Kiasuism Being Reaffirmed Again in Independent Survey

I wrote about economist Graeme Maxton who has lived in S'pore describing S'pore as a toxic place to live due to kiasuism.

Nothing has changed as a recent survey- S'poreans see society as kiasu, competitive, self-centred shows:

Singapore residents were asked what values & behaviours described Singapore today.
Besides being "kiasu", Singapore was seen to be:

• competitive
• self-centred
• defined by material needs
•  "kiasi', a term which literally means being afraid of death.

Study polled 2,000 Singapore residents & Permanent Residents representing different gender, ages & living in different housing types.

Certain amount of competitiveness is healthy but overdose is toxic. Self-centered & defined by material needs are natural offshoots of kiasuism.

Being scared of losing out:

• people are more concerned about themselves
• people consume consume consume, buy buy buy in attempt to win through material needs arena.

Respondents were also asked what values & behaviours best described themselves. And these were:

• family
• friendship
• health
• happiness
• being caring.

I find it laughable. Gaining respect of others through material needs(Keeping up with the joneses) together with kiasuism & self-centered. Those values seem incompatible with friendship & being caring.

when asked what residents desired in Singapore society, the top 5 answers that came up were:

• affordable housing
• caring for the elderly
• effective health care
• caring for the disadvantaged
• compassion.

These 5 values are what the ruling regime has neglected. Many sinkies know they are being screwed. Let's face it, life is not all smooth sailing. Even professional atheletes like Lee Chong Wei & Jeremy Lin suffer injuries & disadvantaged. There's ups & downs.

Caring for elderly? Many sinkies already know of the sorry plight awaiting us. Tourists & us can look at the fabulous marketing job the current ruling party is doing by the way it is treating the elderly who helped built S'pore in the early days.

Sinkies can also see how the incumbent ruling party treats Tan Howe Liang, S'pore 1st olympic medalist with 'compassion'. Another fantastic marketing effort to sinkies.