If you Google “boring countries”, you’ll likely see Singapore mentioned in the top results – and probably more than once. We’ve all heard such complaints and criticisms. (Perhaps we’ve even uttered them ourselves.)
In defence, many people would point out our culture in food, shopping and Singlish. Singaporeans do things: Get together with friends. Go to Johor Bahru in neighbouring Malaysia for supper or shopping. Visit clubs and bars (if one is old enough). Queue for … stuff. Rinse and repeat.
Clearly, “eat drink man woman” is not just the title of a classic Taiwanese film but also how many people feel they can spend their limited leisure time here in Singapore.
Yet, as the saying goes: “It’s the people that make the place.”
What if it’s not about “having nothing to do”? What if the real problem is that we don’t know who we are or what we want?
WHAT IS THE SINGAPORE IDENTITY?
Singapore’s history is long and complex, but we’ve merely spent 60 years as a nation.
Given the trolley of unique factors including our small size and multi-ethnic population, we’ve had to take the express route to stability, modernity and prosperity by relying heavily on pragmatism – the classic “Singapore Dream” of the 5Cs speaks for itself.
However, cash, cars, credit cards, condominiums and country clubs are just things. They can’t really help us define a clear sense of collective identity.
While attending the Singapore Writers Festival in November last year, I heard a discussion by one panel stating that there are no boring people, just that the right questions have not been asked to find out about their lives.
In the same way, maybe there are no boring countries. Maybe Singaporeans just haven’t really begun to think about what we could do in Singapore.
