Happy birthday to us
Happy birthday to us
Happy birthday Singapura
Happy birthday SG60
It is Singapore’s diamond jubilee. More solid than a rock, our nation sparkles from every facet, and the envy of many countries near and far.
In other words, see lah, now got sinkhole already!
Singapore at SG60
Still, isn’t it lovely that Singapore is 60.
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In most other countries, this means you’ve reached the eligible age for a bus pass. But we are Singapore. At 60, you’re eligible for a park connector-long list of goodies and freebies.
And thank goodness for kakis you can jalan-jalan and makan with. Because someone in your group is sure to be in-the-know on what the freebies are, and how you can access them. Or they’ll know the best ways to save here and there, or how to get discounts where there previously was none.
At 60, she – Singapore is a she lah – has priority seating and lungs big enough to belt out how everything was cheaper and nicer last time. Chicken rice was grainier in the ’70s, laksa was punchier in the ’80s, and the sambal in our nasi lemak rested on an actual pandan leaf in the ’90s.
At 60, she may be an aunty, but a fab one nonetheless. After all, 60 is the new 40.
Straddling the best of both worlds, she holds down a successful career while still ruling the roost with everything in its place – packed neatly in containers of all shapes and sizes from Daiso.
She has come a long ways from kampungs and black-and-white TVs, and tok tok mee (noodles) sold at 30 cents a bowl by itinerant hawkers.
The kacang puteh man at Farrer Park knew all the football scores playing across all seven fields used by schools for ECAs (extra-curricular activities). Now, those seven football fields have made way for the construction of 1,600 HDB flats.
Tok tok mee has given way to TikTok influencers, Hi-Fi has gone Wi-Fi, and instead of asking “what is the passing mark?”, everyone now asks “what is the password?”.
You can count on the everyday Singaporean
Thank goodness for the coffeeshop uncles and aunties who still know what’s going on among residents – and they’re still prone to share, not in a shy way, mind you. Heaven knows there are fewer and fewer people you can chitchat with today.
We are 60, we are cashless, and we are wait-free. We scan to pay and robots serve us posthaste instead of human staff. There’s no need to interact with an actual human when dining out.
The only thing that still speaks to us are elevators! What an uplifting experience when the lift says more to you than your spouse – although your in-laws still win by a nose.
The saddest thing of all is having only Amazon’s Alexa to converse with. Its founder is probably too busy with his newly-wed life to give the virtual assistant an upgrade.
Of course, the birthday present we’d truly love to have is for COE prices to come down (we’ve been asking since 1984 okay), or for the MRT trains to run without track faults.
Count On Me Singapore is sang almost like a hymn to our superheroes – us everyday people. We are truly impervious to harm.
The everyday Singaporean is a superhero who can live and breathe through all highs of heat and haze, incessant construction noise, and palpitating GST hikes. But give me a Heimlich manoeuvre man, I’m choking on fish balls.
1965
Before we snuff out the candles on Singapore’s big 60th birthday, let’s look back on the year 1965 – yes, that year.
Globally, the Vietnam War escalated, Winston Churchill died, Russia took a step ahead of America in the Space Race (the Soviet Union’s cosmonaut walked in space for 12 minutes), The Sound of Music was the most successful film with five Oscars, and Malcolm X was assassinated.
Meanwhile in our corner of the world, Singapore’s first underground carpark opened in Raffles Place, the MacDonald House was bombed by Indonesian saboteurs killing three people, Orchard Theatre opened, public housing was rapidly built up, and the Jurong Industrial estate was constructed.
And of course, Singapore also gained its independence that year.
But that was 60 years ago lah. No one knew what Singapore would be like today, and no one will know what will happen in the next 60 years.
For now, all we can do is give her our best wishes.
Happy birthday Singapore. Keep shining bright like a diamond.
