To all Singaporeans, past and present 致所有过去或现在的新加坡人

The following is a posting that is circulating in the social media and addressed to all Singaporeans, past and present. No one is claiming ownership of this posting that begins with these words “Whoever wrote this post deserves a medal.” There are some interesting points that we can discuss after we have read the content of this post.

以下是在社交媒体上流传的帖子，发给过去和现在的所有新加坡人。没有人声称拥有这篇帖子的所有权. 但是写这篇文章的人应该可以获得奖章。在阅读完这篇文章的内容后，我们可以讨论一些有趣的观点。

“We are a little dot that cannot be found on most versions of the world map. The sooner we can learn not to take sides and stay neutral, the better and wiser we would be.

“我们是在大多数版本的世界地图上找不到的一个小点。我们越早学会不偏袒并保持中立，我们就会变得更好和更明智。

“Feeling enraged and wanting to right a wrong personally is a virtue, but is there a need to decide this on behalf of the entire Singapore population?

“感到愤怒并想亲自纠正错误是一种美德，但有必要代表整个新加坡人民来决定吗？

“It was not too long ago that we also supported the invasion of Iraq, Afghanistan, Lybia, Syria … … … and how had all that turned out for Singapore and Singaporeans?

“不久前，我们还支持入侵伊拉克、阿富汗、利比亚、叙利亚…………对新加坡和新加坡人的结果如何？

“Did any of our leaders who made that decision apologised, felt sorry, or contributed their life-savings to compensate for the losses and the sufferings of the people in those countries? So, we are like the USA, simply brushing off as mistakes, as wrong information supplied by the CIA.

“做出这一决定的我们的领导人有没有道歉、感到抱歉或贡献了他们的生命来弥补那些国家人民的损失和痛苦吗？所以，我们就像美国一样，只是把错误视为中央情报局提供的错误信息。

“Our Ministers made us feel very good about ourselves, destroying another country because we thought that it was right at that time.

“我们的部长们让我们对自己感觉很好，摧毁了另一个国家，因为我们当时认为这是对的。

“Singaporeans are peace loving people, kind at heart, and mostly very generous. We are sure that we empathise with Ukrainians.

“新加坡人热爱和平，心地善良，而且大多非常慷慨。我们确信我们对乌克兰人表示同情。

“But, as a dot on the map, we would rather our government be smarter and not louder, and be observant and to learn more than just being too quick to pass a judgment.

“但是，作为地图上的一个点，我们宁愿我们的政府更聪明而不是更响亮，并且要善于观察和学习，而不是太快做出判断。

“We like to send love and well wishes to the people of Ukraine. We would also like to apologise to the people of Russia for the folly of our government. We do sincerely hope that the differences in opinions can be resolved soon.

“我们想向乌克兰人民送去爱和祝福。我们也想为我们政府的愚蠢行为向俄罗斯人民道歉。我们真诚地希望意见分歧能够尽快得到解决。

“We would also like to tell our Foreign Minister that, being the first in ASEAN to shout the loudest in sanctions of Russia, scores few points but instead showed inexperience in dealing with other countries. Russia is not a small rock in an ocean. Russia is not another Pritam Singh that can be bullied without some serious consequences.

“我们还想告诉我们的外长，作为东盟第一个对俄罗斯制裁的呼声最高的国家，得分很少，但在与其他国家打交道时却表现出缺乏经验。俄罗斯不是大海中的一块小石头。俄罗斯不是另一个可以被欺负而不会造成严重后果的普里塔姆·辛格。

“Before the announcement of any heroic sanctions, please spare a second or two on the possible repercussions. Think of the Singaporeans doing business with Russia. Think if the many Singaporeans - students and travellers who are currently in Russia or in Ukraine. Their lives might be in danger if the sanctions cause a drift in Singapore’s relationship with Russia.

“在宣布任何英勇的制裁之前，请花一两秒钟时间讨论可能产生的影响。想想新加坡人与俄罗斯做生意。想想许多新加坡人——目前在俄罗斯或乌克兰的学生和旅行者。他们的生活可能如果制裁导致新加坡与俄罗斯的关系出现偏差，就会处于危险之中。

“Perhaps it may be better and more hopeful if we can spend more time and energy trying to make peace and to help evacuate Singaporeans and their family members from the war-torn countries.

“如果我们能花更多的时间和精力来实现和平，并帮助新加坡人及其家人从饱受战争蹂躏的国家撤离，也许会更好，更有希望。

“Please make Singapore a peace-loving country … … … not the other way round.”

“请让新加坡成为一个爱好和平的国家…………而不是相反。”