Alex Au has written this excellent article about what is needed to make Singaporeans more gracious and generous.
http://yawningbread.wordpress.com/2012/12/22/singaporeans-stressed-out-by-strangers-smiles/
http://yawningbread.wordpress.com/2012/12/22/singaporeans-stressed-out-by-strangers-smiles/
2 comments:
The desperate Muslim Rohingas were turned away by our Maritime Authorities on a flimsy excuse there was no documentation to their status.
Compare this with the the gracious, compassionate gesture of the Malaysian Govt who welcomed them with open arms.
"Shang Liang Bu Zhen, xia liang wai."
Singaporeans follow the cue our Govt has been demonstrating all these decades,
"To each our own. No such thing as a free lunch. You die your own business. No money no talk. If you are a lesser mortal, keep mouth shut, just listen to us, we Elites know best."
Strangely, Alex only found out recently on the ungracious, kiasu and kiasi nature of fellow citizens. It has been going on for decades.
In the late 90s, a young girl was dialling a public phone, after 5 mins or so, she stood aside, I came over and had a go at it a few times, the phone was faulty, turned to the girl who was watching me, 'Miss, why didn't you tell me the phone's faulty'.
She snapped, "It's not my duty to tell you so."
What do our schools and the parents teach our children, besides cramping for exam marks?
That girl must be an adult of about 30 years, maybe married with a kid, and passing on her ungracious behaviour on her child, and the vicious circle continues to turn.
Just as we do judge children behaviour and assume it is their up ring and family circumstances, our not-so glamorous social traits must surely have been partly, at least be the ruling party decades of social engineering. No?
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