I refer to the 18 Apr 2014 Straits Times letter “a question of fairness” by Mr Jeffrey Law.
Mr Law claims that xenophobia has reared its ugly head when Singaporeans condemn the public celebration of the Philippines’ Independence. It is Mr Law who is mistaken; there is nothing xenophobic about the protection of Singapore’s sovereignty which is the sacred right and duty of every Singaporean including Mr Law. To absolve oneself of such duty and to denigrate it as being xenophobic is to display the utmost disrespect and betrayal to our nation and to Singaporeans.
We have a law that forbids flags of other nations from being flown in Singapore except in Embassies and the like. The reason is simple, the flag symbolizes sovereignty and the right to raise the flags of other nations symbolizes the sovereignty of other nations which correspondingly reduces the sovereignty of our own nation. The celebration of Independence Day cannot be anything but the celebration of a nation’s sovereignty. So the public celebration of a nation’s independence is the public celebration of a nation’s sovereignty which is like the flying of a nation’s flag in public. Unless Ngee Ann City has suddenly become the Philippines Embassy, allowing the public celebration of the Philippines National Day at Ngee Ann City is akin to recognizing Philippines sovereignty on Singapore soil. That would be the utmost betrayal to our nation.
The fact that we live in a cosmopolitan city doesn’t make us less of a country and doesn’t mean we should be accommodating to the point of giving up our sovereignty. Good ties with the Philippines cannot be founded upon us giving up our sovereignty to them.
Overseas Singaporeans are at liberty to celebrate National Day in private or at the Singapore Embassy but not in public. The Singapore Day is clearly not the Singapore National Day and its significance is nowhere near. Its purpose is to simply engage overseas Singaporeans and throughout its seven years of being held, was never held on National Day.
While we expect to be welcomed in other countries, we don’t expect to impose Singaporean sovereignty in other countries.
I refer too to the 18 Apr 2014 Straits Times letter “puzzling protest” by Ms Tan Say Yin.
Ms Tan’s puzzlement and questions over Singaporeans’ protest of the Philippines Independence Day on Orchard Road belies her lack of understanding of what it means to be patriotic. If Singaporeans had gathered in the thousands to sing Majulah Singapura on 9 August in front of Kuala Lumpur’s Merdeka Square, what message would we be sending to our Malaysian neighbours? While we should be grateful to foreign workers whom we depend on to do the work that we would not do, the balance is lost when we allow our sovereignty to be compromised.
*The writer blogs at https://trulysingapore.wordpress.com/