There was a time, when people said that Singapore won't make it, but we did. There was a time, when trouble seemed to much for us to take, but we did, just by beating Malaysia.
And that is why to me patriotism is spherical, and belongs not in the heart but in the legs. At the National Stadium last night, Majullah Singapura was an apt battle cry that once stripped of all its political trimmings stirred in me a mixture of pride, passion and loyalty to something that I wouldn't feel the same about on other occasions. Really, if souless Singapore needs something to restore, no to create a National Spirit, it's football and sport.
It was a heady and intoxicating experience. Every time a Singaporean player got the ball, every crunching tackle, every through pass,every foul that a Malaysian commited the heat behind the collar and in the cheeks was heightened, more so than any National Day parade, rally, four million smile campaign has ever done for me. I can unabashedly say yes, I am proud to be Singaporean, or in the words of that primary one chinese textbook : wo shi xin jia po gong ming, wo ai xin jia po. It's as if the gripes with Singaporean society dissipate with every punt of the ball. As effective as propoganda itself.
I ask myself then, am I really proud of my country, or am I just happy that the group of footballers that the place of my birth has associated me with just did a one-upper over another team? I don't know how loyalty and patriotism can be measured, but I sure know that when I was up in the grandstand together with 55 000 comrades in red, screaming myself hoarse, joining in the Kallang roar, feeling an immense sense of pride when Mhd Ridhuan was substituted and came to our side of the stadium to applaud us fans en route to the dressing room and belting out the National Anthem at a decibel level far higher than that during morning assembly since time millenia that that was the closest I have come, to being proud of my nation, regardless of the actual result. My heart swelled. Is that enough to be considered patriotic?
The sense of unadulterated euphoria in that split second that saw the Malaysian net bulge as Ridhuan equalized was uncomprehensible and if channelled properly could light up the city for a year. I don't even remember the details of how the goal was actually scored, but when I turned and looked at Liz next to me, and Ethan and Seow on the other side, together with the rest of the stadium going ballistic, I knew it was something special.Is it possible to feel the same way about Singapore in any other setting? I honestly cannot answer. But to be there, to be there for your country, to read in the newspapers this morning how grateful the coach and players were that the fans went down, that we were their 12th man stirs up a sense of pride that cannot be replicated elsewhere. You thought that your support for your nation could make the difference. You were willing to be there, on the frontlines for your country. National Service anyone?
I realize, that something has been laid to rest. Grievance at how ungracious our society is, unhappiness at the lack of political freedom here, disgust at the xenophilia of our countrymen etc etc all took a back seat as I can after those three hours at the National Stadium say that I was proud to be Singaporean, and just like Winston Smith did in the Chestnut Tree Cafe say that I truly loved Singapore.
Boleh.
Delivered at 8:52 PM;
KENNETH
Name:Slumber
Born:16th August
FANCIES
Him.K.anglo-chinese.music for the passionate.marvel.gunners.
Orange.debate.
long bus rides armed with an eye and a pod.74.
philosophizing.dystopia.
coffee.Rove.Health.Famary.
Buddies.
writing.1984.
expression.Italian food.
journeys.teh-peng.
stream of consciousness.
witty play on words.musing.
accents.the heartrands.performing.
being a closet connossieur.
a point of view.vigorous
interaction with spherical objects.
irony&pathos.yum.
JS.spirit.a girl that would smile