HOPE, HEART & HOPE

Having NOT PAID ATTENTION AT ALL to Lee Hsien Loong's heartful Rally Speech recently, i must admit i dont have the entire gist of his momentus speech.

But i was prompted by speaking to a fellow professional at work who asked me about his speech. I felt it important then to find out more.

After reading the highlights of his speech, i have to firstly admit, the government finally listens. But before the skeptical ones blast me, i emphasize; "They finally listen to some of our hardships and try to offer solutions." Some, not all of course as it is beyond any civilized government to be able to understand and solve a nation's hardships and underlying problems.

On a brighter note, even the staunchest anti-ruling party person has to admit it! When was the last time you ever heard of the men-in-white ever expound on a "Soft-serve style" and emotionally-catching rally message? Never heard of.

It is the new trend in the management of the expectations of a nation, whom i am proud to be part of; who now believe that we cannot progress without "opening our eyes" to the political and economical problems we face as a nation.

For too long, our peers, fellow Singaporeans in their own right, have slept in political hibernation. Finally now you can see the tension from the raised costs of living, high HDB affordability and even our issue of "greying" as a nation with foreign influx to balance the productivity cycle on a national level.

"I do not know how the above problems can be solved but do have my expectations on how the proposed solutions would affect my standard of living".

I make this statement from the start in order for you to know, i am just like any of you. I have no fixed answers and am no expert.

PM Lee had mentioned that there were the needs for Heart - of which only a small section of his speech focused on the contested topic of foreign talent. In itself, i hate to admit, we cannot do without FT. BUT it is clear to me that we long should have been more selective in our requirements for them to be integrated into our society. To date, many of them still don't want to change to our ways as Singaporeans. that's the real issue i believe. Even our Chinese papers are now "corrected" to print and read in the "China" way. No more Teh but "Cha Jia Nai" - Gosh!

Like some may know, the fact we guys had sweated out NS for our pride of our nation, we are more liable for certain jobs in certain industries to be non-prefered over foreign talent. They have porecedence as the FT wont have Reservist disruptions.

It is a harsh reality of Singapore employers. I do hope that we can change this mindset. I had read in Yahoo response, that someone mentioned that we Singaporeans should reward Singaporeans, not the opposite.

It is a never-ending debate. Too many problems, too much to digest for the average lad in Singapore. But nonetheless, i agree with a reader's article on Yahoo on the missing "H" - Happiness.

Yes indeed, Hope, Heart and home are all good. But internally, we have to re-adjust our expectations. Happiness has always been a choice. It comes from within. So fellow Singaporeans, speak less harshly on these topics, skip net-flaming and get your heart out of the negativity couch. Choose Happiness. Be contented and work hard coz bloody hell, you know we're gonna need to to survive the Modern Reality that is Singapore our home.



James Chan

A concerned Singaporean who grew up in clearly different circumstances to experience the change from "My friend is from Malaysia. Thats pretty normal. They work and live here. To the new; "I am the minority now when i am in the MRT train." Just take a good look around next you sit in MRT.

It is no wonder we feel strained having grew up here to see faces we never grew up with working as fellows!

Stand tall and be proud for who your parents were and will always be, trust the home we knew and shape it in the many choices you have. Be happy, be proudly Singaporean.