Every year, since 2007, the Singapore Government spends a generous sum of taxpayers’ money on holding a mega food fair in a selected overseas city. It will fly hawkers, MediaCorp artistes, musical performers and singers from Singapore to a foreign place such as New York, London, Melbourne or Shanghai to entertain Singaporeans living there. That food party cum live show performance, held in the selected foreign city, is named as “Singapore Day”. Thousands, including non-Singaporean friends and family members, attended the one-day party.
How much did the government pay for such an oversea party? Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister, Teo Chee Hean, revealed that the total cost should be close to $4.4 million for the recent treat in London.
The justification, according to our government, for incurring such huge annual costs is to engage overseas Singaporeans and strengthen their connection to home – through gathering them in this one-day party, give them a taste of home food and home-grown entertainment. Hopefully, by the end of the day, these overseas Singaporeans will decide to pack up, bring along their family and return to Singapore.
I must confess that I never believe the government’s stated rationale behind this lavish food party held in different foreign city each year.
To begin with, emigration is not an issue people will take it lightly. It involved giving up a familiar environment and leaving behind loved ones, in exchange for uncertainties in an unfamiliar land. The reasons are often very personal and decisions are made after careful consideration. It will then take years, great efforts and financial commitments to settle down and sink roots in the new land. Does the government seriously think a plate of Singapore’s Char Kway Teow or a bowl of Laksa could make these overseas Singaporeans to uproot again and return to Singapore with their family? I trust the PAP is not that naïve.
It is a well known fact that Singaporeans who emigrated to overseas have long been labelled as “quitters” by the PAP Government. Why would the government then want to spend millions of dollars, putting in much time and great efforts to go all out to engage these people whom it had unceremoniously labelled as “quitters”? Many of these overseas Singaporeans have cleansed their minds of the PAP propaganda toxins, they are able to detect political lies quickly, you think the PAP is serious about engaging them? The PAP Government does not even sincerely engage its citizens at home, let alone engaging those who have been away for decades!
Some people speculated that the “Singapore Day” was held for children and grand-children of Singapore politicians living in foreign cities. I must confess that I do not subscribe to such speculation. There were also some who claimed that it was the PAP Government’s effort to mitigate homesickness of overseas Singaporeans – hahahaha … people who believed this ought to have their minds examined!
Personally, I believe the ulterior motives behind the PAP’s “Singapore Day” party are purely for its own political purpose and self-serving.
For several decades, the PAP has earned itself an international reputation of being a tyrannical government. Such political notoriety does not make it easy for the Prime Minister to achieve some of his most obsessed goals, e.g. signing free trade agreements with democratic countries, bidding for an active role in regional affairs and attracting billionaires to live in Singapore. To achieve these goals without having to give up his party’s dictatorial grip at home, a series of shows and events has to be organized on an international scale, over a sustainable period, to repair the party’s negative image. “Singapore Day” is just one of the PAP’s attempts to erase its tyrannical image abroad.
“Singapore Day” serves another two equally important goals of the PAP Government :
• It subtly strengthens the government’s repeated political messages to local Singaporeans that the country has been robbed of its own talents – hopefully this message would lead Singaporeans to conclude that the government’s education system has to be right, and there is a need for the government to replace our lost talents with “foreign talents”.
• The overseas mega food party also serves as a showcase about Singapore to the world, especially to young foreigners living in the targeted city. London, New York and Shanghai, for example, have many young and educated migrants who are hungry for jobs. Words will get round very quickly about the Singapore Government’s subtle messages. And the subtle messages are : “Singapore Government cares; Singapore is a place to work, live and raise your family; Singapore needs your talents; ……..”
The fact that only Singaporeans and their guests are allowed to join the food party is intended to make the government’s political lies look more believable – and of course also to contain cost.
It is my opinion, dear fellow Singaporeans, that the “Singapore Day” is just one of the PAP’s initiatives whereby taxpayers’ money is used to ‘correct’ past political wrongs and at the same time, to commit new wrongs of overcrowding our tiny island and making our jobs more competitive.
Celia Lim