As I am penning my thoughts on this eve of our 45th National Day, I wonder if we as a people, fully realise how fortunate and blessed we are as a nation. 9 August 1965 remains to be a day and date our people of Singapore will never, ever forget.
It was a normal day for most Singaporeans as they awoke, preparing to go to work or to school.
Housewives went about their daily chores or to the market.
Except for a small band of people in the know, no one else had any inkling about what was to come. When day turned to night, the news had gone out over radio, Rediffusion and the TV to expect some very important announcements...by our then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew.
All Singapore gathered wherever there was a radio or TV in homes, shops, offices or clubs.
When a sobbing PM Lee, in a voice choking with great sadness, despair and anguish told all of us that from that day we were no longer "in" Malaysia...and that henceforth Singapore will be surviving on her own....,
I know for many it was like the Atomic bomb had dropped on us. Suddenly, everyone was more than a little worried about tomorrow...and the tomorrows after that.
Yet, none of us went hungry.
None of us had to drop out of school.
Most of us kept working at whatever jobs, with less pay as Dr Goh Keng Swee introduced belt tightening measures to keep Singapore afloat.
1965 soon turned to 1975....in just 10 short years, our progress was unbelievable!
Another 10 years and soon it was 1985. In that 20 year period, Singapore has grown from strength to strength.
By 1995, 30 years after being literally KICKED OUT of " Abang " country...Singapore was in a class of its own.
NOW....46 years after those unforgettable bloody and tumultuous years when we were literally BULLIED left, right, centre..by those self appointed "Abang ULTRAs", rubbed and rubbished by hostile people like Tan Siew Sin ( ex-M'sian Finance Minister) and others, and in the interim years openly threatened on a regular basis by a medical ULTRA calling himself a Dr....yes despite all these vitriol thrown at us, our Leaders and we the people of SINGAPORE did not melt or run away. WHY should we? THIS IS OUR LAND !
We stood firmly united. We stood our ground.
I say we should all be proud of our nation's achievements since 1965.
If we put things in perspective by using an analogy we can appreciate fully just how far we have come ...when compared to "Abang" country.
You can use per capita income, average personal wealth, education level, GNP or another thousand statistics... the inescapable FACT is this:
If the years from 1965 to today 2010 (46 years ) is represented as a 100 metres race,
then S'pore has crossed the finish line in 2010.
What about Abang's position relatively speaking?
Using just one example with official available data for their per capita income upto 2009...
they are not even at the half -way mark ! Much further back still! They have more natural resources, everything...land, forests, oil, mineral, gas, etc... so what's holding them back?
[ I think you and I know the answer to that. Majority of their own people know it too...including
those responsible for it. But tackling it like our LEADERS did, required Passion, absolute Honesty and Integrity, Fairness, Impartiality, Dedication, Wisdom and above all...TALENT.
Do they have all these kind of qualities?
If you have been reading and following the news all these years from there...the answers are too obvious.
Btw, S'pore has crossed the half way mark a long, long time ago.
[ This beautiful piece is truly remarkable. It was created by
blogger Xinli ( The Moose Blogspot.com ) and actually shows himself
and 3 other friends.
He had sent it to me as a National Day Greeting and with his blessings
I am sharing it here . To see the real thing go to his website mentioned. It's also under my
favourite links .]
Thanks Xinli !
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