I think its about time

I am a Malaysian, born in Malaysia but brought up under the Singapore education system. On the surface, I'm no different from any other Singaporean. Sometimes, I can't tell the difference myself. But the question is: Is it necessary to differentiate and discriminate?

We are in the 21st Century where the world is our home and we are one huge potpourri of races, cultures and religion. Looking around my office, I have British, Australian, Mauritian, Indian, Filipino, Chinese and Indonesian colleagues, all working cohesively together and contributing to the Singapore society in more ways than one. My Indian born colleague Gopi was even recognized publicly with an award for doing his part for the community! Now how many of us can boast of that?

I feel, live and think like a Singaporean. When Feng Tian Wei delivered our silver medal in the match against South Korea's Park Mi Young, I choked. She became an instant national heroine, Singapore's heroine. She was trained on local grounds, mingled with local people, watched local television, breathe local air.........she IS local. So is Li Jia Wei. So is Wang Yue Gu. So are the rest of the foreigners working and living in Singapore.

I've heard one to many conversations about the paddlers being China imports and the medals are not truly "Singaporean". I think its about time we embrace and treat them as one of our own.