Singapore — On the morning of Singapore 56th National Day, Aug 9, MP Jamus Lim (Workers’ Party – Sengkang GRC) wrote in a Facebook post that he still remembers the first time he heard “Count on Me, Singapore,” the popular song first performed at the National Day Parade in 1986.
He also wrote that every time he hears it, he gets “a lump in my throat.”
Dr Lim, who is currently in the US “for family reasons,” was perhaps feeling nostalgic, maybe even a little homesick on National Day.
He wrote in his post that the unapologetically patriotic National Day songs “are one of the things that make us uniquely Singaporean.”
“Many remind us of how far we’ve come, of how much we’ve achieved as a nation. But they also reflect our shared culture and values; values that define who we are, what we believe, where we hope to be. While worded in song, they are also serious expressions of deeply-held meaning.”
However, he professed to not quite be as much of a fan as the more recent National Day Songs, except for “Home… in no small part because it echoes nostalgia.”
As for this year’s song, “The Road Ahead,” he wrote that unlike those that looked to the past, it looks forward to the future. “It speaks to resilience for the road ahead.”
“So wherever you may be this National Day, may you take a moment to reflect on the things that make Singapore home for you, and to be reminded of all that makes our Tiny Red Dot special. Happy 56th Birthday, Singapore,” wrote Dr Lim.
Commenters on his post echoed his sentiments.
“Count on Me Singapore is one song that has that special feel on me,” wrote one netizen.
Another wrote that being Singaporean “isn’t just a citizenship status, it’s about those who choose to stay, choose to serve, choose to trust, during such adversity and tough times”.
In another post, Dr Lim took the unusual step of giving a shout-out to a t-shirt initiative from Apparels Art because of a shirt that reads “My cockles seek warmth”
The Sengkang MP posted photos of two adorable children in the shirts, writing that he has been “somehow been irrevocably associated with” the word “cockles,” as he had made the expression famous during GE2020, (so famous, or the opposite, that he said he was banned from using the word in Sengkang).
Profits from the sale of the shirt go toward a program for special-needs youth run by YMCA of Singapore, he added.
As for Apparels Art, the company made reference to Dr Lim, writing in a Facebook post, “At last year’s Singapore general election, local MP #jamus https://www.instagram.com/jamuslim/ went viral with his now-famous quote… and is forever associated with a certain shellfish.
Artist Pandemica has given a fun twist to the quote, for anyone with a love of cockles.”
/TISG
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