Our National Pledge

We the citizens of Singapore
Pledge ourselves as one united people
Regardless of race, language or religion
To build a democratic society
Based on justice and equality
So as to achieve happiness, prosperity
And progress for our nation

We say the pledge every day in school, we hear the National song on television before and after they start casting shows, but do we really mean what we say?

What does it mean to be a citizen of Singapore?

A citizen is a person who owes loyalty to, and is entitled by birth or by choice to the protection of a nation, or a stage. The truth is, many youths are not loyal to their nation due to not having enough patroitism in their hearts. This is further fueled by local talents migrating to other countries due to better opportunities offered.

This will then lead to a lack of local talent and foreign talents would then have to be employed. Citizens of Singapore will then complain about foreign talents "taking their places". This is the result of a lack of loyalty to the nation.

Because of a lack of "unity", citizens are not able to accept foreigners into our community, even if there are social consequences such as fewer employment opportunities for the locals.

This is one of the many reasons why our generation is not "united" enough.

Do we stand together regardless of our differences, such as our race, language or religions?

In ancient times, there was no such thing as "race". People accepted each other regardless of their skin colour or physical differences, but rather their languages, religions and cultures. For example, if you have a big nose, you are not automatically considered as a person from the Middle East. However in Germany during World War II, people with big noses were persecuted because they "looked like someone from the Middle East, therefore they are Jews". This is an obvious flaw in their perception of people and this is actually a modern idea, with the incident happening less than a century ago.

What about our religion? We came from all over the place, so there are bound to be different beliefs coming together in Singapore. How do we live together without offending each others' religions? (Covered in 2nd post)

As our pledge suggests, as long as our society is democratic, just and equal, we can all strive for a successful multi-racial society!!