1st October 2009 marks the 60th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China and it was celebrated with massive parade before Tian-anmen, Beijing. This 4-week old video on Youtube about patriotic Chinese girls of the post-80 generation training for the parade would have been nothing more than that, had it not featured a girl name Zhang Yuanyuan [张元元] who has lived 5 years in Singapore and also a former Permanent Resident (PR).

For some odd reasons this was reported today on the evening tabloid Shin Ming Daily [新明日报] and some of our Members of Parliament (MPs) were interviewed. I can’t for any reason fathom why it warranted that! If this was an attempt by Shin Ming’s editors to inspire national cohesion and patriotism, consider it an epic failure. There are better ways to do that without the need to focus our attention from our troubles on some hapless soul like Zhang, a citizen of China. It is not as if Li Jiawei or Gong Li, who are both Singapore Citizens, participated in the parade and made remarks on being patriotic to China. (Personally speaking, I believe if my grandfather is still alive today, this might have brought some tears to his eyes. After all, it is an unfulfilled dream for him to return to China.)

I believe some of my fellow citizens have something unflattering or unkind to say to (or about) her, but I must remind them that this girl has not said anything critical of our country while she expressed her patriotism to her motherland. Now contrast that with PRs like a Amit Nagpal and Sweta Agarwal, who expected us to treat them like kings and accord them the same rights as our fellow citizens! On top of which, they wanted the best of both worlds – the highly paid job Singapore can offer them and the safety of a foreign passport.

To be frank, Zhang Yuanyuan even deserved some respect when compared with the shameless duo above. There is no reason to be angry with someone who against all counsel, gave up a better and higher paid job here but return home in July last year. While it might have been Chinese propaganda, the article on Shin Ming went further to describe she gave up a S$4000 monthly job here for one that is paid several times less. This is what I would called having a backbone.

At the same time, I cannot say the same for certain foreign bloggers who are studying or working here. One of these bloggers has on several occasions openly remarked that Singapore is not her first choice place to be. Another was even better! She had expressed her loathing of her Indonesian passport (and thus her wish to be a Singapore Citizen) because of the difficulty to obtain a visa to travel elsewhere, and yet criticised our country’s police and judiciary system over the suicide of David Widjaja. Frankly, Singaporeans should be more concerned with such vipers in our brood, than with a former PR who had gone home to pursue her dreams and express her patriotism.

As a true blue Singaporean, born here and raised here (and speaks Singlish proudly), I do not forget I am also a descendant of immigrants from Southern China. As such, for those who leave behind the land of their birth and come to Singapore to participate in our nation building, I am proud to have you a fellow Singaporean. It is not easy to put behind a life you have known and seek out a new one. But for those who are no more than an economic parasite taking advantage of the good pay and employment opportunities Singapore offers, and at the same time believe we are inferior or that you are more talented, expect no hospitality from us when you attempt to lord over us.

You are free to leave anytime. Just don’t come back, ever.

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