Majulah, Singapura

“Majulah, Singapura” – that’s what I grew up hearing my classmates from 5^th grade onwards chanting alongside singing “The Star Spangled Banner.” Both of these songs were alien to me when I lived in Manila, Philippines, where all we sang was “Bayang Magiliw” and some folk songs. What do these songs have to do with one another, and with this altarpiece? They are all the national anthems of places I’ve lived in, which are also the cultures that shaped who I am today. Yes, cities, countries and the travel between them are what are important to me, and that is what this is about.


As I grew up in Singapore, items from Singapore have the most quantity in my a ltar, whereas items from The Philippines (where I’m ethnically from) and America (where I am now, of course) have the lowest quantity; these reflect the amount of influence each location has given to me. The food items on top of the box are two things in Singapore that I could not leave without: pork floss and chili sauce from my favourite Chinese restaurant. These items rest on the first package that my mother sent to me from Singapore containing even more food. The sunglasses reflect Singapore’s nickname, “Sunny Singapore” because it is summer all year there – with the occasional tropical storm. At the base of the box behind the frame is my wallet from Singapore, along with a dollar bill and my high school ID cards. The outlets and power strips have three prongs, and are the same ones I used when I was back home. I didn’t think that the power outlets here would be as different from Singaporean ones as they are, so I brought them with me – only to discover that they were useless and that I needed a universal adaptor (seen in the wall outlet). Behind the power strip is my Philippine passport from when I lived in The Philippines, along with my last Singaporean phone. In front of the frame is my most recent passport, which I used to travel to my current location in Chicago, Illinois. It contains my school VISA and a few travel documents I need to stay in the country. Next to it is an inkpad, representing part of my immigration process, as the US Embassy in Singapore needed to take my fingerprints for their records. In front of that is a pen, once again a part of my immigration process from Singapore the USA. Scattered across the floor are coins from all three locations: Singapore, The Philippines and the USA, falling from my wallet behind the frame (representing Asia) and in front of it in the open space (representing the USA). The gloves at the very front of the altar represent my current position: gloves were never a part of my permanent wardrobe while I was in Asia, so the transition to a climate that changes seasonally has affected me.

All of these items, however, rest on a piece of fabric that I have had since the first week of classes at SAIC, which I am slowly working with to create a Singaporean flag. The crescent moon and five stars are a part of this flag. The reason everything rests on the flag is because Singapore is where I feel is my home, even if I am from The Philippines and lived here for the first ten years of my life. The top of the frame has the Singapore national anthem written on a piece of glass (in it's original form of Malay), reinforcing my connection with the city-state.

“Majulah, Singapora” – Onward, Singapore.