lundi, août 18, 2008

Who failed?

Lee was talking about the Chinese singaporeans.

Extract from news:
He voiced particular concern about the Chinese community, whose fertility rate is the lowest of all Singapore's ethnic groups at 1.14. "They fail," Lee said.

It is so difficult to be a Singaporean. We are a branded lot. Singaporeans who stayed are
losers. Singaporeans who left are quitters. There are also elite and non-elite groups. Now, Chinese are failures because they do not produce enough babies.

What a word to use on Singaporeans who are so afraid of failure. We are a kaisu bunch. No one wants to fail in school, at work, between friends and family. The pressure to succeed is great in Singapore.

That aside, Singaporeans is not a term the Singapore news use often. People interviewed in the streets are referred to as Singapore residents. I won't blame the reporters since a quarter of the population are not native born.

4 commentaires:

SIG a dit…

At least you are in France. :P

Anonyme a dit…

Yes, this is ridiculous.

I don't like the society that embraces materialism and progress at all costs.

Leaving no place for people to breathe and no time for people to think.

Why is there a drop in no. of babies? Its because of their policies and money making methodologies that makes life so stressful.

And getting more and more FTs to compete for jobs and living space, just in the name of progress?

ERP, GST increase is "necessary" and for your own good.

Ya right.

ZY Loo :)

sohcool a dit…

Yeah, living in France as a Singapore daughter (a term given by Mr Goh on ladies married and living overseas) has indeed made me see how stressful it is in singapore. So many emails from friends telling me about their long working hours and money not enough.
Singapore is run like a corporation. I am no quitter as I still hold Sg passport. But I am not enticed to return to a pressure cooker.

Beau Lotus 涟 a dit…

Hmm, so let me see...I'm a quitter because I've left? I've broken bond so I may have some black mark againt me somewhere. Then I married an angmoh.

But I've 3 kids, I'm a member of 2 Overseas Singaporean portals and I still have my SG passport. And over the years, I can sense Singapore relaxing the way they look at us Singaporeans who live overseas for one reason or another. No matter where I go, I'm a Singaporean. I support my parents at home, I cook and eat Singapore food, I come home when I can.

I also know that life isn't easy for those who stayed, that we're always told to look back and fear that the others will soon catch up with us. Inflation has gone up but savings rates are still low - I suspect to encourage us to keep on spending.

But that is one cost to pay for being a small island living out a fairy tale. If we were to spend our time sitting under coconut trees, chasing a few chickens or fishing a few fishes for our meals, we would have time to breathe and think - but about what? How to catch our next chicken?

Our life is a vicious cycle that is created certes by Government policies, but also by History, our geographical position, population density, demography, lack of land, culture(s) etc etc. At the end of the day, it is all about survival. Then, it could also be a question of choice - don't want to embrace materialism and progress? Sell kachang puteh at the cinema. We could have avoided having so many of those Chinese and Indian workers around.

Because having lived a decade away from Singapore, I do not find my life particularly non materialistic either. We still strive to do and earn better so as to live and spend better (besides answering ambition and a need to excel) and if we manage to have more interesting things to do on weekends, it's more due to living in a much bigger and older country than anything else.

My Hub works more than 12 hours a day (and that's because he has a good position) and sometimes I wish we were in Singapore because when you have 3 kids, you'll be better off in a place where you can get help easily. Friends in Singapore know what a manicure and a spa is, because when you're stressed out you need a place to relax in. I'm so suahku I've not seen one till I went to Bali. Over here, spas are usually unaffordable.

And nowadays in Western Europe, we know that the good days are numbered. People working hard and cheap elsewhere are taking jobs from us. We now talk about working more too - to keep what we have.

So I say just work hard and play hard. Or work less, spend less, be happy with what you have. If you can.