6 thoughts on Singapore's 60th National Day 🇸🇬🎇

08/08/2025

Tomorrow marks 60 years of independence for Singapore. In comparison to many other countries, 6 decades of history might not seem like much — but it is not nothing!

Here are 6 thoughts that come to mind on the eve of National Day:

1. While I have my fair share of gripes, having travelled and lived overseas, I've never really felt at home anywhere else but here. It's probably a mix of people, food and language.
2. Handwringing and cynicism are easy, but they end in paralysis. Hope and action are harder, more radical — but they're the only way real change begins.
3. Every generation thinks the generations before and after it had or have it easy. This has always been the case. So rather than put much weight on that, we should instead leverage the unique strengths of each generation.
4. Diplomacy is a tricky balance — you need give other countries reasons to befriend you, and just as many reasons not to challenge you.
5. I hold fearmongering (explicit or implicit) in low regard. At the same time, the ostrich effect is real. We still need to ask ourselves: how do we not go down the path of Venice, Genoa, Malacca and other once-prosperous city states?
6. Whatever got us to SG60, won't get us to SG70. (Let alone SG90 or 100.) The low-hanging fruit has been plucked. As individuals, groups, communities, and as a nation, we need to be dream big, act boldly, and create our own opportunities.