By Ng Yi Shu

Tired of uncles nagging you and the government in Hong Lim Park?

Several young Singaporeans decided to get together and organise a community picnic at the Asian Civilisations Museum yesterday.

Calling the event “more than a miracle”, Stand Up for Our Singapore (Stand Up) volunteers, dressed in red, helped to set up the various booths around the lawn and explain what the event was about to the public.

About 400 people attended the event. Participants interacted with a mutual stranger with the aid of conversational prompts such as ‘Share an act of kindness that a stranger did for you that touched you a lot.”

So what’s the event about?

“What we’re about is about showing that there are alternative ways to expressing our concern for Singapore,” said organiser Wally Tham, who works as a director at Big Red Button.“We explore themes of how Singapore can be great… how Singapore can be resilient.”

The movement has had different themes throughout its various editions – but it is generally premised upon spreading an alternative response of positivity and goodwill to Singapore through its events.

This is the movement’s fourth edition. Stand Up organised three events previously – on National Day 2012, when volunteers gave out flyers exhorting graciousness on public transport; on Christmas Day 2012, where messages of appreciation was sent out by the public to bus drivers, and on Labour Day 2013, when a community picnic was held at Hong Lim Park.

The organisers – (clockwise from top) Wally Tham (center, holding camera), Tong Yee, Wu Xinyan and Scott Lai (center)

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The organisers received nearly no official funding, except for the first edition, where the National Youth Council supported the movement with a $3,000 Young ChangeMakers grant. That was not enough to cover the costs however; Stand Up’s events have usually incurred an average cost of around $9,000 – $12,000.

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Said Wally Tham, “(The organisers) see ourselves as very much embedded in Singapore… and when we see sentiment moving this other way, where folks are just angry and folks are being mean, and it almost becomes the only mode of emotion, we feel we have to stand up and say ‘No! There is another way… this is not the only perspective on this matter.’”

The theme this year is gratitude – gratitude to people in service to Singapore. “The event today is our effort to acknowledge the people we have never met, but are simply grateful for anyway,” the organisers wrote in a letter given out to all participants.

“I think… the narrative of gratitude that’s a very important thing to have other people hear… whether it spreads or whether people believe it or not I’m not really sure… but I do know that it’s a very valuable message,” Tong Yee said.

Messages of gratitude to various people of different occupations hang from one side of the lawn.

The organisers added that they intend to have similar events in the heartlands.

On why the organisers chose the slogan ‘More than a Miracle’, Tong said, “we just felt that the Singapore Miracle story has served its purpose… beyond the miracle, the next generation needs another narrative. ‘More than a Miracle’ is about what happens internally (within us) – what we do to continue our sustainability.’

The organisers and participants have different views about what a new narrative for Singapore should be. Heidi Mah, a volunteer, said that she would want people to step out of their own box and express their love for their country. “We are now more stable, (yet) people are getting more discouraged… and I feel that amongst us all there are people who trust and truly love the nation,” she says.

Wu Xinyan, one of the organisers, said that she would stand for the diversities that Singapore represents. “We have several cultures all melding into one, and that makes us distinctly special – and I think that’s something worth celebrating.”

Photos by Ng Yi Shu

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