ONG, Ee-Ing

Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University

Singapore Management UniversityInstitutional Knowledge at Singapore Management UniversityResearch Collection School Of Law School of Law9-2015Lucky to be SingaporeanEe-Ing ONGSingapore Management University, eeingong@smu.edu.sgFollow this and additional works at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_researchPart of the Asian Studies Commons, Election Law Commons, Law and Society Commons, andthe Politics and Social Change CommonsThis Blog Post is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Law at Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University. It hasbeen accepted for inclusion in Research Collection School Of Law by an authorized administrator of Institutional Knowledge at SingaporeManagement University. For more information, please email libIR@smu.edu.sg.CitationONG, Ee-Ing. Lucky to be Singaporean. (2015). Research Collection School Of Law.Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/155311/9/15 9:01 pmIQ - Lucky to be SingaporeanPage 1 of 4http://inconvenientquestions.sg/Archive/2015/9/lucky-to-be-singaporean11/9/15 9:01 pmIQ - Lucky to be SingaporeanPage 2 of 4http://inconvenientquestions.sg/Archive/2015/9/lucky-to-be-singaporeanby Ong Ee-Ing on 09 Sep 2015   Politics & Public PolicyLucky to be SingaporeanAs Singaporeans go to the polls, we would do well to remember that the world outsideour tropical island is not all sunny and bright.This is a historic moment for 50-year old Singapore: all 89 seats in 29 constituencies are beingcontested, meaning that, for the ﬁrst time since independence, everyone gets to vote. The usual issues are being dissected: CPF money, high housing prices, rising income inequality, foreignworkers, transportation woes, the AHPETC saga, and so on. The predictable political squabbling and adhominem attacks are also coming into play. (Seriously, Cheo Chai Chen? Don’t choose a mother foryour MP because she might “focus more on her child than on her voters”? )Unfortunately, the rest of the world is dealing with something far more sombre – the refugee crisis inSyria and its impact on Europe. The picture of the dead little boy Aylan Kurdi, his body washed up bythe waves onto the beach, is a heartbreaking reminder of what happens in wartime. 11/9/15 9:01 pmIQ - Lucky to be SingaporeanPage 3 of 4http://inconvenientquestions.sg/Archive/2015/9/lucky-to-be-singaporeanThat could have been my child. In other, worse, horrible, unthinkable (but absolutely possible)circumstances, that could have been any of our children. If you think that is an unlikely scenario, then let me propose the ﬂip side: where refugees from othercountries, including children, attempt to ﬂood our shores due to a crisis in their own countries. Whatwould Singaporeans do then? Would we accept any of them into our borders, or instead cry out “Toomany foreigners! Go home!” In the midst of our historic elections, I would like to remind Singaporeans that there remains a widerworld out there. That our concerns about CPF money, high housing prices, rising income inequality,foreign workers, transportation woes, and the AHPETC saga, while important, are nonetheless FirstWorld problems. We have the luxury of arguing about them because we don’t have to worry about thefundamental problems of survival. Literally.Thus, as we consider what we would like our country to look like in the coming years, I suggest that weﬁrst contemplate the concepts of grace and gratitude. Not towards any speciﬁc political party, or anyparticular god, religion, or credo, but just grace and gratitude. For what is. For what we have, and whatwe don’t have. (Like war. Or famine. That kind of thing.) Just for a moment – consider being grateful that you live in a region where no bombs ﬂy into yourhome. Where your children don’t go hungry because there is simply no food to be had, however muchyou are willing to pay. Where you don’t have to crawl into an overcrowded dinghy with your family andyour meagre possessions and travel across the deadly seas, knowing that you and yours might die onthe way, but knowing that the alternative is certain death if you stay. And with that grace and gratitude in mind, think about how we want our politicians, and by extensionour country, to approach the next few years. Do we want them to be purely focused on local concerns,however important to Singaporeans, or do we need them to consider the larger, global picture as well?And do we want them to include compassion in our dealings with others, or remain solely driven bythe desires of the electorate? If we want to be more than what we are now, our concerns have to be more than just purely domestic.We Singaporeans, who are so proud of heading up world rankings and punching above our weightglobally, also need to care more about global issues and concerns. Not just because they may aﬀect usone day – and they will (see, for instance, ISIS, the Eurozone crisis, and looming environmentaldisasters) – but because we should. Because that is what it would take for us to truly grow up and be amature, compassionate nation. 11/9/15 9:01 pmIQ - Lucky to be SingaporeanPage 4 of 4http://inconvenientquestions.sg/Archive/2015/9/lucky-to-be-singaporeanThat’s my hope, if not for this GE, at least for the next one.And now, back to the electioneering. Do you agree? Love or hate this point of view? Sign up. Login. Express yourself with IQ. Like what we do? Follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook or subscribe to our Youtube channel.     singapore  AHPETC  GE2015  Cheo Chai ChenOng Ee-IngOng Ee-Ing is a lecturer at SMU School of Law and a recovering lawyer.

Lucky to be Singaporean

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Lucky to be Singaporean

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Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University