I think it’s apt that I write this entry today. It’s the nation’s birthday, and this entry will serve as a reminder to me when I look back upon Singapore Chapter 2.
I must remember that every country and culture has it’s pros and cons. It’s which cons one should live with, and which pros override the cons.
In Singapore, the following factors are standout:
1. Public safety – I can always catch a late train home without fear of being mugged by some hooligan.
2. Efficient public transport – whilst not as efficient as the MTR or the Japanese subways, it’s way better then what I had in Melbourne. But I’m splitting hairs here.
3. Less taxes – which means I earn alot more money here then in Australia. Although I’m reminded that houses and cars cost much more in Singapore as well.
4. Food – diverse cuisines. Hawker centre food is cheap although it’s about $3 – $3.50 these days. Eating at a food court is $5, excluding drinks. Drinks are $1.50 at least. In Melbourne we used to complain about food being expensive – roughly $11 per person per meal. But the portions in Melbourne are larger, and two can share a meal at Pacific House without spending > $20 AUD.
Although these days, if one were to eat at a mall, a standard meal would cost $10 per person, and this includes things such as Service Charges and GST. So it comes out to be about the same as Melbourne – but that’s if you don’t want to eat hawker centre food all the time.
Working life
The train. It’s so crowded in the mornings, people shove their way in and out of the doors. There is no let others out first, it’s ‘me-first’ to get an empty seat.
Culture:
It’s well known that the general Singaporean populace are rude, selfish and narrow minded. There is very little flexibility in procedures, and insufficient thought to creativity. Also because competitiveness is ingrained into much of the local populace, people here like comparing everything and the instinct to profile someone’s social stature and wealth based on jobs, schools, wealth, houses, car owned; becomes second nature to Singaporeans. I’m reminded of this because I never saw all this until I came back and it became very apparent. It’s not that western cultures don’t do that but I believe there is less a tendency to do that to people that they do not know well, and there’s more respect for privacy as well.
Time and time again, I’m reminded that they have very little situational awareness. Examples are pram pushing parents who stop in the narrow mall corridors, individuals who literally collide into you while walking simply because they’re not aware of their surroundings and fixated on getting to where they need to be. A symptom of a crowded city? Maybe. But generally, there is a lack of graciousness and compassion amongst Singaporeans, it’s all to do with ‘me first’. Why? Because ‘kiasu-ness’ and ‘kia-si-ness’ are programmed into our DNA since we were in school. Through our teachers (the mouth pieces of the SG govt), we are told often if we don’t study well, we’d fuck yourself in life and lose out to everyone else. And everyone believes that white collar jobs are the best earnings while blue collar jobs are frowned upon. From experience, yes it’s true a good education is a prelude to a stable thought process and mentality, however I’ve seen exceptions where education is not a proxy to a good life. We don’t have to talk about Steve Jobs or Bill Gates, lesser extremes have been seen.
There is still a lot of ‘Colonial mentality’ in this nation, even after 45 nations of independence from the British Empire. Those who have had a western education will know what I mean, but those who have been brought up all their lives in this country may not see past this. I may be generalising, but these are my observations. In this country, only the ‘Elite’ are rise above the common man, they are the ones that run the country, whilst the general population become the downtrodden, one that cannot see past the short term benefits and selfishness ingrained into their nature. I am reminded of my colleagues here who will take every advantage to ‘steal’ from the company, to ‘kar-po’ things, they would be ‘gian perng’ all because they simply can take advantage of any situation. I find it sad that we have been brought up this way, that a lot of us are opportunistic bastards who share no thought for consequences and how our actions will affect the rest of the team, or the population.
Simply put – no one gives a shit here. No one gives a shit about anything or anyone but themselves. Beneath all that glamor of a global city, the towering skyscrapers, casinos, nation building pride; there exists a stench of strong pretentiousness seeded by propaganda. Yes we should be proud of who we are, what we’ve achieved, how a tiny red dot has survived the global recessions, threats and disasters. But are we really proud of who we are, are we really a caring and gracious society, or national pride been all orchestrated by those that rule to make us feel good about ourselves? Do we need feel good campaigns just to say we a polite bunch of sheep, or are we so seriously insecure and in need of a cuddle by the government? Do we need to be reminded to be polite and compassionate?
I fear 45 years of nation building and economic prosperity have swept basic values down the drain, and it will take a few generations to change a mindset.
