The world admired the way the Americans picked themselves up after the Sept 11 attacks in 2001. The tragedy pulled them together like nothing since World War II.

On display was the American spirit at its finest: the construction worker and firefighter who pitched in to clear the rubble at Ground Zero; the student and Wall Street type who wrapped themselves in the American flag, lined the streets and let out loud, jubilant cheers of “Thank you!” as each fire truck and rescue vehicle passed them by.

On show, too, was the American attitude – the can-do, in-your-face gumption.

Ditto the Britons when the London Tube was hit by a series of coordinated bomb blasts in July 2005.

Singaporeans, too, when put to the test, have shown the Singapore Spirit.

In 2003, when the nation – and its stricken economy – rallied to battle the outbreak of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars), then-prime minister Goh Chok Tong described a “national spirit” he said he had never seen before.

“Our country bonded with stout hearts, tenacity and determination. Sars did not break Singapore,” Mr Goh said in his National Day Rally speech.

That never-say-die attitude was also noted when everyone pulled together as a nation to weather the economic downturn in the late 1990s, the recession in the 1980s and the double-digit inflation in the 1970s.

More recently, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has drawn on that spirit in describing how the nation reached out to the victims of the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004.

“It’s a spirit which will hold us together as one united people, each one doing his part, each one contributing to remaking our nation and building our home and, together, we will make it a vibrant, global city called home,” he said in his National Day Rally speech the following year.

That spirit is more than just the sum of Singaporean characteristics – the tendency to queue, the Singlish, or the penchant to complain “when the bus doesn’t come, when the taxis don’t come, about rising prices, and everything else”, as observed by 45-year-old taxi driver Vikram Pilai.

It is also more than the fixation on being No. 1 – first, best, state-of-the-art. What the Singapore Spirit captures is the nation’s resilience, its can-do attitude, and the will to build a nation where there was none.

It alludes to the ways in which the nation has tried to excel, and what drives it. And it is these characteristics that likely inspired the theme for the nation’s 43rd National Day Parade on Aug 9 – Celebrating the Singapore Spirit.

Starting tomorrow, and each Friday leading up to National Day, The Straits Times will showcase various facets of that Singapore Spirit, and reveal how it presents itself – both within the birthday bash of the year, and in Singaporeans’ everyday lives.

 

Your Say: The Singapore Spirit is...

“It is about being small...yet knowing we have something to be proud of: Our status as mediator, as the voice of reason or empathy. Witness the way we so readily extended help to Myanmar and China. We’re small, but we have a heart, and we have the power and will to back that heart.” MS YVONNE POON, 20, undergraduate, National University of Singapore (NUS)
“It is our indomitable will and desire to get what we want, for better or for worse.” MR KELVIN GOH, 27, undergraduate, London School of Economics
“When everyone takes pride in looking after the other during times of need. There’s also the constant obsession with food and wanting to try as many new things as possible, like bubble tea and the Singapore Flyer.” MISS BRINTHA ANNE LOGANATHAN, 20, undergraduate, NUS
“When the chips are down, we never give up. Whether it’s climbing Mount Everest or the increasing cost of living, we just dig in deeper.” MADAM TAN YAN YOKE, 57, housewife
“When everyone is singing the National Anthem at the National Day Parade...When you do the Kallang Wave and Kallang Roar with pride. Kiasu-ism is also uniquely Singaporean – when you see people camp overnight just to get tickets or to buy a house or, worse, to get their hands on Hello Kitty toys.” MR MOHAMMAD AZHAR TALIB, 33, multimedia specialist
“The Singapore Spirit encompasses the tenacity to overcome setbacks, and the will to persevere and succeed...the essence of our distinctive Singaporean character.” DEFENCE MINISTER TEO CHEE HEAN
“When the going gets tough and the odds are against us, Singaporeans will band together and stand up against any odds to pursue their dreams.” MR TEO SER LUCK, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Community Development, Youth and Sports, and Transport