Citizenship Day to mark shared national identity?

I refer to the above article ‘Citizenship Day to mark shared national identity?’ In the article, it was said that Singapore might have its own Citizenship Day soon – introduced to all citizens in order to celebrate a common identity as Singaporeans. It would serve as a day to celebrate its citizens coming together as a community, as said by Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng. The purpose of this day is to integrate immigrants into our society.

Yes, such a day would indeed be helpful to support and encourage immigrants into integrating into society, narrowing down differences of each and every one of us, as said by Mr Wong. Integrating everybody into our environment is essential for improving the lives of the citizens, and everyone would benefit from it. As stated, events can be organized to promote interaction between new citizens and native – such that we can remove stereotypes and prejudices.

Personally, I agree that efforts should be done to narrow down differences between citizens. From the point of view as a citizen of Singapore, I would think that such efforts would pay off, as the public knows how important a democratic society is. Moreover, we know full well that we depend on our economic for our country’s growth and any commotion would bring the country’s economic to a standstill. Introducing new talents and allowing them to integrate into our society would definitely be beneficial to everybody as the economics continues improving. Peace and harmony would also stay due to the good human relationship with one another – a pleasant outcome desired by most of us.

However, we should also take into account of the mindset of the immigrants not familiar to Singapore. Rushing these plans might put these immigrants off from our society too, resulting in backfiring of plans. We should let them fit into our culture slowly and comfortably to prevent them from feeling repulsive. We must take into account that time is needed to adapt to a new environment and rushing would only worsen the situation. As seen from situations in Australia, the forcing of citizens to give up their culture and fitting into their own unique culture definitely backfired as racial tension is still observed within communities. In conclusion, I feel that plans should be taken but should be implemented to fit the lives of the new immigrants so as to let them have more space and time into integrating into our society. Citizens would definitely approve it in order to create a more harmonious society. I feel that the main purpose should be promoting the good relations within the society as that would also bring in good economy for Singapore.