My Singapore My Home ~
1990s Singapore
Singapore 2013
Magnificent view isn't it? Scroll back and look at how we were during the 1990s, the river banks in front of all the major buildings were reclaimed, and now stood the Marina Bay Sands resort, the Marina Bay Sands Exhibition Centre, the Singapore Flyer, and the Louis Vuitton boutique on the floating platform. Most Asean countries would be so so so impress and yearn to be Singapore, but do they know what price do these came for?
Singapore holds the
1. number of Ferraris per capita
2. Highest private wealth per capita
3. 3rd lowest landspace per capita
4. 3rd richest country by GDP in 2012
5. Best Airport in the world
These are impressive feat considering a small country like us, without any natural resources, and I'll agree with that. Yet one must remember, everything comes at a price, cause and effect, the law of balance.
And i quote "Singaporeans were apparently less upbeat than the people in places like Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan and Haiti."
Well here's the side effects READ !!
Well i doubt we're that bad as to Iraq and Haiti but to be even compared to them, it's pretty sad eh?
Anyhow, I'll just touch on 1 single point, which I've been observing for the longest time. Our kids' future's happiness.
With majority of families on dual income, material items come and go like changing t-shirts, with huge corporations like Samsung and Apple launching products after products on a yearly basis adding oil to fire, I cant' help but wonder how would I educate my kids in future?
To be honest, almost every tom dick and harry is carrying a smartphone, least to say a branded or latest model, thus when everyone is at least having an Iphone, what if (it's not even an if but most probably gonna happen) that, I give my kid an old smart phone, will he feel embarrassed, will he be embarrassed of me, as a father, for not able to provide him with a "social norm" of a branded smartphone?
I've long express my thoughts with my noona, whom i have no freaking idea why, was brought up in Canada, has one of the craziest Asian traits, crazy no-nonsense discipline. We both agreed that kids should learn and understand the value of money, inherently the cost of the items they want, understand what is need vs wants. Then came my question, if everyone is having an Iphone, what if your daughters don't even have phones? Her reply was simple, "We do not have problems like that in Canada".
Holy smokes fuck my life.
Yesterday, on my way home from dinner, we heard wailing and choking voice of a boy, and yelling of a father, I thought to myself, "Must be some odd ball ching cheong middle-age man getting piss over nothing". Shock of my life.
His son, wanted a new phone, slammed his current phone on the floor, wailing away like his parents just passed away, gagging and refuse to walk, clinging to his mom, demanding for a new phone.
Total focus.
How do you take it away when he already has it at this age?
The Despair (of the parents)
Let me put things into perspective for most of you ingrates^, for starters, imagine your son not wanting a phone you bought for him, slamming it on the ground... I think, I'll probably kill myself right away. The pains of parents, kids will n ever know, how much parents sacrifice for their kids, they will never understand.
The Sufferings (of the confused young boy)
WHY???? because the social norm is as such, everyone's getting something, and you do not have it, you feel out of place, you began to ask questions, you feel like a victim, victim of poverty, you're uncool, you can't communicate with your friends via Facebook or Whatsapp or Instagram or Twitter, you are an anomaly, an outlier, outcast...
My parents immediately commented that the kid deserves to be smacked, i gave them my 2cents and my dad rebuked that upbringing is very important. Hell yeah important, when every kid have iphones and you have a candybar phone, you tell me what kinda upbringing instilled can withstand the pressure they receive at such a tender young age, where friends, social interaction is, and will be the most important factor of cultivating their character towards their teens and adulthood.
My ex Manager from Hewlett Packard told me before, Singapore is really fortunate comparing to China, it's a Dad vs Dad world over in China. ??? If your dad is a government official, you get into good schools, priority to get housing, get more than 1 kid, get into a better job. Period.
Of course she doesn't have any problems, her hubby is a senior official in China :))
And we are moving there, at a ridiculous pace, just like how fast we reclaimed those land, the iconic skyscrapers and buildings we build.
This is a social problem that our government have to consider, but nothing's been done. Why??
Will you come out with a policy so that every kid has fair chance of entering a prestigious university or a great company at the expense of your own? Will you come out with tax system so that you tax yourself even more? Will you restrict our GDP, which your pay increment and your bonus are heavily pegged on? It's every man for himself isn't it?
We used to be a very loving and caring nation, helping each other out, with school, with food, with just about anything. Now, we just have to fend for ourselves, being nice meant you'll fall into that 'region' where no one desires to be, if you can't beat the system, join the system. Be selfish, ruthless, exploit the helpless, the kind and the stupid. That is how you WILL live comfortably, and I only said comfortably.
Government housing @ $0.5mio
Cars @ $80,000 opps? it's only the certificate of entitlement, excluding car price. Wait, only for 10years :))
Bachelor Degree @$13,000 / year. Including food, transport, books, allowance, $100,000 for a kid for 4 years education?
People will criticize me for being a pessimist, and ask me to look at the above stats and said it justify their actions.
I ask, where are your conscious??
i ask, what is our government doing??
Opps ! what government? The poor needs to be contented, the rich should become richer so that they are able to create more jobs and help Singaporeans. I'
Unless i misunderstood the meaning of help = exploit?
To the place that gave me life, cloth me, educate my mind, there may come a time that I will ditch my citizenship, for the benefit of my children, but I'll come back whenever wherever to protect her.
I'm selfish too.
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