My Home Singapore

Every year on August 9, Singaporeans celebrate National Day. It's Singapore's 45th birthday today. And I dedicate this blog post for Singapore's special day.

Singapore has certainly come a long way to become a successful and vibrant city, where 5 million people call home. Unlike many other countries, Singapore is lack of natural resources, yet through hard work, it is today one of the best places in the world to live and work.

After World War II, the colonial powers were almost brought to their knees. The United Kingdom, for example, relied heavily on loans from the United States to rebuild its infrastructure. The race for world dominance was foolish and futile, but WWII did not prevent further hostility. The Cold War came and went, and we saw people divided, setting up their fellow citizens as enemies, and killing each other. In Southeast Asia, we witnessed the brutality of the Vietnam War and the Khmer Rouge massacre right at our doorsteps, and the waves of boat people which follow. We saw people being driven out of their countries and became refugees in foreign lands, homeless.

These were the early days of Singapore, a time of uncertainties and great challenges. It was under such difficult circumstances that Singapore was granted independence from Britain.

Singapore started with little from the former colonial master, there was inadequate housing, many issues like water supply, public health, transportation needed urgent attention. The nation solved all these problems, and grew its population to the current size of 5 million. It truly is the pride of all Singaporeans.

Happy Birthday, Singapore.