Commentary: Reflections on Singapore by Overseas Singaporeans

Editor: Professor S Gopinathan

Published by The National University of Singapore Society (NUSS) Kent Ridge Guild House 9 Kent Ridge Drive Singapore 119241

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Printed in Singapore. Contents

2 Foreword

4 Reflections of a Quitter By Han Meiniang

11 A Seeker’s GPS By Dr Low Sor-Ching

19 Like Going Home Again By Jek Kian Jin

26 Home Thoughts from Abroad By Kwek Ju-kay

34 Life is Like a Peach By Juat Leng Halliday

42 Editorial Board

REFLECTIONS ON SINGAPORE BY OVERSEAS SINGAPOREANS COMMENTARY VOLUME 20, 2011 1 Foreword

s Singapore continues to ‘champion grumblers’. grow its external economy, AA more and more Singaporeans In response to a speech given by SM choose or are assigned to work Goh, an undergraduate said, “When overseas. Many have taken up I was younger, I was very proud of permanent residence abroad, with being a Singaporean. But that was an increasing number electing to five, 10 years ago. Five years later, become new citizens in their host with all the changes in policies and countries. Individuals and families the influx of foreign talent, I really leave for very different reasons. don’t know what I’m defending any Some go in pursuit of dreams that more...I feel there is a dilution of the cannot be fulfilled in our tiny city Singapore spirit in youth...We don’t state, others to seek a slower pace really feel comfortable in our country of life or better educational anymore.” opportunities for their children. But some Singaporeans living For years the government of abroad see things differently. In Singapore has been concerned 2002, the Report of the Singapore about the numbers of Singaporeans Overseas Network (US) Working who have migrated. Physically the Group carried the following country has reached the limits of observation of Singapore from expansion. Yet the population Singaporeans living in Boston and continues to grow. It is one of the San Francisco: “In spite of most densely populated countries Singapore’s vulnerable position, in the world, and nearly a quarter many Singaporeans are artificially of its people are foreigners. shielded from the harsh realities of Singaporeans complain so regularly the world through the protection and insistently about such things as offered by a benevolent government.” rising home prices, congestion in American journalist Tom Plate goes public transportation and on the even further in characterising roads that MM Lee has said that Singapore as “this era’s Neo- as a nation we have become Utopia, a living example of getting

2 COMMENTARY VOLUME 20, 2011 REFLECTIONS ON SINGAPORE BY OVERSEAS SINGAPOREANS into as utopian a shape as is even wistful. Nonetheless, we hope humanely possible.” What good each essay would help to stimulate reason could there be to leave the some reflections on the condition of country? being Singaporean in or out of Singapore. Singapore is not, and can never hope to be, home to every Professor S Gopinathan Singaporean. No country can ever National Institute of Education satisfy all the needs and interests Nanyang Technological University of each and every one of its citizens. So, it’s not simply a matter of being a stayer or a quitter. The reality is more complex. It is not surprising these days to hear of parents wanting to go, and children insisting on staying. Each has his or her own reason for leaving, or staying; indeed some of these reasons may change over time. In this issue of Commentary we offer five essays, each of which contains a unique perspective of a Singaporean living abroad. In the essays, they share aspects of their experiences living abroad that they thought would be of interest to readers in Singapore. Needless to say we were pleasantly surprised by the stories each had to tell. Readers will note that some are more cheerful and optimistic; others are somewhat more sober, and

REFLECTIONS ON SINGAPORE BY OVERSEAS SINGAPOREANS COMMENTARY VOLUME 20, 2011 3 Reflections of a Quitter Some people view Singaporeans who live overseas, for whatever reason, as quitters. But are they? The writer explores this question. By Han Meiniang

et’s get something out of the way thoughts turn to the future – whether I first. I never actually sat down and should remain in London or return to LL deliberated, and made a decision Singapore – these remain stubbornly to leave Singapore. There was a inchoate and confused. sudden, serious illness in the family (of the incurable, eventually fatal, variety), The Ugly Singaporean and I found myself in a position of There have been two occasions in my having to move to London as a result. life when I have been ashamed, even appalled, to be a Singaporean. I subsequently learned that Perhaps when you’ve been away for a Singaporeans who live away from their period of time, you begin to see your country of birth for whatever reason are, own, and other people’s behaviour, apparently, quitters. There has more clearly. The first time was at subsequently been more of an Helsinki Airport. There was a small emphasis on reaching out to overseas queue at the boarding gate, comprising Singaporeans, with websites set up for some Singaporeans and ang mohs. A this purpose, job fairs around the world, large number of Singaporeans were and Singapore Days in cities where sitting down. I’d taken advantage of Singaporeans congregate. the long stopover to see Helsinki and was tired, so I remained seated, I attended a Singapore Day once, resigned to the fact that I would end up shanghai-ed by a friend to help out at at the back of the queue when it was his display. There were food stalls, and time to board. But, as it turned out, the entertainers like Jack Neo and the Dim other Singaporeans were not so Sum Dollies, to remind you of home. I resigned: The moment boarding was guess the idea was to make you feel a announced, they all morphed into the little nostalgic – perhaps nostalgic front of the queue, to the bemusement enough to consider moving back to of the ang mohs. Singapore – or, at least, think kindly of it. Anyway, perhaps because I never The second incident took place in made a conscious decision to leave Singapore. I was in a car which Singapore, I now find that, when my stopped at a traffic light near the School

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for the Blind. A blind man with a white stronger than any sense of fairness. cane was crossing the road. He was a And the second incident exemplified little slow, and the traffic light turned what could happen if you take that green as he was halfway across the proud Singaporean trait – kiasu-ness road. The cars immediately started up. – to its logical conclusion. I must The man found himself standing in the admit that living abroad constitutes middle of the road with traffic rushing part of an ongoing battle with myself past him on either side. I still remember to eradicate the traits of the ugly the look of bewilderment and fear on Singaporean. It’s a comment on how his face. It was an extraordinarily ingrained such qualities are to dangerous situation. To my eternal acknowledge that it’s probably a shame, I just froze in horror. After what battle I’ll never win. seemed hours, a driver got out of his car, and guided the man safely to the Who’s a Quitter? other side of the road. Every so often I meet a fellow quitter at a restaurant in Chinatown, and we Why do I still burn with shame when I rehearse the same old arguments. All think of those two incidents? Surely these conversations invariably assume that is to tar all Singaporeans with the that it is preferable – politically, morally same brush? After all, there was that – to remain where we are in the West: person – a Singaporean presumably – How do Singaporeans stand the lack who got out his car and took the blind of freedoms in Singapore? Do they not man safely across the road. Why do mind? these two incidents stand out so strongly when I think about Singapore Why don’t they care about the death and whether I should return penalty, detention without trial, the permanently? poor treatment of domestic workers, rules like the ban on (the sale of) Perhaps the first incident suggested chewing gum? Why is it that all they that, for Singaporeans, the sense of can talk about are the five C’s – cash, kiasu-ness (afraid to lose out) and car, credit card, condominium, country kakinang (our own people) was club membership?

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And there is a certain smugness in the other words, where the children were assumption that it is somehow morally most likely to remain in Singapore. superior to remain where we are in the West. Yet, as my former schoolmates befriended one another on Facebook, In any case, what is wrong with living it became increasingly obvious that abroad? Singapore welcomes foreign many of us were living abroad. Some talent, but if the flow goes the other way, married ang mohs and moved to well, then there is something wrong with Canada or the UK as a result. Some you. had decided – for reasons they didn’t divulge on Facebook – to emigrate with Recently, some primary school friends their families (Perth, Australia, seems connected up on Facebook, and they a popular choice). One of the primary connected up with others, and they with school friends had – upon graduation others. I was surprised at the number – spent quite a few years in social work. of people who were living abroad. Put Approaching her forties, she decided it this way: When I got to junior college, to do another degree in New Zealand, and had to introduce myself and the and stayed on and bought a house, and secondary school I’d come from, no one finds tremendous enjoyment planting had heard of that school. And this vegetables and growing flowers in a primary school was the more ulu of the large garden. “It’s not that I don’t like two feeder schools to that secondary Singapore,” she says by way of school. explanation, “it’s that I like New Zealand more.” In later years when, in the course of my work, I interviewed students from God Save the Brits top Singapore schools, many – if not And I suppose there’s something in that most – considered studying, working, for me as well. There are things I and living abroad as a natural course treasure about my life in the UK. There of things. But my primary school wasn’t is the sense of personal freedom that a top school; it was an ulu school from comes from the lighter hand of an ulu area. It’s the sort of school, in government. There is the humanity of

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the National Health system. There is events like Remembrance Day. It the sense of fraternal solidarity in the celebrates British literature through its unions and among co-workers. There dramas. It represents the views of the is the pleasure of driving out of London people: Every day I wake up to the and, within an hour, finding yourself in Today programme where politicians of the beautiful countryside. And there are the day are interrogated on the 8am the Brits – the ironic sense of humour, interview slot. Should the day come the self-deprecation, and the when I move back to Singapore, I shall willingness to criticise themselves miss all this terribly, and I fear – I know and their own country. Among my – it will be a gap that will never be filled students (an admittedly limited sample), by what passes for the media there. Chinese nationals have a reputation of being the most defensive of their The Struggling Stayers country, sometimes to the extent of As for family and friends who have sending lengthy emails complaining ‘stayed’ in Singapore, I’ve seen many bitterly of Western imperialism if a lose the job for which they were lecturer even attempts an analysis of originally qualified, and start over again the Chinese political system. Other in a new job or, even, jobs. It’s all very students – from Asia, Europe and the well to talk about globalisation and US – too are willing to offer critical retraining and upskilling, but if you’re comments about any other country personally affected, it may not be that except their own. It’s often the British easy to adapt to the new jobs that are students who are willing to submit their supposedly out there. behaviour, and that of their government and countrymen, to scrutiny and True, some are making a mint, and criticism. There is something admirable wealthy enough to retire in their 30s. about that. Then there is the BBC – But equally, there are people who the mind, the heart and the soul of a struggle day to day, just trying to make people. Sure there is a lot of rubbish a living. Increasingly, I find friends on the BBC. But it serves as the (mainly women) caring for increasingly nation’s memory through its dependent elderly parents. And there documentaries, and commemoration of are family and friends who are just

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getting on with the business of trying But the landscape in Singapore has to raise a family. become increasingly unfamiliar. A friend of mine once bemoaned the Somewhere in there, you may get some fact that the area of Punggol she people who are trying in their area of grew up in, had been redeveloped. I work – as a teacher or civil servant – had very little time for her gripes, to change things a little bit at a time, considering that she hadn’t lived and to do some of the things we talked there (or, for that matter, in so much about as idealistic graduate Singapore) for 20 years. You can’t students at an ancient university very well deny change and wanting to change Singapore and development to people who do live making it a better place. Most of the there. time, as middle age approaches, people are too ground down with the Having said that, the changes cares of life. And I can’t say that I blame in Singapore’s landscape are them. bewildering when you’ve been away for any period of time. So many of Returning to Singapore the familiar landmarks – the National I return to Singapore regularly. I work Library, for instance – are gone and, with a local institution to deliver a with this, the sense of belonging and Master’s programme. The irony is that nostalgia associated with them. In I only have this opportunity because of any other country, national landmarks the reputation of the university for which or buildings of architectural or I work in London. Nonetheless, I’m glad historical value, are protected, and of the opportunity to be able to you need to seek permission to even contribute to Singapore in a small way. modify them. It is, after all, still my home, and where my family are. And each time I return, There is also the immediate sense of there is a sense of both the familiar and claustrophobia as soon as you step back the alien. It’s always good to see family in Singapore. If the media represents and friends. And of course there is the the views of a country, then The Straits food. Times is the equivalent of having one

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voice – one standard opinion – shouting UK, Singapore is, by contrast, still at you all the time. doing well, and there is a sense of optimism and growth. And, where the As for television, I’ve given up on it. Conservatives (what LibDems?) seem There was a time in the 80s when to be carrying out a slash and the then Singapore Broadcasting burn policy of everything including Corporation had a nascent local education, the Singapore government current affairs division. While many is still investing heavily in education and of the programmes weren’t great, it training. And unemployment is was a bit of an attempt at something relatively low. What is the point (and at a national level that was intelligent, here I know I’m at risk of sounding like and that might have amounted to an editorial in The Straits Times something in time. mouthing the government position) of freedoms if you don’t have a job? In Now, all that has long been sacrificed any case, all you need is a tyrannical on the altar of viewing figures. And boss on whom you depend for a job, the death, this year, of Chandra and who dictates what you should think Mohan (then Director of Current and do, to lose a huge amount of your Affairs) just seems to seal the finality personal freedom. And that can of it all. Now, what you get on happen to anyone, anywhere in the television are a lot of foreign imports world. and franchises of reality shows, and what you get on radio, are deejays Can We Adjust? with a fake cheeriness who don’t Yet there is no denying that the sense even sound comfortable in their of claustrophobia does engulf you American-type accents. when you return to Singapore. Perhaps that is a problem of re-entry. Perhaps Having said that, there is a lot to admire you can eventually adjust back to the in Singapore. There is the sheer country and society. After all, you grew contrast when you fly out of Heathrow, up with it. Surely you will be able to get and arrive at Changi. At a time when used to it again. What is it they say all is economic doom and gloom in the about the frog that gets used to

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increasing water temperatures? On enough for my old age? At some point, second thoughts, that may be a poor a decision will have to be made, and a analogy. Doesn’t that frog end up final investment made in the remaining cooked? And that signifies what – the years of one’s life. But I don’t see that death of conscience, idealism, an decision getting easier any time soon. important part of oneself?

But ultimately, when it comes to staying put or returning to Singapore, the essential question is not really about politically freedoms, or the media, or rules like chewing gum. A lot of it is personal. Will I be able to get a secure job? Will I be able to work in a stimulating environment, with people who are passionate about their work? Where are my loved ones, and with whom do I want to spend the later years of my life?

And there are practical questions as well. Having paid into a national health insurance and pension for so many years, will I be able to accumulate

About the Writer

Han Meiniang was educated in Singapore and in the UK. She has lived the last 10 years in London, where she teaches and carries out research, but returns regularly to Singapore for work and personal reasons. She is a typical overseas Singaporean in that she misses family, friends and local food. But so far none of these have managed to trump the attractions of the UK. Her vacillations, documented in the article as to what she should do with the rest of her life, continue.

10 COMMENTARY VOLUME 20, 2011 REFLECTIONS ON SINGAPORE BY OVERSEAS SINGAPOREANS A Seeker’s GPS A traveller who followed her intuition, the writer sojourns in a cold country far from home, where a chance incident on the train, leads her to ponder the gap between the dream and the reality. By Dr Low Sor-Ching

hen I told my friends in smoky voice sent me reeling into a Singapore that I was Spartan, leaf-less Paris in the middle WW planning to ‘settle’, they of winter, where I felt to my very could barely suppress a ‘hurray’ – not bones the chill of a loveless night. But because they were happy to see me mostly, it was that, as yet, inchoate go (they were quick to assure me of question I mentioned above. that) – but because I was promising to grow furniture legs and roofs more Persistently it gnawed and threatened solid than the star-spangled sky or the to disrupt and destabilise all attempts nondescript plastered ceiling of at what one might call a ‘normal life’ rented rooms that I have been more – a 9-5 job; a five-year plan to marry accustomed to. and bear fruit by the second year; and a 10-year plan to own a piece of For much of my life, I have been on property. Because everyone else I the move. When I first started, it was knew was doing so, pressure more a response to a restlessness mounted as the years passed and as that had urged me to jump onto the I moved from job to job. Alas, the next train, plane, or bus. It was as if question – Is this all? – mocked these the answer to a question that I attempts. couldn’t yet formulate, that buzzed about in my ear like a persistent long- Hitting the Road legged mosquito, was to be found out In those days, my only recourse was there, in that, as yet, undefined to travel. Sometimes I entered a space. different time zone that turned the clock on my wrist upside down; other Sometimes an image from a movie times it was the land that seduced. In or song would give that restlessness Pagan, I entered a phase where I shape and color. For example, pretended to be one of the Burmese. copious viewings of early Woody Behind the lovely patterned longy I Allen decades ago, got me packing wore and the white paste called for the Big Apple; then Edith Piaff’s Thanaka that the Burmese women

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taught me to put on my face (“Keep these diverse peoples. In these face cool and very white!”) I felt a everyday people I encountered on the sense of liberation, much as clowns street – sometimes across chasms of must feel behind their painted faces. linguistic, cultural and religious Time was momentarily suspended barriers – I discovered depths of and I entered into the new space generosity and kindness that anonymous, a stranger and almost humbled me and urged the better brand-new. It was in these interstices side of me to rise to the fore. I have of time and space that I felt renewed. lost count of the number of times a stranger had turned up from out of Lacking the rigours of religious rituals the blue to help me. Like the time in as I was growing up, I have Bangkok when a woman and three subconsciously sought it through teenagers took me under their wing, more secular means. And as with introduced me to the most delicious religious rituals, the journey itself Thai food I had ever had, and then became for me, a means to renew proceeded to take me home as well. and to leave the old self behind. Indeed, it was often the case that I will say now, as I look back several where I went, did not ultimately matter times more, I have wondered at the – as long as it disrupted the person who accepted their metronome that regulated my invitation. Not once, in the two days everyday life, and as long as it took I spent with these kind people, did me outside of myself. it occur to me that I could be poisoned, abducted, drugged and Is this all? The question gnawed on. sold to the brothels. No, I was too busy enjoying myself. But my Travelling On friends were always horrified. And so I travel on. In the process I learn that the world is big yet small, “You were just lucky” was the uniform the people different yet so similar. I response. like to think that I have become a better person for having encountered “You mean you would have said no?”

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“No way!” they chorused. of food, that I was the exotic one. That even as I observed, I was being Piqued, I argued with them that had I observed and even discussed while I not followed my intuition, had I was there. And as the news bearer followed merely stereotypical notions, of the world outside, I was plied with I would not have discovered this side questions, mostly about my country of Thailand. Worse, I would have left – they wanted to know everything the country carrying the same notions there was to know about its that I had on my arrival. Nothing economy, its politics, its education. would have changed. The curiosity and sophistication of their questions impressed me, and “In that case, why bother to travel?” I I felt that evening I had unwittingly said to my friends. become an ambassador.

“You were just lucky!” Whatever doubts I may have had about my country, I left them behind “And crazy! Won’t be so lucky another in the presence of my new friends. time!” said another. As my voice rose an octave in stirring patriotism, I became immodest about As if to prove my friends wrong, I its achievements, I found myself accepted an invitation to visit a home defending its policies, painting it to when one came along in Marrakesh be more beautiful than it actually in Morocco. Being Ramadan, my new was, its economic success more friend, whom I just met on the bus, miraculous than real. decided that I should join her family to break fast in the evening. It turned “Oh, will you show me your country out to be a delightful experience. But when I visit?” the young brother of my I learned something else. new friend asked in French.

Travelling is never just a one-way “Of course! Just give me a call when experience. I realised that day, as I you come. I will camp overnight at the sat with the family over a mountain airport to wait for you!” The young boy

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literally glowed in anticipation! And yet, even as I upgraded from two- star to five-star accommodation, the Ok, I lied – some. I was already question insists: “Is this all?” living in the United States at the time, but I felt duty-bound to keep I started to look around and in the the wheels of dream-making going eyes of my fellow travellers, I learned for as long as I could. Duty-bound to recognise a certain wounded because the journey I had made expression, a faraway look on their would have been impossible faces, and always a wistfulness of without the dreams they had woven tone in their voices. for me, and therefore, like it or not, they have partaken of my own “How long have you been travelling?” dream-making. As such, I felt that I was the standard question to ask of couldn’t do less for them. these ones.

Is This All? “Six months.” Years have passed since. And I have clocked in more miles than I “A year.” cared for. But the more worldly I became, the more cautious I turned “Three years.” out as well. There were times I miss the carefree self I once knew. I Their answers astonished me. I didn’t won’t deny that there were times – know one could travel forever in that during my travels to the various way. For me there was always the city cities for conferences – when I to return to, the safety of a job to fall wished I could journey back in time back on. My travels, up to that point, to recover, perhaps, that innocence, were always ritualistic, a hiatus, a openness of spirit, confidence and stop in the bushes for a pick-me-up, child-like trust in the goodness of much like a superman getting humanity that had led me, decades charged in his red underwear – or if ago, to follow a stranger to her you prefer something more mundane, home. like a spa-stop for a quick lift. Up to

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that point, I had not considered the For hours, I sit in a café not too possibility of being away forever, as different from the one I used to go to in fairytale ‘forever’, of being up, up in Singapore, except that this one has and away and never coming back. to be artificially heated inside. I watch The idea incubated and grew inside the sky empty itself out, and from me. where I sit, it sometimes appears as though somebody above was cooking Canada Calling up a squall and plucking feathers So when Canada called on an from ducks and geese. afternoon when Singapore was sizzling on a record high, I sat in a By evening, the lights flood the city tundra-like café, dreaming of snow, and through the looking glass, the of the enfolding cold that would slowly café becomes a spectral world of strip the trees of their leaves, the chill moving figures, like a world captured in the breezes, and birdsong in miniature, not unlike those heralding spring, even before it Viennese porcelain toy houses where officially arrives on the calendar. figures twirl and turn to the beat of the waltz, seducing the eye to think it I arrived on a wintry day with two real. suitcases of my worldly possessions. That day, I joined more than 200,000 But another reality from the outside new immigrants from that year alone. intrudes: tramps barely equipped for In two months, I learned how to winter push their carts of cartons and navigate the roads and found out newspapers; ladies with pinched where the best cafés were. faces skid on the icy pavement, and trams roll by as more snowflakes are I have become a regular commuter tossed about in the winds, caught in on the Toronto subway, and daily the a mad whirl as they cluster around the sprawling city of highrises and tidy street lamp moths like round a flame. suburbia unfolds before me, as the The trees and their bare branches are train plods along from the suburbs to outlined in a silhouette, lonely and downtown in 45 very long minutes. valiant, waiting for spring to come. In

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spite of the heated room, I shiver and thumbed through a big computer feel spring’s great distance. From programming book. time to time, I ask myself, as I sip my latte, “Is this it? Is this what I have There were no smiles, no attempt at come to settle for?” eye contact, and all seemed content to lose themselves in this sea of An Incident on the Subway anonymity. The cold had been It took a public confrontation on the building up and I pulled my woolen subway for this question to take on a cap down over my head, wound the darker shade. It was mid-day when I scarf round my neck, and sank further took the train and it was nearly empty. into the seat to read. I could count the number of commuters in there. Two suburban “Did your ticket pay for this seat?” the girls were busy opening their eyes gruff voice startled me. I looked up with lid clippers, multi-hue colours and saw a puffy-faced white male and voluminous mascara. What they staring down at me. Stunned and appeared to share in common with speechless, I instantly removed my worshippers of gods, was their bag. intuitive understanding that eyes – no matter what and where – must be “You’re in Canada. This is not China.” properly pried open before presenting The man said and proceeded to sit them to the world. In another corner, next to me even though there were a young Indian couple pressed their many other empty seats. two young children close to their bodies, their sweaters declaring, “I “Excuse me, I am not from China,” I love Canada”. Like new lovers said before turning back to my book. anxious to make their love known, newly minted immigrants are not shy As I mull over it now in the café, I think to make their feeling known. And in a of all the things I could have said to further corner, a young Korean boy that man. Indeed, if I had felt more buckled down to read Theory of belligerent, I might have added, “The Knowledge while a young Indian man Canada I used to know did not have

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such rude people.” running through their complaints like a murmuring brook, “Is this it? Is this Is this what I had come to this country what we have come for?” for? I fumed. “There are too many immigrants here. Is This It? Too many Chinese, too many Indians. From that day on, I joined my This is not the Canada I remember,” housemates, who came from different said Amparo, looking straight at me corners of the world, in their daily as if I was invisible. I marvelled at the liturgy of complaints. Amparo is 38 audacity of her remark. I tried to flatter and was a high-flying corporate myself that, of course, I am not like lawyer in Madrid before she gave it those Chinese who chatter in all up for Canada. Andrea is 29 and languages intelligible only to had a successful restaurant business themselves! All this set off a few more before she too gave it up for the lure sleepless nights. of Canada. Another, a Korean teacher, wanted a fresh start in life, a As I turned over these questions, I chance to experience life differently suddenly recalled the rejoinder of than it was in her own country. I William Teo, my dear friend and realise that I am not alone. Nightly, hairdresser, whose death 10 years our list grew. ago was untimely and left us all headless and heartbroken. “The bus took so long to come!” “What do you want?” he asked, “So many people! So cold.” without pausing his scissors. I watched my hair whirl to the ground. “So boring!” “What do I want?” echoed in my ears I could see that the isolation and now – a decade and half later. difficulty of connecting with the ‘real’ Canada was beginning to eat into “What are you looking for?” I posed them. I could hear the questions this question in a different way to my

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housemates. There was a momentary nowhere else to go. We have each silence as each withdrew to consider left our families behind to come to this the question. very cold place; and by the most convoluted of paths, we have ended “I want to be happy.” up being each other’s family.

“I want to lead a simpler life.” As I watched my housemates seated around the table, I thought, how brave Another simply shrugged in response. we all are. Indeed, however wobbly A simple question with no simple and imperfect our view of human answer but which perhaps contains destiny was when we first started, we within it, its own panacea. have each come a long way to hold this, what Arthur Miller once called the On New Year’s Eve, we cooked up a golden thread of history. storm and stayed up to welcome the New Year. Perhaps, some of us Is this it? The question intruded just secretly wished we had more exciting momentarily. parties to go to, more exciting companions to spend the night with, Yes, this is it, I whispered. For the but the reality was that there was moment.

About the Writer

Dr Low Sor-Ching is a writer and curator and she received her Ph.D in Religion from Syracuse University. Formerly a Professor of Religion at a liberal arts college, she taught in the United States for the last six years until she decided to take up permanent residence in Canada. She has written extensively for academic journals where her research focused on Buddhism and contemporary religions. Dr. Low continues to pursue her interest in writing and art and, aside from academic journals, she also contributes to art journals and exhibitions. Currently she is working on completing a novel which she hopes to publish by 2011. In addition, she is planning curating an exhibition of Contemporary Art as well as researching the changing religious identities of the Chinese in the diasporic communities in Southeast Asia. For leisure, she loves swimming in the oceans.

18 COMMENTARY VOLUME 20, 2011 REFLECTIONS ON SINGAPORE BY OVERSEAS SINGAPOREANS Like Going Home Again From riding the dot-com boom (and bust) to savouring life in a slower lane, the writer finds that his simpler more satisfying life in the US now reminds him of his wonderful childhood in Singapore. By Jek Kian Jin

t was the cresting of the dot-com the talk. An entrepreneur in the ‘New wave that brought me to California Economy’: been there, done that. II in the summer of 1997. It was all Internet mania in those days, and By 2002, I was down, all burnt out, everybody I knew was either into and left high and dry on the shores start-ups or raising money to invest of Silicon Valley. My wife had gone to in one. Before the crash came, I had graduate school to study for her made and lost several fortunes. I saw doctorate. My two sons were in school two companies go IPO on NASDAQ, and we just had a new baby. and a couple others change hands for millions of dollars in funny money. I must have realised during all that Then, when the curtain came down madness that I was not meant to be on everything, all I was left with was a corporate worker. Nor was I a house, a car and a few hundred comfortable with the cut-throat high thousand worthless shares in all sorts octane life in the financial sector. of improbable NASDAQ companies. Although I enjoyed working in teams of earnest and motivated idealists, I Boom and Bust was fundamentally anti-authoritarian From a pioneer in a dashing dot-com and I didn’t like to take orders or work to a venture capital investor in for someone I didn’t agree with. In the Internet start-ups to unemployment, end I decided not to look for a job took just five years. In that time I’d elsewhere but to be self-employed seen everything. All-nighters to get and start my own business. At least I a new web service up and running: would succeed or fail all by myself. business as usual. Skimming through business plans by the hundreds and I took what I knew about software talking to start-up founders by the systems in a previous lifetime, and dozens: all in a day’s work. added to that what I learnt about the Boardroom horse-trading: no big stock market during the Internet deal. Pre-IPO road shows to boom. I spent two years reading up investors: walked the walk and talked everything on technical analysis, and

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attended seminars and conferences. maid, since most people in America In a few years I developed my own don’t, and so my wife and I had to do electronic algorithms to trade in the all the domestic chores ourselves. financial markets. I did most of the work myself. I used a commercial Things that I used to take for granted, trading platform but let it run my such as cleaning the house, doing the proprietary algorithms, on a remote laundry, folding the clothes, watering server on a cloud, out on the Internet. the plants in the garden, and most Finally, I automated the system so importantly, preparing every meal for that I didn’t have to wake up before the family - had to be done by dawn to catch the opening bell. somebody. And there were only two adults in the house, as my wife would I thought I could take it easy, having remind me. She was, by then, going built a robust trading system that could to school herself, and so I had to look run unattended. I had things all ready after the three boys, sending them to by the end of 2007. I sold off whatever school in the mornings, cooking their stocks I had left lying around and raised meals when they came home, and enough cash to fund an electronic doing whatever errands needed to be trading account. I was all set to go done in the meantime. online. I didn’t know it then, but I couldn’t have chosen a more The house we bought is in a quiet little challenging time to re-enter the fray, as town about half an hour south of San the financial markets were about to Francisco. It sits on a ridge crash again for a second time. overlooking a canyon that finds its way down to a lake formed by the San After the Crash Andreas fault. You might think that it In those fallow years after the crash is hazardous to live so near the most of 2000, I discovered the joys of living famous earthquake fault zone in the as a simple family man. Taking care world, but that is just part of life in of matters on the homefront took on California. When the earth last shook a significance and importance that I for us back in 1989, this house never knew before. We never had a sustained only very minor damage.

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Our neighbour told us that because that were going on around me to stop we were so near the fault, the rocky and think about it: in a short trip home nature of the high ground protected there are too many events to attend us from the worst tremors. So we to, family members to talk to, old sleep peacefully at nights. friends to meet with and business contacts to look up. Only on the last The first thing I hear when I wake in few days of the trip did I realise what the morning is usually the sound of was happening: The constant activity the wind in the canyon. In late that engulfed me, fed me with a autumn, the trees turn brown and the frenetic energy that didn’t seem part leaves pile up outside my window, of me anymore, and left me with this while the bright Californian summer sense of unease. sun is replaced by a cold fog from the ocean, that creeps through And there is the noise. It starts with the mountains and blankets my the air-conditioning: You can’t escape backyard in a sea of white. its soft low-frequency drone. It is always there in the background. If the wind isn’t blowing, the fog brings When I go outside, there is the hum a silence that envelops our whole of traffic, construction, all the sounds world. The few hours of the morning, and noises of a bustling city. I find that before the sun gets high enough to I cannot live with this noise anymore, burn off the mist, is my favourite time even if it’s the sound of progress and of day, because I can sit down and development. I have become a meditate, or read a book in quiet and stranger in my own land. peaceful solace. Stargazing A Stranger Back Home Back in California it is easy to be When I returned to Singapore a year close to the land, and closer to the ago, for the first few days I was beset sky. On dark nights in winter, far away by a nagging unease, a sense that from the city haze, the stars seem something was not right. But I was too within reach and near enough to caught up and absorbed by the things touch. When I was a little boy, my

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uncle brought me a book on the stars. the near approach of Mars, I bought It grouped them into constellations, myself a new telescope and taught and using the book, we both traced myself to see the stars again. On these patterns in the sky. Back then, weekends, an hour’s drive south of in the 1970s, the sky in Singapore my home takes me to a dark sky was clear enough for us to see most location called Coyote Lake, which stars and constellations. On certain can be reached by taking the freeway nights in June and July, the Milky Way and then a short drive up a windy was almost overhead. The Big Dipper country road. Here, the stars seem could be seen in the north, and in the even brighter and more numerous south, after Scorpio was high in the and on summer nights, the Milky Way sky, the Southern Cross would show blazes brighter than when I knew it up around midnight. as a child. This time I was able to track and spot faint nebulae and galaxies, By the 80s, the skies had started to and best of all, enjoy views not just fade. When Halley’s Comet returned to of Mars but the moons of Jupiter and earth skies in 1986, it was just a tiny the rings of Saturn. On one faint smudge that took great effort and particularly clear night, I was able to an eight-inch telescope to see. glimpse the faint blue disk of Uranus. Buildings had sprung up around my house and the stars were first obscured But as the days get shorter, the nights by them, and then by a haze that get colder too, my weekends in washed out the skies above me. This autumn and winter are taken over by was not just due to atmospheric another activity, more strenuous than pollution but also light pollution from the stargazing. bright lights of the city. Time For Football As our present house is on a ridge, The little girl, she couldn’t have been the adjoining hills block the lights from more than 11 years old, received the San Francisco and the Greater Bay ball on the left wing, her back to an Area, and most nights the stars can opponent who tried to challenge for be very clearly seen. In 2004, during the ball. With a deft touch of the

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inside heel of her right foot, she the game became a distant memory. turned inside the tackle, pushed the ball through and broke away towards Three decades later, I still enjoy the the goal. I nearly dropped my flag. But game, but I’m no longer fit enough to I had to applaud that move, and so be chasing a ball. As watching it on TV did the coaches and spectators on my is not good enough and I want the side of the touchline. That little girl exercise, I took a referee’s course and had just executed an almost perfect these days, you can find me, most Cruyff turn [a move by Dutch footballer weekends, on the pitch as the referee. Johan Cruyff]. In California, football (soccer to them) When I was a boy I saw this exact is one of the largest organised sports move at the World Cup in 1978 when for youths. In the town where I live, with Holland played Sweden and the a population of 25,000 (a fairly typical game has become famous because township) about 800 children of the tantalising skill on the ball participate in soccer games every demonstrated by this Dutch master. I weekend during the autumn months. was in Secondary school then, a studious nerd but obsessed with When we first came to California we football. My friends and I would hang faced the typical immigrant’s challenge around the big field near school (now of integrating into a new community and a car park) for a kick around, or walk culture. The first place to look for new a mile or so to another open field (now friends would be wherever or whatever another car park). our children did. I enrolled my eldest son in the soccer programme and Sometimes, if we could get at least from there things began to have a life 10 people, we would take a bus to of their own. For me, the soccer field is the Bukit Timah campus and play where you meet other like-minded on a real football pitch with people. I’ve encountered and made goalposts. However, when I grew friends with coaches and referees who older, work took over and the football were Ukrainians, Swedes, Brazilians fields started disappearing, so playing and Irish.

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Even if soccer is not the most natural suited for a computer programme to of American sports, it was through trade and not a human. meeting people here that I was The stock markets are open from dawn eventually inducted into that most to 1pm most weekdays, and during that emblematic of American alpha-male time I found myself unable to work. activities – the poker night. It was Watching a live trade often made me initially a little strange to find myself, a worry, so most of the time I didn’t. If I second generation Singaporean had woken up to watch the markets Chinese, at a round table playing Texas crumble most mornings, I would have Hold ‘Em with other Americans, until I become a nervous wreck. I would realised, that most of them were also, switch off the monitor and go and read not too long ago, immigrants like a book or take a walk. The only times I myself. It struck me then that America could work on the algorithms was when has become quite racially integrated the market was closed, since, if the and multi-cultural within a generation system was live, you could introduce or two. At first it was a little unusual to human errors and compound any find myself a minority here, yet I didn’t mistakes. So although I made time on feel out of place or out of sorts and soon weekends to pore over the results of it didn’t bother me anymore. America, the week and adjust whatever or at least California, in the 21st parameters seemed necessary, I didn’t Century, is a true melting pot of different even have the heart to do that. ethnicities and cultures. It was an unsettling time because Getting Back on Track there was too much news coming Having lost almost everything to the in. Banks were collapsing, multi- stock market in the dark days of the billion dollar bailouts were being early 21st Century, I was determined to bandied around and to top it all, a climb back onto the same market that Ponzi scheme, in the billions of took me down. Fate decided to give me dollars, came to light. For anybody another chance. Although I could not who lived through the crash of have foreseen it, the wild roller-coaster 2000, 2008 seemed like the end of ride of the Crash of 2008 was better the world.

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Paradoxically, in hindsight, the best back what it gave. By the end of 2008 thing to do was to have done nothing. it had posted a most impressive 150% From September 2008 onwards I gain for the whole year. On the other watched with detached fascination and hand, if I’d let it trade more aggressively, occasional horror as the biggest I could have made over 400%! financial meltdown in living memory unfolded. I could have turned off my When I was a boy there were simple system but I didn’t for some reason. I things that brought me joy: There let it run. Although unable to escape my were the stars and the jungle walks roots as a Singaporean, I tuned them in the Nature Reserve or along the back to trade as conservatively as beach at Changi, where we went for possible. Then I stopped watching the holidays. And there was football. system altogether, until after the dust When I grew up, I let these slip away settled sometime in March the next from me by circumstance and year. sometimes by choice. Then, when I travelled afar and stayed on to work To cut to the chase, my algorithms did and live in California, I found that you their job. The system went to work could do more by doing less. Among methodically. It shorted the steep other things, I have rediscovered declines and went long on the brief those simple joys of my childhood. It attempts at recovery. It cut its losses is like going home again. whenever the market reversed and took

About the Writer

Jek Kian Jin was an early Internet pioneer who survived two financial market crashes and now lives a simple life in his home in California. Married, with three boys and a cat, he watches futures in the morning and the stars at night. Kian Jin was involved in various capacities with putting Singapore in a wired future, beginning with the IT2000 plan, setting up web servers and exploring the use of the Internet as early as 1993. He played a key role in getting Pacific Internet off the ground and took a front row seat in the dot-com boom (and bust). From 1998 to 2000, he wrote a column for The Straits Times called Life in Silicon Valley about ventures and misadventures in the dot-com industry.

REFLECTIONS ON SINGAPORE BY OVERSEAS SINGAPOREANS COMMENTARY VOLUME 20, 2011 25 Home Thoughts From Abroad A Singaporean working in the US throws a fresh perspective on hot home topics such as foreign talent, immigration and the Singapore identity in an increasingly borderless world. By Kwek Ju-kay

n mid-2010 I had the pleasure of • Identity: What does being hosting a visiting Ministry of Singaporean mean in a world II Education (MOE) delegation at where you may have many Google and we engaged in a thought formative experiences and provoking conversation on Singapore relationships overseas? in general, living overseas, and managing foreign talent. The Myth of Foreign Talent With the influx of foreigners into We discussed how Singapore’s Singapore to fill jobs in all amazing prosperity is rooted in it economic tiers, foreign talent has being an international hub and been a hot topic for some time now. much of the conversation centred Our ambivalence toward it is on the notion of the “Singaporean reflected by our contrasting Diaspora” – Singaporeans living concerns – on one hand, attracting and working abroad. What are the the best international talent to career opportunities in Singapore Singapore, while on the other, and the US? What is it like being feeling uneasy about being over- foreign talent in another country? dependent on foreigners. Both are Under what conditions would you valid concerns. consider returning to Singapore? What about raising and educating However, to centre the discussion kids? on ‘foreign talent’ is to miss the larger point – that in order to create Two themes in particular seemed a world-class hub of innovation and especially relevant given the recent excellence, there is only ‘talent’ discussion at home: and what you do to attract and engage it. This is borne out by • Foreign talent: What can Singaporeans personal observations from living at home learn from those who live and working in Silicon Valley. and work as foreign talent overseas in places such as the US?

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Observation #1: Foreign talent is Observation #2: The US has very much a non-concept in many created conditions for foreigners to parts of the US. thrive, much to its benefit.

In Silicon Valley, with its giant melting Some of Silicon Valley’s most pot of races and cultures, foreigners are influential and respected individuals a key part of society. Consider some of were originally foreigners. For the data. Up to 50% of workers in some example: high-tech firms are immigrants. One in three Silicon Valley start-ups have a • Andy Grove, one of the founders of founder of foreign origin. Some are Intel, immigrated to the US during American-born, while others are the Hungarian revolution of 1956. naturalised citizens or Permanent Residents. Still more are on work visas. • Sergey Brin, one of Google’s co- founders, came to America as a It is challenging to see how the term refugee from the Soviet Union. ‘foreign talent’ can be used meaningfully in this context. Who in • Vinod Khosla, general partner at these groups can be termed foreign VC firm Kleiner Perkins, co- talent, and who, local talent? founded Sun Microsystems after coming over from India for You can see this daily at Google, graduate studies. where it’s not uncommon to overhear conversations happening in Most Americans I know consider Mandarin, Hindi, French or Spanish. these individuals to be their own In Singapore, perhaps we sometimes and express pride that America has make unnecessary distinctions been able to nurture their success. between workers who are local and In Singapore have we created the those who are foreign. In the end, as conditions under which talented long as our collective work foreign individuals can be highly contributes to the advancement of successful? Do we celebrate their Singapore, should it matter? successes as our own?

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Observation #3: How people are at the same time looking down on regarded and rewarded depends others from less developed nations. more on what they achieve rather than on their skin colour or where Anti-foreigner Sentiments they are from. But what about US anti-foreigner sentiments that we hear reported in As a foreigner I feel that I’m not treated the news? differently from anyone else. For one thing, the ethnic and cultural diversity That certainly exists at the macro of the Bay Area means that no one can level, and arguably, for good reason. really tell the difference. For example, Millions of Americans have been hit the Afghan grandmother speaking in by record unemployment in recent Pashtun with her friends at the years. For example, in the supermarket, may well be a US citizen, manufacturing industry, thousands of while the well-dressed Caucasian man mid-level skilled jobs have been at a business function, who speaks moved to countries with far lower perfect English, is a foreigner. wages.

As an English-speaking Singaporean The same has occurred with white- of Chinese ethnicity, I have never felt collar jobs, such as those with back- that I stood out or that people looked office and call centre functions. This at me differently because of my has naturally led to some public background. As a foreigner, this is a backlash against foreigners, as the big deal: I feel that my host country harder-hit portions of the country affords me the same opportunities as perceive foreigners as both taking everyone else, and thus I feel a key jobs overseas as well as strong sense of ownership and desire coming in to take over the to help make my host country a better remaining ones. place. In Singapore perhaps we may While the most effective solution wish to consider whether our colonial would be to invest heavily in roots sometimes lead us to defer to education, worker retraining and certain nationalities and races, while employment assistance, unfortunately

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the US political establishment has like Singapore to take advantage of responded with well-publicised but world growth and advance at a much unconstructive denouncements of more rapid rate than some much companies seen to be “shipping jobs larger and advanced countries. But overseas” and proposals to tax with these advantages come the companies that “hire foreigners over challenges of maintaining identity and Americans”. Even in the high-tech retaining local talent. As its citizens sector, the US government enforces grow in skills and sophistication, can a strict cap on skilled workers, limiting Singapore hold on to its best and H-1B* work visas to just 65,000 each brightest, given appealing prospects year. The US government maintains abroad? Should it? I find it helpful to this policy even as many high tech break this issue into several key businesses stress that they cannot components: education, identity, hire sufficient skilled local talent to fill expanding influence, and redefining the gap. the notion of retaining talent.

This is a huge mistake that threatens Let’s start with education as a key to undermine America’s long-term shaper of identity. This has been a technological leadership. Other key topic of discussion between my countries would do well not to repeat wife and I. Like me, she is a product this error. of the Singapore education system and she has been working and living The Singaporean Identity in the US for many years. While we What does it mean to be a don’t yet have children, we have Singaporean in an increasingly inter- discussed at length what it would connected and borderless world? mean to raise and educate children in the US. This has led us to consider One could argue that Singapore has the strengths and weaknesses of benefited from globalisation more education systems in both the US and than almost any country. Free trade Singapore. and open communications level the playing field, allowing small nations In considering the US education

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system, the strengths we value their first of couple years in the US include the following: getting exposure to the rich set of cultures in the Bay Area. Next, it The focus on breadth; the flexibility would be very important for them to get in choosing coursework which reflects a rigorous grounding under the the students’ interests; and, perhaps Singapore education system through most importantly, the emphasis on primary, and perhaps secondary creative problem solving and critical school. We consider those formative thinking. While we share concerns years key to growing up “Singaporean” about the cost and variable quality of in terms of family connections, values US schools, we recognise that the and culture. Subsequently, we would best ones provide a well-rounded strongly encourage them to attend education that is second to none. university overseas. This is mainly out of a desire to expose them to global In considering the Singapore education influences during their growing up system, the strengths that we value process, rather than in response to any include the rigorous academic particular set of strengths or discipline and emphasis on hard weaknesses. knowledge such as mathematics and sciences, which we consider key to With regards to identity, perhaps it is future success. While we are this preference regarding the extremely cautious about an over- education of our children, that most emphasis on standardised testing, we clearly articulates our view of what it are also mindful of the indirect means to be Singaporean in a global benefits this imparts in terms of the context. It means being grounded ability to compete under pressure. with a strong sense of Singaporean culture which includes family and Given our current situation, my wife values such as discipline, dedication and I concluded that the most and focus. It means being savvy to desirable scenario would be to other cultures and able to confidently expose our children to both education engage with foreigners. And it means systems. Our children would spend participating in activities that

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contribute to Singapore’s continued Israel is a small country that advancement. Thus we believe that consistently punches above its one can possess a strong sense of weight. It is highly successful in Singaporean identity without being managing its foreign and domestic physically bound to Singapore. talent, and in engaging its best minds wherever they may be. More Should Go Overseas This brings me to an important point I see this often in my Israeli friends about expanding influence. I would in Silicon Valley. Some are strongly argue that it is in entrepreneurs; others work in major Singapore’s best interests to tech corporations like Google; and encourage more citizens to live and still others work in the venture work overseas. This may seem capital community. counterintuitive and even anathema to the idea that Singapore needs its Many of them are constantly in touch best and brightest at home. After with each other, and on the move all, if our goal is to turn Singapore between Silicon Valley and Tel Aviv. into a global hub of services, ideas This free-flow of ideas, talent and and innovation, then surely, to do capital has helped transform Tel Aviv so, we need to concentrate as much into a major technology innovation of our talent in Singapore. However hub, which itself has given rise to in an increasingly global and numerous start-ups and inventions borderless world, one of the key that get acquired by US companies values of a hub lies in its or invested in by both US and Israel connections to other hubs. venture capital. It’s a virtuous cycle Overseas Singaporeans have a that acts as a force multiplier, critical role to play here. enabling tiny Israel to exert a far larger influence on global industry The often-cited example for than its population or geographic expanding influence is Israel. And it’s location would suggest. It’s a great worth looking closer at the dynamics. example of how a well-engaged To borrow a popular boxing analogy, overseas diaspora can magnify a

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country’s global economic and social instantly and whenever it suits us. It influence. matters less and less whether we are 10km or 10,000km apart. So perhaps it makes sense to redefine our notion of ‘Retaining Talent’. Instead If we consider our new goal in the of having the goal of ‘Retaining the best context of these social and and brightest in Singapore’, what if we technological trends, this will lead us restate it as ‘How can we fully engage to ask the following questions: the best and brightest, wherever they may be’? How can we promote the free exchange of ideas and talent? This is especially true in today’s world with global companies and distributed How can we encourage our citizens start-ups. We’re now surrounded by to spread out into the world to extend tools like email, SMS, Facebook and our hub? Twitter, which have become increasingly part of our everyday lives. What incentives can we provide to Geographic borders mean less and less keep the network active and in this context. For example, within engaged? Google we use video conferencing for virtual meetings. This enables teams to The answers to these questions have work across multiple sites and time the potential to affect the influence zones in order to leverage the best skills and commercial success of any hub. wherever they may be located. I believe that in the long term, it will greatly benefit Singapore to ‘engage Keeping In Touch Is Easy Now talent’ on a much broader, worldwide On a personal level, in spite of the scale rather than ‘retain’ it in the distance, my ties to Singapore have traditional sense within its borders. never been stronger. Thanks to technologies like Skype, Facebook, Lessons Learnt and WhatsApp, I can communicate In my time in the US, I have picked with friends, family and colleagues up many lessons which can be

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applied to challenges faced by Singapore is widely respected in Singapore. The first is that America the world, as demonstrated by its has an incredible capacity to embrace first rate reputation in a range of different cultures and incorporate diverse areas – from financial and their best attributes. In spite of business services to things like unease in some regions, talent is water management expertise. An generally embraced wherever it amusing but telling measure of comes from. This is a tremendous Singapore’s ability to capture the advantage in a world in which the best world’s imagination could be seen talent may be spread out across the in popular YouTube videos of driver- globe. less MRT trains. With so much to offer, Singapore has every reason I have also realised that being to send more Singaporeans out Singaporean and contributing to into the world and to benefit Singapore’s progress need not tremendously from it. necessarily involve being in Singapore. Lastly, a diaspora can be a huge strategic advantage to a small country if leveraged well. So, rather than focusing on retaining our best talent in local government- related roles, it may make sense to encourage more to drive *The H-1B visa is the primary work visa that allows skilled international entrepreneurship both in and professionals or international students beyond Singapore. to live and work in the US.

About the Writer

Kwek Ju-kay was born and raised in Singapore but went to university in the US. He has worked in the San Francisco Bay Area for the last 12 years, holding engineering and management positions in start-ups and high-tech corporations there. He is currently a Product Manager at Google Inc, where he manages emerging product strategy.

REFLECTIONS ON SINGAPORE BY OVERSEAS SINGAPOREANS COMMENTARY VOLUME 20, 2011 33 Life is Like a Peach When Australia beckoned, Singapore journalist Juat Leng Halliday packed her bags for a cross-cultural life Down Under, which she likens to two halves of a peach. She discusses her integration there, and an earlier stint in the US.

ife may be how we live it and dreamt that I could one day some of us try to live in quiet experience and appreciate. LLpursuit of our dreams. As Singaporeans began to afford to When I was twelve, I came across an travel, their list of ‘must-see’ unwanted bag of brochure maps destinations grew longer. For a while browsing in a Bras Basah Road decade in my career I had the bookshop. The textbook seller was privilege of engaging the interests happy for me to take them off his of the growing flock of vacationers, hands. They were freebies he did not armed with my travel pen. I tried to want. delve into cities and countries on my personal map and to look I clutched the stuffed bag all the at their culture. I might have way home and counted, to my encountered a bit more than the delight, dozens of encyclopaedic- package-tourist, but still, I was only quality world maps. What a find! I skimming the surface. Cultural was keen to pass them around and immersion was needed – to live like so brought them to class the next a local where possible, and day to give away as prizes in my preferably, to even try to learn to own quiz game (Name-the-Capital speak the language. It became my City-and-Spell-It-Out). Winners little motto. received a glossy illustrated map of the world to put on their walls. When 9-11 Happened The opportunity to work overseas Looking back, my fun with the cast- came knocking on my door when my offs and attempt at television Australian husband was transferred ‘largesse’ pre-Oprah Winfrey style, by his company to the US. I resigned was based on a deep fascination with from my sub-editing job, leased out the outside world – a prized world the condo, grabbed the kids and put which lay beyond the dot of the city- on my multicultural ‘dreamcoat’. state where I lived, and which I Virginia, here we come!

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The boys went to school and I expecting and hoping that the all- volunteered in the studio of a clear would soon be given. community television station. In the second year of our American Dream- It has since been my prayer and hope idyll, we were rudely awakened that Singapore and Australia be by that calamity of astronomic spared an attack on their soil. proportions: September 11, which Homeland security has to be a altered lives not just in the Land of serious job for everyone. No matter the Free but the world over. how many mistakes were made, or could still be made, it is through Watching the second plane hit, and mistakes that we learn, and America the Twin Towers crumbling on CNN paid dearly for her lesson. ‘live’ was unforgettably raw. Like other mums there, I rushed to the boys’ The Washington Sniper school, as we lived only 10 minutes In Virginia, the sense of security was from the airport that cleared the to elude us again, just a year later. Pentagon-targeted flight for take-off. This time the Washington Sniper Life seemed to be in total limbo for struck, terrifying an entire population the next 72 hours, with rumours in the D.C. area including us. Schools initially flying around that there were were in ‘lockdown’. Even the window- more planes. Ironically, my husband blinds in my sons’ school were tightly was flying back from Changi Airport closed, to deny the cruising mad at the time of the attacks. He was gunman his random mission. stranded in Tokyo when the US sealed all its borders for the first time We got in and out of our front doors in history. and cars with eyes at the back of our heads, and walked zig-zag for three I cannot forget the eerie air of interminably-long weeks, until the silence that descended on our sniper and his accomplice were neighbourhood, like it must do on caught. The relative safety of helpless residents in conflict-zones Singapore and its zero-tolerance gun before an air-raid. We were waiting, laws were a relief when we returned.

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Many Americans see it as their right hope is that he’ll do the best he can. to bear arms to protect themselves – After all, if the previous Mandarin- a marked cultural difference that we speaking Australian Prime Minister, first noticed in a K-mart store there. Kevin Rudd, started learning it at a later No toy water-pistols were stocked, age than my son, there is plenty of hope just the real thing. that he will, one day, attain fluency because he continues to like and Back To Singapore respect the language. We headed back to Singapore after our three eventful American years, We found the Australian education with lessons learned about vigilance. system similar to the American, but both My husband continued with the same are different from Singapore’s. But then company and I went back to work. But again, there is no such thing as an it was with our two Singapore-born Australian education system, as each sons that the hardest adjustments State runs its own school system right were in store when they were up to the different university entrance introduced to Singapore primary exams. All that will change with the schooling and the mother-tongue expected launch of a national proficiency requirements. curriculum by the Federal government. It has already met with resistance from After a semester, we sought permission the States, which treasure their right to for them to be transferred to the determine what children in their State Australian International School while should learn. still doing Chinese as a LOTE It does sound a bit chaotic coming from (Languages Other Than English) Singapore, but Australian States have subject. Although both had started on differences in their natural and cultural French in America, the older boy still environments that they are proud of. preferred Mandarin, and despite the Looking at the way children are taught gaps in his young language-learning in the American and Australian systems, years, I am pleased that he will be creativity, self-confidence and group offering it for his VCE (Victorian interactions are encouraged. A few Certificate of Education) exam. Our minutes of ‘Show and Tell’ in class has

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taught young American children that all- from migrants themselves. It took important storytelling skill and given courage for this pre-war exodus to them the confidence to stand before an make their way into the unknown, audience. sometimes with only the clothes on their back. Many arrived to hardships In the Australian system, I also of a different kind, which they stoically remember my children getting up on the endured to carve out a new life. No school stage to give a short talk landed property or even property each about a researched favourite markets for migrants awaited them. personality. There was no Internet or Skype to pre-empt them about what lay ahead, Emigrating Then and Now only perhaps a letter from a family Families are in for a great cultural member who left earlier to ‘Nanyang’ leap when they emigrate. I went (Southeast Asia), which an itinerant online to search for an unofficial letter-writer would read to them. estimate of the number of Singaporeans now abroad: It was Now more than a century later, many 40,000. I cannot vouch for the Singaporeans are saying they want veracity of the figure, but it provides to do it again. a ball-park figure of Singapore’s overseas population. I am unsure if Life in Australia the figure includes Singaporean I have ended up ‘crossing the seas’ entrepreneurs and expatriates who to Australia, but even though the have gone to regional countries such physical journey was a seven-hour as China, Vietnam and India, or flight, mentally, like others, I hit students studying in overseas cultural jetlag. After five years, universities. With the rise in inter- Singapore and her way of life can cultural marriages, an increasing be re-appraised and appreciated number of men and women, too, are through the experiences I have also settling overseas. known.

Singaporeans have largely descended I return to Singapore as least once a

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year to see my own family and I often from Singaporeans are regarding hear the conversational catchword – property and car costs. It is cheaper “migrate”. Taxi-drivers need no to have a car in Australia than prompting to launch into a running Singapore but try not to drive it into commentary. The litany of issues the heart of Sydney or Melbourne seems to grow longer each year. where city parking is grossly Sometimes, drivers proudly tell me expensive. Elsewhere it is generally their Poly-graduate son or daughter free, at least for an hour or two. Like is studying in Australia for a degree, Americans, Australians need their and that some are working there. cars due to the vast distances. The office could be more than an hour’s Interestingly, one driver told me his commute away, and families and son had come back to Singapore and friends a long way off. he spoke of the long hours he put into his I.T. job in Melbourne. I smiled and As a mother, I naturally now worry told him that Australians have been about the affordability of housing in working fairly long hours for a while, the long-term for my children. If you and business migrants work harder wish to live near to the major cities of at their own businesses in order to Sydney, Melbourne or Perth, you succeed. Personal taxation is high, need to fork out far more nowadays something you need to get used to. than five or 10 years ago, due to There is a retirement programme increased demand. That demand in called superannuation, which is akin Melbourne, for instance, is coming to the CPF, and an age pension for from 1,500 people being added to the both men and women in their sixties population every month, many from that is means-tested. China, India and the rest of Asia. Desirable homes are often sold by Australia is certainly not an unfamiliar auction instead of a private sale – a place for Singaporeans as many have process that can be highly lived and studied at its tertiary disappointing. You may have thought institutions for the past 20 years or you found your dream home, only to more. The favourite questions I get see it slip from you in the bidding.

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Thoughts on Melbourne House and Garden By some standards, Melbourne is When I first came to Australia to visit considered to have done well, having in the 1980s, I was astounded by a warded off the global financial crisis. comment that “only the elderly and Yet, in the 2010 Victorian State poor” live in units (apartments) when Election in November, the Labour I asked who lived in them. That was Party in government for the past 11 not really an accurate remark as I years, lost office to the Coalition in later found out. Nevertheless, a Opposition which campaigned on house with a backyard is the cost-of-living policies. Australian Dream, where you can raise your family, with perhaps a pool Victorians have seen rates of public and tennis court thrown on the utilities go up, the public infrastructure quarter acre or larger. strained by population increase and frequent breakdowns of train But more than house and land, it is services. A young Indian graduate the lifestyle that Australians seek. was stabbed to death by a teenager Their backyard is the place to hang wanting his mobile phone. The Indian out in with good friends casually media portrayed the violence as invited over for drinks and a ‘barbie’. racially-motivated while Melbourne As Australian actor Paul Hogan said, police maintained they were “So come on over and we’ll slip opportunistic robberies and urged another shrimp on the barbie for ya.” students not to carry expensive- looking gadgets around. The outdoors under an azure sky is to Australians what air-conditioned A growing knife culture, street shopping malls are to Singaporeans. violence and drunken behaviour are besmirching the reputation of this highly Australians are easily the most ‘liveable’ city. With such disquiet on top sports-loving people on the planet. of everything else, it is not surprising Whether it’s cricket, rugby, footy, that the incumbent government lost the tennis, swimming, fishing, sailing, recent state election. surfing, or snowboarding (did I miss

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something out?) they love the ‘battler’ psyche. Where we live, a outdoors and their sports. It was said parallel was coincidentally drawn that the Australians’ previous when local residents banded together dominance in world tennis was due, to protest against a developer’s in part, to the prevalence of the home proposal to build a caravan park in tennis court. the middle of a desirable seaside suburb, and succeeded in having it But living in a large house with turned down. recreational facilities or a productive backyard requires muscle to upkeep The Master Key it, in order to enjoy it. We cook our So how can Singaporeans adjust to own meals and do the housekeeping life outside of Singapore? Take ourselves. The boys, now teenagers, with you the master-key of help to mow the lawn, do the dishes, understanding, adapting, and pick up the dogs’ poo and clean the accepting. There are cultural house. My husband loves using his differences everywhere, and a green thumb in his spare time in the prejudiced mind is a closed one. fruit and vegetable garden that all- Change your environment if that year-round delivers a bountiful makes you happy but always be harvest according to the seasons, accepting of cultural differences. now that the drought is officially over. After the initial weeks of culture- Nothing beats the taste of shock that is bound to occur, homegrown vegetables, whether in adjustment comes along and your veggie plots or pots. feet will find their home.

The Australian comedy The Castle When you are an emigrant is, I feel, a must-see for new you automatically become an arrivals. It’s a movie that depicts a immigrant. You always bring with community fighting against an you a part of yourself from the old airport development encroaching country, and when you return to onto the backyard of a home. It is where you came from, you see it hilarious, but reflects the Australian with new eyes.

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I view my life as two conjoined ‘halves’ of the twin-peach hanging from our fruit tree, that is still one whole fruit. Each half is not richer or poorer, not better or worse, just different. I like to think that I crossed the world not to enrich my bank account but to adapt to and adopt a different culture and way of life as it unfolds. But nothing is discarded from the heart. And no matter where I live, my ‘dream castle’ is where my heart wants it to be.

About the Writer

Juat Leng Halliday is a Singapore-born, naturalised Australian living outside Melbourne on the scenic Mornington Peninsula since 2005. She works for an Australian company handling public relations and the media, and is involved in a local Australian writers’ group. Her personal dictum is to always embrace changes and experiences, and take life one step at a time. In Singapore she worked in newspapers and magazines writing under the byline, Teng Juat Leng. She took a break from full-time work to enjoy her children. Upon her return from the United States, she freelanced for Singapore newspapers and magazines, and also worked in the NUS Office of Corporate Relations as Editor/Writer of Knowledge Enter- prise. She holds a Masters in Mass Communications.

REFLECTIONS ON SINGAPORE BY OVERSEAS SINGAPOREANS COMMENTARY VOLUME 20, 2011 41 Editorial Board

Commentary: Reflections on Singapore by Overseas Singaporeans

Editor Professor S Gopinathan National Institute of Education Nanyang Technological University

Team Editors Associate Professor C.J.W.-L. Wee Division of English School of Humanities and Social Sciences Nanyang Technological University

Assistant Professor Benjamin Wong National Institute of Education Nanyang Technological University

Ms Nur Dian Rasid School of Humanities and Social Sciences Temasek Polytechnic

Mr Aaron Maniam

DISCLAIMER The views and opinions expressed or implied in Commentary are those of the authors or contributors and do not reflect those of the Editors or The National University of Singapore Society.

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