Tongue in Cheek=Thorn in Flesh?

Tin's blog had this song:

Sing to "We are Singapore"There was a time when Richard saidThat TT Durai didn't do it, but he did
There was a time when Richard said That NKF didn't do it, but they did
They built NKF, strong and rich, reaching out together
For more and more money

Chorus 1:
It is our money, it is our blood,
It is our kindness, it is our tears,
Don't take our money, to be your bonus
Don't cheat Singapore, Singaporeans

Tin felt that, though creative it is inappropriate because it is a national song. i disagree. i am of the opinion that a matured people, a matured society is one that doesn't take itself too seriously and can laugh at itself.

have you heard the things that the brits and americans do to their own national anthems? and yet, they still sing their own national anthems with such pride when the occassion calls for it. why? because their pride is something that is so ingrained in their collective psyche that it is almost innate in each of their individual nature and so parodies of their national anthems are seen as superficial jokes and they don't lose sleep over it.

so the issue is not whether people write parodies of our national song, but whether, despite of all these tongue in cheek fun, do people fundamentally have pride in their nation such that we are willing to sing these songs, at the appropriate occassions, with pride and gusto?

the same goes for racial harmony. as Cherian George writes in "The Air-Conditioned Nation":
"With Singapore becoming more cosmopolitan and porous to information and influence, multi-racialism can only be sustained if it is embedded in the instincts of each individual, rather than imposed by authority."

is pride in being Singaporean embedded in the instincts of each Singaporean? do we, at the bottom of our hearts, love Singapore? if we do, then we should be able to make fun of ourselves and not let such superficial jesting get to us.