I am Singaporean

Blame this one on brown. I wrote it last week, mulled it over some more, got tagged by a gecko's tale, let it sit for a bit longer and finally decided tonight that I'd better publish it before the bandwagon passed. If you didn't know already, this is inspired by Molson beer's "I am Canadian" commercial (see the video on Youtube). Or something.

I look Chinese, like 77% of the population, but I'm actually a quarter Ceylonese and three-quarters Chinese ---which is not a category recognised by the Immigration and Customs Authority.

In school, they told me my Mother Tongue was Mandarin, even though none of my parents or grandparents spoke it. By the way, I think in English.

I speak good Singlish and I'm understood by my fellow Singaporeans. But I don't understand enough Hokkien to appreciate the film Money No Enough.

I speak extremely good English and I'm understood by people from the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand --- and Singapore.

I studied hard in school because everyone said I should, but I should've gone out to play more often.

I read.

I have a sense of irony.

I love shopping but it should not be our national pastime.

I love food, but I think it's more important to talk about politics and ideas.

I went to university on a government scholarship. Thank you for paying for my education. But I quit when my scholarship bond ended because I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life upholding a hierarchy of self-styled mandarins and demigods.

I proposed marriage to my husband so that we could get an HDB flat, because my parents wouldn't have been crazy about us living together otherwise.

I still live in a HDB flat today because it's more than enough space for the two of us and our cat.

I don't have any children because, well, I just don't. Last time I checked, my womb was my business.

I am not apolitical or apathetic. I’m just confused when the government says that either I am a constructive critic or else I am "a partisan player in politics".

I have never voted, but I would have in the last election if the boundaries of my constituency had not been changed.

I am a blogger. I exercise free speech responsibly and I have the conviction to stand behind any statement I make.

I am not seditious.

I am not a Communist.

I am Singaporean.

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