Travelling out of the country is a very common activity for most Singaporeans. In fact, Singapore is surrounded by Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei, it is quite common to make frequent trips to these countries. Many Singaporeans would have already got their passports from the day they were born. We had the benefit of visiting other countries even before we studied about them in our history lessons.

It came to me as a surprise therefore if any foreigner were to ask me where Singapore was.

1. “Is that Malaysia or Indonesia? ” “Do you know where these countries are?” I would ask them.  “Oh I heard about them on the news. The Tsunami, earthquakes and terrorist attacks.”

It was not only when we pointed out on a map where these places were, did it click in their minds which place we were referring to. “Oh so small!”

2. So how do you learn to speak English so well? That is because it is the langauge of instruction at schools.

3. This one surprises them more. “Why study English if it is not your native language.” Good point. Honestly I have no idea. I never had to think beyond the books. The best answer I could think of is to tell them the facts: That the National Language of Singapore is Malay, the State administration language is English, Singapore follows a parliamentary system and there are Chinese, Indians, Malays and Eurasians.

4. “That is interesting. So Singapore is not Malaysia but people from both countries speak Malay also. Indonesia is also close a neighbour of Singapore but people in Indonesia speak Bahasa Indonesia.”

Can you see how the topic of where Singapore is becomes a discussion of what Singapore is?

This ‘beat about the bush’ method to get to the answer often happens in conversations when people need to know explanations rather than just a simple answer.

Now that we have the internet and assuming it is also accessible, answering questions such as ‘Where is this place?” is no longer a problem.