Singaporeans’ interpretation of their national character is essentially “negative”, a sentiment which is… felt deeply. This attitude was expressed well in a letter to the editor of the Straits Times penned by Mark Wong (2008), who differentiated between “Singaporeans” and “Singapore
citizens”, suggesting that there are two kinds of Singaporeans. Wong intended to make a distinction between those who had only recently immigrated to Singapore and those who had been living in the city-state for a long time. He claimed that the “real Singaporeans” differed from the “newcomers” in the following ways:

They had friends who participated in National Service.

They had friends who struggled through the education system.

They ate, celebrated, learned, and suffered together, as well as they served, and were being served by other Singaporeans.

While the author does mention celebrating, the clear emphasis is on negative experiences like suffering and struggling. Only those who have grown up in Singapore and thus have had a similar overwhelmingly negative experience of life can qualify as true Singaporeans. While rejecting new members of the nation is contrary to the idea of a civic identity, in the Singaporean context newcomers first need to adapt to this Singapore “way of life”, which may take a generation to achieve.