Yes, indeed ... what does it mean to us all?
Lets hear from all of you...
Personally, I say it should be one star less.. the one that
represents Democracy...
======================================
What does our flag mean to
you?
By Ng Tze Yong
July 27, 2007
THIS National Day, do a little test.
A. Recite the pledge fully.
B. Explain the crescent moon, stars and colours of the national
flag.
Can you?
You might say: The schoolday mornings of mumbling the pledge
half-asleep, watching the flag inch its way up the pole, are a long
way behind me.
But come on, you know thatâs no excuse.
This year, we turn 42.
Not old for a nation?
Weâre in the coming-of-age, stay-out-late teenage years of
nationhood.
A new generation of Singaporeans has grown up, one with new
experiences and new visions.
Itâs also a generation thatâs sometimes not quite sure what
being Singaporean means.
So this National Day, we thought weâd give you readers a
challenge:
Can you interpret the flag and show us what it means to you?
Can you grasp the true meaning of the pledge and rewrite it in your
own words?
Show us what being Singaporean means to you.
You donât have to be a Shakespeare or Picasso to take part.
Weâre not looking for the best-rhyming pledge or the prettiest
flag.
Weâre looking for YOUR pledge, YOUR flag. Weâre looking for the
most meaningful ideas.
Look at the samples that we will show you over the next few days.
Get your creative juices flowing.
E-mail your ideas to [email protected] and you stand a chance to win a
Samsung E250 phone.
Weâre not, in any way, suggesting that itâs time to change the
flag or the pledge. We are asking you to examine what they mean to
you and share it with us.
At The New Paper, we like to do things differently.
Our hope is this.
That after this long hard look at the pledge and flag, youâll
come to appreciate how beautiful they really are.
Are you up to it?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My Flag
A flag of my imagination
Title: One
The single star represents unity. The nation's ideals have not
changed.
But instead of having five stars, the five corners of the single
star will represent democracy, peace, progress, justice and
equality.
The crescent moon that symbolises a young nation is represented by
the triangle pointing upwards (looking ahead).
Red is still used to symbolise universal brotherhood and equality
of man. White still signifies everlasting purity and virtue.
But in my design, the colours are reversed when you flip the flag
around.
Only when you see both sides of the flag do you realise that there
is an equal distribution of red and white.
For me, this symbolises creativity, which is so important for the
nation when moving into the future.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My pledge
LAWYER Adrian Tan found it a real challenge when asked to
reinterpret the pledge put together by the late S Rajaratnam in
today's context.
But he did come out with an original version that, in his words,
best explains the spirit of the former Deputy Prime Minister's
oath.
Explained Mr Tan: 'Mr Rajaratnam's pledge was simple yet elegant.
His theme was 'unity in diversity'.
'When he wrote it some 40 years ago, we were a very young nation.
We had many problems, the main one being that we were from
different races, languages and religions.
'The founding fathers were telling the people, through the pledge:
'We are different in how we look, speak and worship, but now we are
one country, so get your act together!'
'The diversity message is probably self-evident now. (In
reinterpreting it,) I wanted to capture the values of New
Singapore. I wanted to reflect our position in time and in the
world.
'We are no longer an immigrant society coming to grips with
statehood. We lead the world in many areas as a nation. We've
gained self-confidence, because we know we are good at some
things.
'On the other hand, we expect different things now. We are more
eager to talk about issues and have open debate.
'We prize transparency. We need to grow by becoming more inclusive.
We are becoming a more sophisticated society. That's the New
Singapore.'
