What values characterize Singapore?

View posted in my blog


In our PAP-led government's drive for economic growth at all costs, they have practically destroyed Singapore as a nation. We associate US with the land of the free, of democracy... What comes to mind when we think of Singapore? What values, characteristics then do we associate with Singapore? A little red dot, insecure, hard driving, kiasu, relentless growth,... little that engenders a sense of belonging and pride... What pride we had - clean and green garden city, world class efficiency and service standards - have been eroded and lost... 

This is Singapore Inc, truly, a place to make hay while the sun shines, monetize our "homes", "upgrade" and pocket the money... No one owes anyone else a living. What did Singapore Inc achieve in the past decade?

1.In our drive to be an education hub, we reduce the subsidy for our own Singaporean tertiary students; education fees increase practically every year, the industry carved a bad name among international students.

2. In our drive to be a medical hub, we now tell our citizens that they had an additional option of going over to Malaysia for affordable medical care.

3. In our drive to be a financial hub, we created the exact monsters described by the financial adviser in th blog post. People were sold minibombs and dud products like wine and land. Caveat emptor we were told while the regulatory bodies took a soft or non-existent touch.

4. In our drive to be a tourism and MICE hub, we build not one but two casinos, proudly termed international resorts, one of which is aptly designed like ancestral tablets overlooking our financial district. 

5. In our drive to achieve all the above and to make up for the loss of our own people who are driven to leave Singapore, we "attract" "foreign talents" by the hundreds of thousands, so much so that we rub shoulders with strangers every day. We are indeed strangers in our land, for we do not recognize the values, the people, the facade of a place we were once proud or at least not deigned to call our home. 

I yearn for day, soon, to shout Merdeka!