Count me out?

In recent years, whenever national day comes around I get friends with very extreme views on what Singapore meant to them. On one end, we have the über-patriotic à la Majulah-Singapura-count-on-me Singaporeans who kept asking the rest of us what we have done to deserve to be Singaporeans. On the other extreme end, we have the I-got-kicked-out-of-Singapore-so-count-me-out Singaporeans who question what Singapore had given them besides a muggertoad attitude towards work. I don't know where I stand exactly, but I suspect that I am able to identify with both extremes and counter-argue their point of views effectively. I guess it depends on how you choose to perceive your successes and failures in life. Do you attribute it to a quality education and secure upbringing when you succeed, or do you attribute it to your own hard work, independent of your environment?

To me, Singapore is a good place to work, and I am grateful for the kind of stable life I've led here. But I do not think it is a good place to live and grow old, simply because with the quality education I've received, I know I can be better off someplace else. So does it mean that the Singapore education system is backfiring on us. I think so. Because while I am equipped with the necessary skills to thrive in the globalized world, I am ill-equipped with the heartware that is telling me that Singapore is a place I grew up and should therefore call home. I am unlikely to be able to actively participate in the voting process (due to walkovers), I am not given a chance to show that I care about my homeland (due to the government's inability to listen to the people), and I know that anyone with talent and money can become a Singaporean so why should I care if I am a local or foreign-born Singaporean? There just isn't much telling me that Singapore is a place worth defending for. If Singapore were to fall tomorrow, we can always head off to somewhere else and start all over. Do I have anything great to lose? Nothing much except maybe the good education and great variety of food. I can live and survive anywhere in the world, so what then is keeping me in Singapore?

One of our nation's shared values is that no one owes us a living. And I think ironically that is true. Because yes, no one but ourselves owe us a living, so why should we defend Singapore for purely altruistic reasons? We don't owe Singapore a living too.