Singapore National Pledge

The Singapore National Pledge is an oath of allegiance to Singapore. It is commonly recited by Singaporeans in unison at public events, especially in schools, in the Singapore Armed Forces and during the National Day Parade.

In October 1965, Mr William Cheng, Principal Assistant Secretary of Administration of the Ministry of Education, mooted the idea of a pledge to inculcate national consciousness and patriotism in schools. The idea gained the support of then Minister for Education, Mr Ong Pang Boon, who gave the task of drafting the pledge to Mr Philip Liau, Advisor on Textbooks and Syllabuses, and Mr George Thomson, Director of the Political Study Centre.

Mr Ong sent the two drafts to the late Mr S. Rajaratnam, then Minister for Foreign Affairs, for his comments. After that, the draft underwent another round of revisions by Ministry officials as well as then Prime Minister Mr Lee Kuan Yew before submission to the Cabinet for final approval.

From August 1966 onwards, students began reciting the National Pledge before the start of each school day. As not many schools then had open areas for morning assemblies, the Pledge was initially recited mainly in classrooms. Since then, the National Pledge has been recited during National Day occasions, the National Day Parade and school assemblies. The original English text was also translated into Chinese, Malay and Tamil.

According to the late Mr S. Rajaratnam, the Pledge emerged against the backdrop of a vital struggle to forge a sense of nationhood and build “a Singapore we are proud of”. He believed that language, race and religion were potentially divisive factors and used the Pledge to emphasise that these differences could be overcome if Singaporeans were united in their commitment to the country.

The National Pledge is:

We, the citizens of Singapore, pledge ourselves as one united people, regardless of race, language or religion, to build a democratic society, based on justice and equality, so as to achieve happiness, prosperity and progress for our nation.

Kami, warganegara Singapura,
sebagai rakyat yang bersatu padu,
tidak kira apa bangsa, bahasa, atau agama, untuk membina suatu masyarakat yang demokratik,
berdasarkan keadilan dan kesaksamaan
demi mencapai kebahagiaan,
kemakmuran dan kemajuan bagi negara kami.

我们是新加坡公民，
誓愿不分种族、言语、宗教，团结一致，
建设公正平等的民主社会，
并为实现国家之幸福、繁荣与进步，共同努力！

我們是新加坡公民，
誓願不分種族、言語、宗教，團結一致，
建設公正平等的民主社會，
並為實現國家之幸福、繁榮與進步，共同努力！

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Wikipedia