| |
QUANZHOU, Fujian Province: Quanzhou municipality in Fujian Province has a long historical link with Singapore.
Among what is now known as the original wave of migrants, many are from Quanzhou.
During his visit to the city, Singapore Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong said Singaporeans must maintain their ancestral links, even if they pledged loyalty to the island republic now.
Quanzhou municipality in Fujian Province has a population of 7.9 million people. And more than a million Chinese Singaporeans can trace their roots to this city.
Quanzhou and Singapore enjoy good ties, with more than 270 Singapore-investment projects here totalling $960 million.
To show their appreciation, Quanzhou Party Secretary Xu Gang hosted Senior Minister Goh to lunch and a special Quanzhou marionette show.
Enroute to Fuzhou, Mr Goh has the opportunity to visit his ancestral home in Yongchun County.
His father was only eight years old when he arrived in Singapore, and Mr Goh said that he is a second generation Singaporean. Mr Goh said Singapore is a unique country and we must not sever any ancestral links we have with other countries.
Mr Goh was greeted with much fanfare in the village. He met his distant relatives and was even shown the house where his father was born.
Mr Goh said: "I thought it is important first of all for us to know where our ancestral origin would be, in my case, my ancestral home is in Yongchun, in a small village called Wu Ling. It is in a way humbling to know that my origin was that humble, in a small village in a small room that my father was born, in some unknown place in a county in China."
And having ancestral links with other countries is common for Singaporeans. After all Singapore was built by immigrants.
Singapore, being such a small country, will continue to welcome immigrants but Mr Goh said the island-city must be selective.
He said: "We just can't open our floodgates to all and sundry and Singapore will be overwhelmed. But selectively, we should choose the right people to come to Singapore to help contribute to Singapore - that is key. If they can contribute to Singapore, then they should be welcomed."
Mr Goh also said that Singapore Permanent Residents have every right to participate in the National Day parades of their country of origin. However, once they become Singapore citizens, their loyalties should lie with Singapore.
Mr Goh said: ".. once a person becomes a Singapore citizen, we do not expect him or her to go and march in (the) other country's parade because he has decided that this new country will be the one that (he is) going to be loyal to.
"But that does not mean you should cut ties with the country of origin. We encourage Singaporeans to, in fact, try and establish a link but remembering that you are Singaporean with your ancestral countries, then we are part of a larger whole." - CNA/ms
|
