We told Kai about our Singapore Pledge that we recite daily before lessons begin daily even to this day. I told Kai that it is important to have this pledge to unite the different races together in Singapore.
I explained to Kai how this pledge came about during the tranbulent period in Singapore's History where there was racial unrest and lots of riots that it became unsafe to walk on the street after a certain hour. There were alot of doubts about the different races and alot of fight as well. And told him about the origin of the pledge written during the period between 1950s and 1960s. The pledge was written by
Mr S Rajaratnam who penned down the dream of building "a Singapore we are proud of". He believed that language, race and religion were divisive factors, but the Pledge emphasises that these differences can be overcome if Singaporeans cared enough about their country. The draft text was handed to the then Prime Minister Mr Lee Kuan Yew, who polished the text before submitting it to the Cabinet.
And I thought Kai our pledge in English. I told him that in the past when I was still in school, we recite the different language pledge on different day of the week.
I explained to Kai how this pledge came about during the tranbulent period in Singapore's History where there was racial unrest and lots of riots that it became unsafe to walk on the street after a certain hour. There were alot of doubts about the different races and alot of fight as well. And told him about the origin of the pledge written during the period between 1950s and 1960s. The pledge was written by
Mr S Rajaratnam who penned down the dream of building "a Singapore we are proud of". He believed that language, race and religion were divisive factors, but the Pledge emphasises that these differences can be overcome if Singaporeans cared enough about their country. The draft text was handed to the then Prime Minister Mr Lee Kuan Yew, who polished the text before submitting it to the Cabinet.
And I thought Kai our pledge in English. I told him that in the past when I was still in school, we recite the different language pledge on different day of the week.
Our Pledge
We, the citizens of Singapore,
pledge ourselves as one united people,
regardless of race, language or religion,
to build a democratic society
based on justice and equality
so as to achieve happiness, prosperity and
progress for our nation.
Different Languages Translation
IKRAR KITA
(Malay Translation)
Kami, warganegara Singapura,
sebagai rakyat yang bersatu padu,
tidak kira apa bangsa, bahasa, atau ugama,
berikrar untuk membina suatu masyarakat yang demokratik,
berdasarkan kepada keadilan dan persamaan untuk mencapai kebahagiaan,
kemakmuran dan kemajuan bagi negara Kami.
We are not expecting Kai to be able to sing the national anthem well and remember the whole pledge. As we go along, we will continue to practise with him so that he will be able to sing the anthem well and recite the pledge understanding the meaning well. And one thing we are glad is that Kai has a fair mixed of friends from the different races and he enjoys their company.
No comments:
Post a Comment