It's A Bad Word.

It begins with the letter 'p' and ends with an 'm'. Patriotism is a bad word! It's so bad you wouldn't want to admit it for fear of being mocked at, or as being a supporter of the ruling party. Despite a generally honest and scandal-free government, it seems an unpopular choice to admit we love our government and nation. That is my hypothesis following my recent visit to soak in "The History of Singapore" by the Dim Sum Dollies. There was flag-waving, vernacular tunes and nation-building strains of old. Natural-Lee, there was also a lot of satire that surprising-LEE made it past the MDA. But honest-Lee, it was a bag of fun with the poke and puns performed so splendid-Lee.

Following the show, I texted my brother telling him how much I'd enjoyed the performance, and at some places, driven to feeling warm (not my bum from sitting too long) and patriotic. His reply was in the form of a question - "You know it's satire don't you?"

That prompted me to try to draw a distinction between what makes the fourth day of the seventh month of every year a day of pomp, pageantry and pride for all Americans, and if the ninth of August had the same level of appeal and heart-stoking connection with our very own. Thanks to Fredrik Idestam (NOKIA founder), I conducted a zippy straw poll with a sample size of 18 which I plucked out of my mobile phone. They received this text message from me, the amateur spammer:

Straw Poll! Spontaneous response pls! A, B or C?
(A) I wear patriotism on my sleeve.
(B) I'm proud of my nation but generally silent abt expressing it.
(C) I'm indifferent & besides, isn't 'patriotism' a bad word?

Of the 15 responses received within 101 minutes of the poll being sent out (as you can tell, 'spontaneity' is subjective with the first response flying back in under 2 minutes! Tks UCN - the NSF who designed the stunning floating stage for this year's NDP!), here were the results:
Option A = 6 votes, Option B = 7 votes, Option C = 1 vote
- The vote of the lone respondent who picked Option C was disqualified because investigations revealed he is a citizen of the north. In no way am I saying his answer wasn't an honest one, but incorporating his response would have skewed the findings since the survey was towards unravelling Singaporean sentiments.
- One forward-looking respondent said his nation was the 'Kingdom of God', to which I replied asking him for his response in relation to THIS earth-LEE kingdom, the here and now.
- There was another who was presumably undecided and picked a fictitious option. In local elections, it's called a Spoilt Vote.

Ahead of the nation's party, I'm comforted the results don't paint an embarrassing revelation I'd been expecting.

So where will I be on National Day 2007? I might just be enjoying VIP viewing from a friend's office fronting Marina Bay where all the live action is to take place, with a plasma tv beside for close-ups. Bring out the food, pop the champagne and let the celebrations begin!!! There....can 'patriotism' actually be such a bad word? I think it's a blessing to say one's patriotic because it's a recognition and an acknowledgement that God's blessed our land and has done great things for us, whereof we are glad!