Being Singaporean

In today’s fast-changing world, what does national identity mean? And on the nation’s 60th year of independence, what are the things that conflict with being Singaporean?

Singaporean comedian Rishi Budhrani trades punchlines for probing questions in this series, as he embarks on a year-long quest, speaking to experts and diverse Singaporeans to find out what ‘being Singaporean’ means.

Along the way, Rishi learns from a CNA-IPS study on national identity that the top four factors that conflict with being Singaporean are: socioeconomic status, race, not serving National Service and country of birth. How do these factors conflict with our national identity and why? And despite all these differences, do we have enough similarities to still call ourselves Singaporean?