AS A person who was born in Connecticut (not far from Yale University) but is now a Singaporean, I wish to express my dismay over the resolution by some members of the university’s faculty (‘Yale to proceed with NUS college tie-up’; last Saturday).
If the resolution was right, I would not have made Singapore my home, much less become a citizen and assimilate by actively participating in grassroots matters.
One attribute I have long admired about Singapore is that there is genuine respect for and guarantee of certain fundamental human rights, which I found lacking in my birthplace.
Specifically, the right to walk the streets and live safely in my home, free from the fear of being shot by any of the more than 200 million firearms that Americans own, or attacked in some other heinous way; I have enjoyed these rights for the past 35 years in Singapore.
Another is the virtual absence of any overt racialistic or religious intolerance, thanks to cultural norms and strict laws that protect religious and ethnic rights.
Third, the grinding poverty in many so-called ‘First World societies’ is almost unheard of here. Where poverty does exist, there is recourse via governmental and non-governmental bodies.
Finally, and by no means least important, this country is blessed with good governance, integrity and public service, while eschewing the extremes of more ‘democratic’ societies that are so polarised that little or nothing gets done to help the less fortunate.
Those at Yale who wish to indulge in uninformed cultural imperialism should bear in mind that it is not just the Republic that stands to benefit from this union, but America as well, as it takes a leaf out of Singapore’s book in the realisation that perhaps we, too, are doing something right that is worthy of emulation.
Michael Rebaczonok-Padulo
Hey what's the age limit on being a member of Young PAP these days?
