I am Malaysian and a Singapore permanent resident.
I’ve been reading recently quite a few disquieting comments in some weblogs from various people (presumably Singaporeans) about the “status” of PRs in Singapore, and how their rights should be further curtailed, citizens don’t get the same benefits (in some cases citizens are worse off), and generally stamping PRs with the “freeloaders” or “disloyal” tags.
I just read an article on The Online Citizen (apologies for the lack of links, but you guys can Google this), about Ms Sweta Agarwal, the Indian lady who wrote a letter to ST Forum complaining about her kids not getting into the best schools, and got whacked several times as an ungrateful PR. She said this in the article – “About living here for six years and not taking citizenship, I think this is a very personal choice.”
I may not agree with her stand on her kids, but I do agree with her that the issue of citizenship (the whole idea of your country-hood, if there’s such a word) is a very personal choice. Perhaps I can explain why.
I arrived in Singapore just over 20 years ago, in May 1989, to attend JC and subsequently took my degree course in NUS. I’ve since then got married (to a Singaporean) and we now have 3 beautiful kids. I have spent more than half my life living, studying and working in Singapore. I have my own legal practice in Singapore and it does not appear that I will be going back to Malaysia to work or live anytime in the near future. My kids were born here, are Singapore citizens, and it doesn’t even look remotely possible that they will consider Malaysia as part of their identity, much less going back or taking up Malaysian citizenship.
All my closest friends are here in Singapore, my business is in Singapore, and me and my family’s immediate and foreseeable future are inextricably tied to Singapore’s fate and future prospects. In fact, I don’t even see leaving Singapore (whether for Malaysia or any other country) at any time as an option at all. For all intents and purposes, Singapore is my home and I’m committed to Singapore.
I also don’t have many friends left in Malaysia – mostly from my primary school days (amazing that we’ve kept in touch, isn’t it?) and a few from my secondary school. I also have no idea of what happens on the ground in Malaysia other than what I read on the news or hear from my conversations with friends and my parents. Heck, I haven’t even gone back in 3 years, I think.
However, despite all the above, I have not applied for citizenship. Simply because I feel Malaysian.
I was born there and I will die a Malaysian. It’s difficult to put into words, but I recall this one thing very clearly, which happened back when I was eight or nine years old, in primary school. My primary class teacher was trying to explain the words of our national anthem to us line-by-line, and this was the first line from the Malaysian national anthem –
“Negaruku, tanah tumpahnya darahku”
This in Malay (roughly translated to English) means, “My country, the land upon which my newborn blood was shed”, which also means you are forever tied to the land in which you were born.
That struck a tremendous chord in my eight(or nine)-year old brain and it’s been stuck in my mind ever since, to the extent I can point to this as the reason why I feel the way I do about being Malaysian.
I always look first for the results for Malaysian athletes in international competitions (not that there are many to be proud of, except in badminton and recently, track cycling, archery), I will cheer any Malaysian football team against Singapore (although I supported Singapore in their match against Liverpool recently, but that’s another story), and I will always cringe whenever I hear my daughters mangling the words to “Majulah Singapura” during National Day celebrations. In fact, I just told them this year that Daddy is the only one in the house who actually understands the meaning of the whole national anthem (having studied in Malay back in my secondary school days in KL).
This does not mean I am disloyal to Singapore, or that I will abandon Singapore if this country goes down the drain (my family’s Singaporean after all). I also find it funny that some people claim that PRs in Singapore enjoy the “best of both worlds”. I mean, if you see how hard I work here, and the prospects I have in Malaysia (I am Chinese after all), I’m certainly not enjoying the “best” of anything at all.
Perhaps my personal journey above can go some way to explain to some Singaporeans why (at least in my case) I will never take up Singapore citizenship. But that doesn't mean that I'm "disloyal" or that I'm a "freeloader" PR in Singapore.
:)ac
