A few people have asked if I would take up Japanese citizenship, which is to say, give up my Singapore citizenship since dual citizenship is a nono for us. I spoke with a few friends who are living overseas on that topic and only 1 friend has that strong resolution to give up his red passport. While getting a Permanent Resident (PR) status in Japan may be difficult, naturalization appears to be much easier. The only requirement is to have been here for a minimum of 5 years. That friend has been here for 5 years now, 4 of which was spent as a college student which apparently does not count towards the 5 years, so he’s still got another 5 years to go.
For me, however, holding the Singapore passport provides too many benefits that I cannot give up for now—or rather, don’t want to give up. But when I arrive at this point, sometimes I feel pity that the only reason I want to keep my citizenship is for the benefits and not for patriotism. I wonder where that has gone if it had, as I believe, existed in the first place. I guess that’s the fruit of our pragmatic upbringing.
Hmm, that is true. If I was asked that question, I would have to take sometime to think about it seriously… I guess mainly to weigh the pros and cons and own personal objectives….. Tough decision….
Aye. I’m sry that my comment came 1 year + too late, but you’ve said it yourself once: http://gaijinhan.wordpress.com/2012/10/04/thank-god-im-singaporean/
I’m pretty sure that if anyone went ahead and called singapore something that you didnt agree with, you’d probably have pounced on them /defended your opinion on singapore, because it’s something that has no reason, and is from the bottom of your heart. So, I guess what I’m trying to say is that, it’s not that we dont have a sense of patriotisim , but perhaps we overlooked it .
Just found ur blog when i was doing a search about the possibilities of a japanese n singaporean dual citizenship.. Bf is a japanese n i m from singapore, he was telling me tt japan govt gives all children of japanese descent japanese citizenship even if they were not born in japan. I was telling him tt to hold onto a singapore citizenship requires one to renounce other citizenships tt one used to have. I agree with u that holding onto a singapore citizenship / passport has more pragmatic benefits and nth else stems from having pride in our nationality n country after all majority of the singaporeans are just whinnera n r ungrateful abt wat the govt has done for them esp those who have never really travelled and live in other parts of the world for longer durations.