We Are Singapore

I'm not really sure what to say, and I realise that posting something like this could get me a lot of backlash and possibly hate.

But I have to say it.

I love my country, and I am a proud Singaporean.

But the songs used for our National Day Parades are really starting to suck.

I mean it.

As a child from ’94, I remember growing up with the really old songs. Here are the songs I remember singing as a child.

Stand Up for Singapore

Count On Me Singapore

We Are Singapore

One People, One Nation, One Singapore

Home

Together

Shine on Me

Where I Belong

We Will Get There

One United People

Reach Out For The Skies

My Island Home

I knew all the songs until the one used in 2007. All of a sudden, it didn’t have the same NDP feel to it. After that, all the songs used just seemed worse and worse.

I tried speaking up against it once in secondary school. It was 2007, and our class had just finished listening to the song for the year – There’s No Place I’d Rather Be. I remember our music teacher told us that the song lyrics had very specifically avoided using the word “Singapore” in an effort to sound a little less yay-I-love-my-country propaganda-ish, and that song was mostly targeted at those who were leaving the country to seek futures elsewhere.

I had nothing against her observations – she was, after all, the teacher and I was only a student. Plus, I had made the same observations myself, so there was definitely no argument there. I simply hated the song, and blurted it out without thinking.

The teacher immediately reacted.

“Who was that?” she snapped.

I was terrified (being a girl who hadn’t even turned 13 yet, a teacher’s authoritative powers were still something I feared very much), but decided to raise my hand in case someone else became unlucky enough to suffer her wrath in my place.

She rounded on me and asked me why I hated my country. I was completely taken aback – when the hell had I said I hated my country? I just hated the song; I had no quarrel with the place where I’d lived my entire life.

I told her so, and the disgust on her face was plain to see. Apparently in her eyes I was now transformed into a miserable, country-hating, good-for-nothing student.

I know, a statement like “I hate this year’s NDP song!” will usually draw gasps, nosebleeds, high fevers, fainting and angry reactions like “WHY DON’T YOU WRITE NEXT YEAR’S SONG LA YOU SO TALENTED”.

I’m not talented, and I definitely don’t pretend to be.

All I want is a song that will invoke the same rush of fierce childish pride, the same “Oh my gosh, it’s MY country’s national day theme song and we MUST sing it out loud no matter how many stares we draw.”

When you listen to the old songs, what do you feel?

Better yet, what do you remember?

I’m sure you have memories attached to those songs, be they good or bad.

For me, I remember rainy afternoons in primary school, getting ready for national day. The AVA boys would play the songs over and over in the school hall, and we would practice the special dance we learned for the song (we were no older than 7 or 8, what did you expect?).

I remember colouring black-and-white pictures of the national flag that were printed on pieces of A4 paper different shades of red simply because we always fought over the colour pencils and we didn’t really know exactly what kind of red the flag was supposed to be.

I remember the national day celebrations, when I was one of those chosen to tell the story of the country’s history. I was so proud.

I remember being in upper primary and acting cool, pretending that the songs were lame, but still smiling to myself when I thought no one was looking because I really, really liked the songs. And then when we had to sing the songs, we ended up enjoying ourselves so much that all thoughts of trying to look cool were forgotten.

I remember going to the actual parade and singing as loudly as I could, feeling as though I was going to burst, I was so happy and proud to be a Singaporean at that very moment.

The old songs mean so much to me because of the memories that come attached to them. The thing is, none of the current songs have such memories attached to them.

Do the current children feel the same rush of pride that we used to feel when listening to the songs used in our school years?

If they do, then I have no further complaint against the current songs – let the children create their own memories with the songs and feel proud of their country and people when they hear the songs.

But if they don’t feel anything much for the songs… I think that’s sad.

I don’t know if this might be considered a selfish suggestion, but all the same I think it’s a suggestion that could be entertained.

Why don’t we have an NDP celebration that celebrates the old songs instead of coming up with a new one?

It’s our nation’s birthday, after all. Celebrate the new, but never ever forget the old. Let’s play all the old songs once again so that the audience can remember all the feelings of nostalgia, so the current generations know what it must have felt back then. We can still have our new celebrations with the lights and technology and multimedia displays.

But let’s have a segment where we really walk down memory lane as a nation, with the old songs that aren’t mixed as a medley or infused with some pop elements or anything. Let’s play the old songs the way they were recorded and released back then. I promise you, there will be many audience members without dry eyes.

What do you think? I’m quite certain I ended up rambling along the way while writing this post, but I think it’s still possible to understand what I’m trying to say.

Maybe on Singapore’s 50^th birthday, we could have an NDP parade that really celebrates both the old and the new. Bring back the old NDP songs that we knew so well, and let us remember the pride it felt to sing them together as a nation again.