Singapore celebrates its 57th National Day this month and there is no better way to commemorate this special event than by sharing stories of fellow citizens and residents who love Singapore. This year, our National Day editorial series feature three citizens and residents of the Lion City, who chose to relocate and make Singapore home.
We sat down to la kopi (chat over coffee in Singlish) with 59 year old Martin Foakes, Head of Outdoor Education at Tanglin Trust School, who has spent more than a decade in Singapore and is loving every inch of this tropical paradise. As a matter of fact, Martin, from the United Kingdom, knows the flora, fauna and the Lion City’s wildlife so well that many Singaporeans consider him as one of their own.
Read more about why Martin and his family decided to make Singapore their home.
SGLS: What is your “Singapore story”?
Martin: My Great Grandfather worked for Standard Chartered Bank and he brought my Great Grandmother and his daughter (my Grandmother) along with him. My Grandmother spent much of her childhood in China, returning to Europe on the trans Siberian railway around 1925. I have vivid memories of the artefacts she kept such as the tiny shoes from her Amahs’ bound feet, and exquisite silk mandarin coats. Her older brother (my Grand Uncle) Frank was a volunteer in the Malayan Reserves during the Fall of Singapore and he managed to escape by commandeering a Chinese vessel, which he used to get his crew safely to Australia.
After the war he returned to Malaya (which Singapore was part of until 1965) where my mother’s cousins David and John were born. David must have liked Singapore because he returned to teach at the National University of Singapore (NUS) in the 1960s.
Because of my familial connection to Asia, particularly Malaya, I got an inexplicable urge to try working in Asia in 1993 and landed my first teaching role in Hong Kong and later taught in Thailand and in Bali, Indonesia. I visited my relatives often in Singapore and when I was offered a job here, I grabbed the opportunity with both hands and moved my family here.
I’ve been here 11 years and feel very lucky to be living and working here. Singapore is a great place.
SGLS: What were some of the challenges you faced when you first moved to Singapore? How did you cope?
Martin: I’d learned from experience that visiting a country is always very different to actually living and working there. So although I’d been to Singapore several times before I didn’t really know what to expect and I wanted to keep an open mind. We were coming to Singapore straight from a year’s teaching at the Green School in Bali and four years in Thailand, so we knew it was going to be a completely different experience and I had to be very organised.
My daughters were just starting in junior school and my wife and I’d assumed that with such an excellent public transport system, getting to school would be very straightforward. On the first morning of school, it rained heavily so there were no taxis at all and I was horribly late for my first staff meeting – the principal was very nice about it but it wasn’t a great start to my new job. I ended up leasing a car to get to work easily. Since then, a new MRT station has opened up very near our home, and we figured out the bus routes and my daughters were able to travel quickly and independently to and from school. I guess one of the hardest things was adapting to a different and more hectic pace of life in Singapore. But I knew that things would settle down soon, I was lucky to have a very supportive employer who gave me time to get adjusted.
SGLS: Name three things you love most about Singapore.
Martin: Eleven years ago, our family arrived in Singapore just before National Day. It was wonderful to see how everyone got into the spirit of the celebrations, decorating their neighbourhood, draping red and white flags everywhere, songs of love for the country, and the impressive National Day Parade. I love the way Singaporeans take such great pride in the achievements and high status of this nation.
Another of my favourite things about this place is nature. I have been teaching Biology for over 30 years, and I still can’t quite believe that we have several families of otters, monitor lizards and all kinds of exotic snakes living wild in the city. I have always been an avid birdwatcher, and we are so lucky to have opportunities to learn more about nature on our doorstep through citizen science programmes organised by NParks, the Nature Society and other groups of nature enthusiasts.
My third choice for things I love about Singapore is the quality of the plumbing. In Asia it can be quite difficult to find a tap that doesn’t drip or wobble. Flimsy shower hoses and poorly connected blue plastic piping seems to be the norm in much of Southeast Asia. But I love the way that Singapore bathrooms fixtures (both public and private) are so sturdy and reliable. It’s not just that we have clean toilets in Singapore and they really do work! And that’s something to be very proud of!
SGLS: What are your hopes and dreams for Singapore?
Martin: Once I was invited to the wedding of a colleague who had also worked in Hong Kong. At the wedding dinner I sat at a table with several Singaporean couples. During the first course, the gentleman sitting on my left asked me if I thought Singapore was a better place to live as compared to Hong Kong.
I must have given him the right answer because he nodded and smiled warmly – after all i had evidently decided that Singapore was where i wanted to be. But throughout the rest of the evening, one by one, every single person at the table asked me exactly the same question! The longer I stay here, the more i think that it’s a question that simply doesn’t need to be asked.
Singapore has proved itself many times over. The past two years have been incredibly difficult for everyone, and every country has had to find its own way to respond to the pandemic. I don’t think any one country has come up with the perfect response, but I do know that Singapore has shown itself to be a highly respected city-state that punches above its weight in almost every aspect.
I love the way this country uses science and intelligence to make strong decisions for the benefit of everyone. At the same time, when the situation changes, being able to adjust course quickly is just as important.
My hope is that Singapore continues to offer a safe, forward thinking place that values the contribution of every single one of its citizens and residents.
Majulah Singapura!
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