You die your business

I was on my way home after buying lunch when I was stopped by an asian girl who was wearing a T-shirt with the symbol of the red cross printed on it. She seemed to sense my aversion towards her when she asked me if she could have a moment of my time. (Aversion towards the Red Cross symbol, not towards the girl. Don't anything think ok?)

"Don't worry. I'm will not ask you to donate blood." she said.

I thought to myself : "Shit! What else can a person donate? Only organs and money! That's even worse."

My guess was accurate as it could get. She was trying to get me to donate some money to the red cross to help bush fire victims on a monthly basis. I had actually decided not to donate any money to any charity whatsoever with the NKF scandal and possibly RenCi at the back of my head. However, I eventually succumbed to her power of persuasion nonetheless (hehe) and hence had to pledge a dollar a day to the Red Cross foundation.

While filling up the "part-with-your-money" form, she introduced herself as a student from Indonesia, who had previously spent 10 years studying in Singapore before having to leave after O'levels because of her poor results for Chinese. Then, she asked me this very interesting question: "Why is it that the Singaporeans living in Singapore are so unfriendly, snobbish and kiasu compared to the ones here? My Singaporean friends here are all so friendly and nice." ( I do not live in Singapore, in case you can't make sense out of what's going on.)

I took a moment or two to think about her question, and realised her observation was spot on. Singaporeans living in Singapore are generally unfriendly, perhaps snobbish and definitely kiasu. It's not necessary to give any examples for Singaporeans ought to know themselves very well.

But the important question is : What is the root cause of the ugly Singaporean?

Before we going into identifying the root cause of it, let me list some of the traits that ugly Singaporeans, as a whole, possess.

1) Kiasu

2) Generally rude

3) Reluctance to help victims of crimes

4) Un-cooperative

5) Special ability to fall asleep immediately on MRT seat when elderly/pregnant lady appears

6) Blasting their ipods in public places

All in all, Singaporeans generally lack social grace, public spirit and civic mindedness. It seems that Singaporeans are systematically skewed to exhibit such undesirable behaviour. By the looks of it, someone has been teaching the whole nation to be rude and nasty people. Guess who? :)

Here's some lessons taught by the culprits

Lesson 1
What did you learn when they told you "We raise GST to help the poor "?
This is what you have learnt: The poor, being rather stupid and helpless, deserved to be screwed harder. But screw them in a politically correct manner, otherwise they might not vote for u next time.

Lesson 2
What did you learn when they told you "No welfare for all of you. It will lead to the development of a clutch mentality"?
This is what you have learnt: Helping the poor is bad. Not helping the poor on the other had is good. In fact, try not to help anyone.

Lesson 3
What did you learn when they told you "Competition is good. Let's have cheap foreign labour competing for low-skilled jobs with you."
This is what you have learnt: When someone is already down and out, earning low pay as a cleaner, add on to their misery by allowing the influx of cheap labour to drive their already low wage even lower. They only have themselves to blame for not being able to snag a cushy job as a million dollar minister.

Lesson 4
What did you learn when they told you "NS is for Singaporeans and university places are for foreign talents"?
This is what you have learnt: Never ever help your classmate with his work. His results might one day surpass yours and there will be no place for you in a local uni. (SIM doesn't count) Then, you would end up as a road sweeper and will have to refer to lesson 3

Lesson 5
What did you learn when they told you "The solution to lack of supply of taxis, traffic jams and the lack of hospital beds is to raise prices (means testing)"?
This is what you have learnt: Money solves all problems, especially problems with supply. There is no need to increase supply to match demand. Just jack up the prices, it's the panacea to all problems.

Lesson 6
What did you learn when they told you "Eat fish if chicken is expensive"
This is what you have learnt, which is the salient point of all the lessons: You die your business. It's really nobody else's business.