st thing at is put in is the sugar or the condensed milk. Hence if you want less sweet, you have to order less of the base ‘dai’) so the kopi uncle will cut down on the condensed milk or the sugar
  5. Ga Dai: more base = sweeter. ‘Ga’ means more and ‘dai’ means base
  6. Gao : hokkien for thicker
  7. Tiloh : equivalent to the expresso – thick. Comes from the Hokkien expression ‘di di loh” – to pour all the way
  8. Poh: weak e.g. kopi-poh
  9. Puah sio leng : half hot, half cold. this is Hokkien. ‘Puah’ means half, sio’ means hot, ‘leng’ means cold.

When I finally got this all nailed down, I went into a kopi tiam. But the lady at the counter was Indian! Anyway, I let it out “Kopi-O Gao, Siew Dai, Puah Sio Leng! Thanks!” Technically I just spoke Hokkien, Hainanese and Cantonese and one English ‘thanks’!

The next day at another coffeeshop, a Chinese guy infront of me ordered “Kopi Indian!” and the Malay staff knew what he meant! So I think it means more milk or use Bru coffee. I will have to get back on that!

Well, this is pretty much what Singapore is like – an eclectic mixture. One word sums it up, “Rojak”.

If you have more kopi tiam lingo to help me order better, pls add it in the comments section below. Beribu-ribu (a thousand in Malay) Kamsiah (thanks in Hokkien)!

53 years of nationhood

On By ourblessedsgLeave a comment

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On a Saturday in June,  just as we were preparing to take off from Davao, our Silkair captain announced that our arrival in Singapore would be delayed due to closure of the air space between 530pm and 630pm. (I may have gotten the timings wrong but it is about there). I  checked online and to my surprise found that air space closure was scheduled every Saturday in June till August 9! So no plane can land or take off because the Air Force wants to show off during that time?

In other countries, the day of Independence is celebrated. But in Singapore 9th August is not the day of our Independence. It is actually the day we got kicked out of Malaysia. This is putting it in a light-hearted manner. The actual separation caused much anxiety to this little red dot that relied on the “mainland” for many needs which ranged from water to food and even materials for  construction.  I wonder how the people living in Singapore felt on that fateful day. I am sure it was not a cause for celebration but of mourning and for those with families and relatives across the Causeway, harder still to accept the reality.

I ask myself if I had been a young person in 1965 and having to choose  between Singapore and Malaysia, what might I have chosen? I would have stuck with my values, principles and beliefs even though it meant a future of insecurity and possibly great poverty. I would have chosen Singapore. Our leaders back then were very clear in their vision – one united people, regardless of race, language or religion to build a democratic society based on justice and equality so as to achieve happiness, prosperity and progress. The Singapore back then stood for equality of all peoples whilst the federal government had special preferences. While Singapore wanted a Malaysian Malaysia, the federal government pushed for a bumiputera policy. While there could be other factors that contributed to the separation, the root cause was due to this one fundamental difference.

We have as one people stood up for this fundamental difference for the past 53 years. Regardless of cultural roots or religious beliefs, we, Singaporeans, have been through the same educatiom system and had the same opportunties in life or so i thought.

The journey of nationhood has not always been rosy or unblemished. We have had cabinet ministers make snide racist remarks in Parliament. Not all races have been given equal opportunities in civil service jobs or in the army (in the name of national security).

Of recent years, a deeper separation has emerged between the HDB dwellers and the private home dwellers or high SES vs low SES, I cringe. We have become elitist. We have nutured elitism in many of our top schools. Trivia: Majority of NUS medical students live in landed homes whilst a small minority live in HDB flats. And meritocracy is no longer as convincing as it was 53 years ago. We all know today, it gives equal outcome. However, it does not provide equal opporunities.

In the last 53 years, we have been so fixated on our material well-being aka economic status but we have neglected the pursuit of our true authentic happiness. We may have one of the highest GDPs in the world but we also have one of the greatest income disparity. There is an alarming breakdown in family relationships and family support – low birth rates and high divorce rates. And even more alarming is the growing number of invisible poor. Those who are homeless, those wth illnesses (mental or physical) and do not have a caregiver, the low-income earners and those who suffer some form of addiction.

On 9th August, once more a grand show will be put on for the world and a running narrative will be shared. But it is time to ask ourselves as we shine the light on SG Cares. “After 53 years, do equal opportunities exist for all?”

There goes my chilli crab

On By ourblessedsgLeave a comment

You don’t need to walk far to meet a tourist exploring Singapore. Just take a train down to Orchard Road. Actually, just take a train will do!
When I meet tourists I will always ask them “How do you find the food?”
Usually they reply, “Wow! It’s great!” and then the conversation can go on and on.

No one talks much about the Zoo, or Sentosa or Gardens by the Bay. All these places are Instagram worthy but not conversation worthy to the Singaporean. The Singaporean can go on all night about satay, chicken rice, prata, briyani, tulang, hokkien mee, bak kut teh, chilli crab, salted egg crab, black pepper crab, fried rice, beef hor fun, char kway teow, char toa kway, nasi padang, nasi lemak and so on… and of course durian!

When I meet a tourist who tells me, “Oh I’m not really into food” (and I haven’t  met such a tourist)… sorry but that’s where the conversation ends. Cos if we (Singaporeans) can’t talk about food in Singapore uh… there’s not much else to talk about.

Why is that so? Have you seen our size? Our map? We have been reclaimed to all sides at 90degrees per corner. We go North to South in 1 hour tops and East to West in 1hour 45mins tops. Also… the news is often more or less the same. The weather talk is “rainy” or “damn hot”.  But when it comes to food – we have variety, a whole smorgasbord of Asian fare and devil curry.

A Singaporean will be having breakfast and planning what’s for lunch and dinner. We are a pretty simple people at heart (when we are not fighting tooth and nail to be number 1 in everything)… what makes our nation tick? Food glorious food!

 

3 days 2 nights

On By ourblessedsgLeave a comment

sgflyer

Who is Singaporean today? It’s pretty hard to distinguish these days. On the trains and buses, we hear a whole cacophony of Mandarin, Malay, Tamil, the local dialects and also the NKOTB (new kids on the block) – Tagalog/Cebuano, Vietnamese (North and South accent), Beijing Mandarin, and so on.

So this is why I have chosen the title for my 1st post! Because you know you are Singaporean and your friends are Singaporeans when you plan your events within a 3day 2night time frame (subconsciously).

What 3 days 2 nights event have you participated in? Do any of these look familiar?

1. Weekend getaway to Batam/Bintan/BKK/Malaysia
2. School camp / church camp
3. Chalets @downtown east
4. Cruise (to Malaysia and back)
5. Funeral wake
6. Chinese New Year
7. National Day (8th Aug: half day school, 9th Aug public holiday, 10th Aug school holiday)
6. Weddings! (mostly for mixed-race weddings: day 1 chinese ceremony, day 2 church ceremony, day 3 temple ceremony and dinners in between!)

When you have guests coming to visit Singapore, it’s a pretty straight-forward itinerary. Offer them a 3day 2night plan.

Hello!
Day 1 - 10am to 3pm: Singapore Zoo/Gardens by the Bay, 5pm - 8pm: Singapore Flyer/Singapore River (shopping inbetween Orchard Road or Mustafa)
Day 2 - 10am to 3pm: Universal Studios/ Sentosa, 5-8pm: Night Safari
Day3 - Gardens by the Bay
Byebye!