" Why be a Singaporean

In the light of the recent drive to attract foreign talent into Singapore's economy, the Singaporean is often neglected and not given the due respect he/she deserves. A simple glance at any application form will show that PRs and Singaporeans have near identical rights. Why be a Singaporean at all, when it comes with the chore of National Service and reservist duties?

The PRs can send their children to our local schools and pay the same low fee. The PRs can get education in our universities, paying the same fee as the citizen. Even foreigners signing up for Master's degree courses at NUS/NTU pay only a few hundred dollars more than Singaporeans.

Singapore does require the expertise of many foreigners, so making life expensive for them or blocking their path with red-tape is not advisable.

But the issue I want to put forth here is that Singaporeans should matter.

Why should being a Singaporean only give us a small discount or worse, no special rights and privileges over the PR? Take a look at the NTU website for Master's degree courses. For some 1-year courses, a foreigner needs only to pay S$400+ more than a Singaporean. A PR pays exactly the same fee as a Singaporean. Take a look at the websites of Australia universities. The foreigner (international student) will have to pay 100% or more than an Australian. In other words, in the tertiary education sector there, being an Australian citizen has definite advantages.

What are the privileges of a Singaporean student here? The issue of loyalty to the nation was highlighted recently in the Straits Times. Unless one has actually gone to war for Singapore, I don't feel that anyone has the right to condemn another Singaporean as unpatriotic. Such unpatriotic feelings come about for many reasons and most are quite valid.

How many men have felt angry that their lives are disrupted by reservist duties when their PR colleagues get to enjoy everything Singapore has to offer but without the sacrifice? How does a Singaporean man, aged 37, feel when he finds out that his 32-year-old Malaysian colleague, after being a PR for 10 years, gets a pink NRIC but need not serve any form of NS?

The former-Malaysian mountain climbers and soon-to-be trekkers to the North Pole, may claim that they are sacrificing their lives, jobs, time and money for Singapore. But nobody forced them to do it. No one threatened disciplinary action if they did not do it. They took it upon themselves to do all this.

National Service, on the other hand, is not a voluntary activity. We can't choose when we want to enlist and what we want to do for 2.5 years. Nor can we get a deferment of our reservist duties easily. We can't choose not to declare that we are leaving Singapore for more than 24 hours. Wives, mothers, girlfriends can't request to have their husbands, sons or boyfriends to be with them when the NS/reservist callup is due. These are the inconveniences and sacrifices that Singaporeans make. They alone should be enough to give Singapore citizens the right to have more privileges than the PR or foreigner. National Service is not a trivial matter, the government says. Therefore, shouldn't the citizen (male and female) who is affected by NS be given more significant and tangible benefits?

Singapore citizens can vote in the general elections but the PR can't. But how many Singaporeans actually had a chance to go to the ballot box in the last elections. After the machinations of the ruling party, many electoral zones had walkovers. So, if being able to vote is a privilege of the citizen, then citizenship becomes a farce.

I am not advocating that we should make PRs and foreigners pay much more for goods and services. But it is the Singaporean who must not be made to pay the same amount as the non-citizen. The difference must also be significant. I am not referring to regular shopping but for matters like education and applications for certain things. It may sound very simplistic as a way to make Singaporeans feel that they are appreciated. The government statisticians will shoot this suggestion down, I am sure. But I am also sure that attitudes towards being a Singaporean will become more positive if we can see that being born in Singapore and serving NS tangibly benefits us.

If the goverment laments that many Singaporeans are not patriotic, why not make a survey asking how many PRs will volunteer for NS (and reservist)? I am sure the percentage of Singaporeans who still love this country will be much higher than for that of PRs volunteering for NS. Let's face it, PRs only love Singapore for its money-making potential, peace, cleanliness, security. Take these factors away and the PR will have no qualms about abandoning the Lion City. Should a Singaporean man do likewise, he can be charged with desertion. So, let's ask ourselves again,"What do I actually get for being a Singaporean??"

suhai13" (QUOTE)

What is the benefit and role of being a Singaporean?

Is it purely to work very hard in order to have our hard earned money taken away by Government in many different form of taxes and charges?

Without Singaporeans as their cash cows, our Government couldnt have achieve a present day high economy. And progress of our nation.

Inspite of that, are we treated like we deserved to be treated?

Is the Government grateful to it's citizens for providing a free flow of cash for them to make more money overseas?

I dont think so!

my lao bu give birth to me here

since im here, might as well make the best outta it

if people think like that, no country in the world would be good enough...

heck! people are as happy as they decide to be...

there can be more improvements in the governing system and the entrenched system...

what are your views apart from moaning about it? do you have any ideas that will improve the system?

if so, make yourself heard...

As if I did not, I and many others have made ourselves heard in a thousand way.

I could try to be pretensiously patriotic, that would be working against the interests of every citizen.

One typical way to improve our lot is -

the high cost of living . Many Singaporeans have brought this subject up to MPs.

Has anything been done besides the usual rhetoric of excuses?

No.

Want to hear some more on how we can improve the lives of Singaporeans?

put your money where your mouth is and stand for elections... should be coming up soon...

make your points heard... to the nation!

but from your post, it would seem that you do not offer anything more from the stuff JBJ has offered... which is basically hatred of the system and nothing much more...

high cost of living? sheesh... do tell.. meself, i'm kinda thankful that i do not have to part with $50 everyday for a standard lunch... but there are other things... that can be done.. but at what cost?

i'm thankful for what i have.. see the bottom of this post... and where i come from...

it does not mean that we do not keep trying to improve.. but it tells us not to become bitter when we do not have.. rather, to try to obtain it through hard work...

and most of all, be happy

Originally posted by miong:

As if I did not, I and many others have made ourselves heard in a thousand way.

I could try to be pretensiously patriotic, but truth is truth.

One typical way to improve our lot is -

the high cost of living . Many Singaporeans have brought this subject up to MPs.

Has anything been done besides the usual rhetoric of excuses?

No.

Want to hear some more on how we can improve the lives of Singaporeans?

Originally posted by the Bear:

put your money where your mouth is and stand for elections... should be coming up soon...

Yup.

alamak .... so kiasu .... can Dong Dong Hee .... still KPKB ....

very Singaporean u know

Originally posted by the Bear:

put your money where your mouth is and stand for elections... should be coming up soon...

make your points heard... to the nation!

but from your post, it would seem that you do not offer anything more from the stuff JBJ has offered... which is basically hatred of the system and nothing much more...

high cost of living? sheesh... do tell.. meself, i'm kinda thankful that i do not have to part with $50 everyday for a standard lunch... but there are other things... that can be done.. but at what cost?

i'm thankful for what i have.. see the bottom of this post... and where i come from...

it does not mean that we do not keep trying to improve.. but it tells us not to become bitter when we do not have.. rather, to try to obtain it through hard work...

and most of all, be happy

Remind me of the "half full or half empty cup of water" theory. Well we r born by birth as Singaporeans as FireIce pointed out. Try to make the best out of the system to your expectations. If all else fails, you can always move to a place where the system is more to your liking.

miong, now they are selling cheap tickets to thailand. less than 1 dollar. the things there are cheap also.

Originally posted by FireIce:

my lao bu give birth to me here

since im here, might as well make the best outta it

Ya loh, miong, nin lao bu gave birth to you here, why kao beh? what is yr problem, let us hear, see whether we agree with you or not. If not, at least you got a chance to shout here.

If really can't solve, you may want to find a better place so that your children's lao bu can give birth to them in a better country.

Why be a Singaporean, miong, since you hate us so much? Why not be a prostitute?

http://www.sfdonline.org/Link%20Pages/Link%20Folders/01Ds/220201d.html

If its so good elsewhere feel free to leave.

Like my pappy always said, 'It's good to die for your country. It's better to have a country to die for.'

Bring it on!!

I dont know about you but the tax in U.S and Japan is higher than Singapore. Maybe those undeveloped countries allows you to evade tax.

I am staying overseas.. due to work. Had stayed in about 3-4 countries for extended period.

In the region there are extreme in both political systems and govt. All got it pros as well as cons. Given a choice where u are stateless and you have to choose a country to be a citizen, which one will you choose?

I would be hard press to choose another country.... at the end of the day, there are so many factors involve, it is a matter of personal choice and priority.

After solving the high cost and 22 other problems as posted in "blind leading the blind" and rectifying the constitutional issues and problems discussed in "definition of true democracy", it would be worth being a Singaporean.

It is neither good nor bad being a Singaporean for me. But it really sucks and often make me feel regretful, when I see the way some Singaporeans behave on the roads and at large.

Singapore to me is a safe place, clean & healthy , organized - but it still sucks big time in the COURTESY department.

we're not perfect... but then who is?

even the US got idiots like Bush who can get win an election through brute force... and whatever other countries, have their own problems... so do we...

the 23 problems are identified.. what can we citizens do to improve our lot?

ranting that it's the gabrament's job and being destructively critical, offering nothing except venom is not going to help... and with people like that, you think another country would welcome them fully?

heck! like possum said, it's best to have a country to die for... we CAN make this a country to die for.. only if we stop moaning and groaning... nothing will happen while we do nothing but expect the gabrament to spoonfeed us...

i thought of migration in the past.. but then, this hit me.. heck! i'll face other problems in other countries too.. which are not too different from here.. am i just running away?

and if i can make it there, i sure as hell can make it here.. and this IS my country...

Originally posted by robertteh:

After solving the high cost and 22 other problems as posted in this forum and rectifying the constitutional issues and problems discussed in "definition of true democracy", it would be worth being a Singaporean.

Originally posted by the Bear:

we're not perfect... but then who is?

the 23 problems are identified.. what can we citizens do to improve our lot?

ranting that it's the gabrament's job and being destructively critical, offering nothing except venom is not going to help... and with people like that, you think another country would welcome them fully?

The high cost problem is a big problem. Elitism drives away the middle and lower sectments of society from participation in governance. Solutions are posted in various forums including "definition of true democracy" The Problem as always is : is the government listening or caring ?

Have you try selling your book at YoungPAP or HardwareZone or some where else ? I dun think anybody is interested here.

it is the apathy and how people have become jaded that is the problem..

"true democracy " requires the people.. if the people do not care, then maybe they don't deserve it...

again, some people have fallen into that trap.. democracy is from bottom up, not top down...

Originally posted by robertteh:

The high cost problem is a big problem. Elitism drives away the middle and lower sectments of society from participation in governance. Solutions are posted in various forums including "definition of true democracy" The Problem as always is : is the government listening or caring ?

Originally posted by robertteh:

After solving the high cost and 22 other problems as posted in "blind leading the blind" and rectifying the constitutional issues and problems discussed in "definition of true democracy", it would be worth being a Singaporean.

After all these are solved, issues rectified, may be singapore will ask: "why should you be taken as citizen?" what are you contributing?"

If you take away 30% humidity from the air, bring the average temperature down to 25 degree C, maintain average rain fall to ensure water supplies..,we would be in heaven

Originally posted by the Bear:

it is the apathy and how people have become jaded that is the problem..

"true democracy " requires the people.. if the people do not care, then maybe they don't deserve it...

again, some people have fallen into that trap.. democracy is from bottom up, not top down...

If people are bearish about democracy, that is a different story. I don't know whether Singaporeans deserve democracy for they are apathetic just looking at their posting.

Originally posted by paperchicken:

Have you try selling your book at YoungPAP or HardwareZone or some where else ? I dun think anybody is interested here.

I wrote that book to stamp on my copyright only. Never mind about selling it as I am not banking on people in this forum to buy it.

Originally posted by robertteh:

If people are bearish about democracy, that is a different story. I don't know whether Singaporeans deserve democracy for they are apathetic just looking at their posting.

contended not apathetic.