Bizzare behaviour of Singaporeans

“I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? (Ecclesiastes 2:18-19)

Recently an ex-colleague of mine forwarded me a very thought-provoking article entitled ‘The Bizarre Behaviour of Singaporeans’ written by a German national who has lived in Singapore for the past 9 years:-

“44 years of economic and material success have spawned some very strange behaviours among Singaporeans. They spent so much to buy a house or flat, furnished it up like a palace, but spent their time outside, most of the time at work. And the maid are the ones enjoying the million-dollar or multi-million dollar assets.

Then they pay so much, the highest in the world, for a car only to park at home. Too expensive to drive, too many ERPS and car park charges to pay. And they are encouraged to park their cars at home and take public transport, being cheaper and more convenient.

And when Singaporeans travel, instead of seeing the places, they went shopping. The best part is that they would head for the cheapest bargains, buying stuff that they could get in Chinatown or pasar malam,at even cheaper prices. But they are still happy that they got a bargain.

And while the heartlanders are busy trying to make a life here, being told to bust off if they are not happy, which they could not, the rich and presumably very happy and contented citizens are buying up properties overseas just in case they need to make that escape from this paradise.

While many Singaporeans are thinking of jumping ship, or preparing to jump ship, hoards of new immigrants are rushing in to take their place in this paradise.

And to top it all up, they keep complaining about the govt and all the policies that they found unpalatable, but come every election, they will vote and return the govt to power.”

No Singaporean would dare to dispute the above profound observations. Frankly speaking, our social behaviours have lagging far behind our economic progress! We are the only country in the world that has to institute an annual campaign (now they called it ‘kindness movement’) to remind us to be kind to one and other!

We are heading towards the direction like any other big urban cities. Inadvertently, it is going to lead to even more fast-paced, high-stress, intense-pressure living environment. People are so caught with the frenzy worldly pursuits that they have no time to dwell on non-tangible goals in their lives.

When poorer folks are scrambled to meet the escalating high cost of living silently, it seems strange to me that the more affluent ones are complaining loudly on matters like not enough car park lots (may be not near enough to their homes?)are built. When will this scramble for non-ending material aspirations come to a standstill? May be only when one is forced to a sudden pause in life due to some setbacks occurred along the way.

It is a fact that many parents here who owned a car ended up being a chauffeur for their children for various activities instead of having some fun and wholesome family outings. I had an interesting encounter with a very successful property agent some months back. She would not take any call or drive after 9pm (which is considered ‘early hour’ to most Singaporeans). Later, I came to know that she has to drive all her children (3 of them) to different schools at different places early in the morning. Since the lives of all her children are in her hand, she wants to make sure that she gets enough sleep every weekday! What a heavy load she has to bear for years!

Questions to ponder: Do we determine our value by how much tangible things we accomplish on this earth? It is worthwhile to live on the edge of exhaustion and not taking care of ourselves(I was once like that)?