"LIFT, very rational analysis, shows your judgement isn't clouded by emotion. Then again, you're far away. Have you witnessed first-hand what we endure in this overcrowded land? Not contradicting you, but the exasperation we feel on the ground is not quelled by your statistics. If you deem my attitude non adaptive, go ahead, berate & rebut.
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| Limpeh is visiting Singapore in 2013 - what will await me on Orchard Road? |
Indeed 6.9 million isn't an issue if you can outbid everyone & claim the high life. We all know you can, though you're not even here. But are you as neutral about this 6.9 million as you imply? I think you are more humane than that. Nobody aspires to a country where life is merely a constant snatch-grab, rush-tumble to reach the top of the pile. Singaporeans aren't a bunch of crabs in a cooking pot.
We want a live-let-live environment NOT the ultra-competitive, super-selfish playground for the rich & shallow Spore is now. I do have sufficient (all I want, really - simple life with family), but wont be happy seeing fellow Singaporeans struggle as a matter of course. Get so desensitised to suffering, one starts blaming poor people for being uneducated etc, to avoid feeling guilty/ uncomfortable. I seen it happen.
Granted, on paper we're not packed as some Europe/US cities; but have you experienced the reality on this island. Wherever you go, heartland or city centre, any stretch of pavement you walk & every street corner you turn, in shopping malls & MRT stations: people are bound to brush right up, shoulders bump into you, someone’s hair gets in your face. Have to do acrobatics - swerve, twist, turn, stretch torso, suck stomach in, weave between bodies - just to walk to the bus stop!
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| Another crowded MRT station. |
PRCs don't seem to have a concept of Personal Space. So we give dirty looks to strangers, making ‘tsk’ sound of annoyance; unspoken warning: ‘What you up to, trying to molest me/my wife? Watch out, keep your hands to yourself, better yet get lost’! Public brawling (Alex Ong style) is common & will soon be a national blood sport.
Existence here is increasingly ludicrous & reaching boiling point. When jogging now, I wear the same t-shirt daily, unwashed for a month, to ward off folks getting too near. Ya APC regulars, I'm the guy who deliberately smells of rotten corpses a mile away! At least it works - its a personal sacrifice [DON’T try it you'll wind up with rashes & stink permanently]!
Singaporeans: if you choose to wait & see, hoping the situation improves, at least have a Plan B. And faithfully renew your passport 6 months before it expires, in case short notice you need to get out of here. Tried to go JB 1-day trip, passport 3months valid. Got cited at the local checkpoint, reason- Imminent Expiry Date! Feel trapped, like What the F is going on?"
That poster who responded to you has a valid point too, if you remember that commenting from a faraway position does not technically capture those emotions he experiences. That said, well, Singaporeans who stay on in that cuddled space and complain have to realize that they chose the government to represent them, and unless they change it, complaining is of no use.
ReplyDeleteHi Kevin, I know that poster had such a valid point that I felt the need to post his comment as an article, so as to balance the argument. I realized I came across as a bit too ... detached as I wrote the last post, but I didn't want to just write something that cursed and swore at the PAP (plenty of that on social media already) over the white paper on population growth. I wanted to treat it as a geography exercise and look at the issues without emotions involved... then Chin Lam Toh wrote such a beautifully expressive and emotional, heartfelt piece and I'm so impressed - I hope in reproducing Lam Toh's piece like this, I have given balance to the argument.
DeleteLimpeh you must understand, in those cities where there is a higher density, the populace actually has the option of living away from that density. Don't go far, I am sure you've been to KL many times. I am sure you've experienced the jams etc. Yet once the weekend or night falls, the city is automatically normal and not so packed? Why? Many live outside the city and only come there for work.
ReplyDeleteIn Singapore, where can we go to? Which nice kampung is awaiting for us? Not all of us want to get caught up in this frenzy, some of us actually want a balance, but it's not gonna be possible. Everything goes up except salary. Public housing, transport, health utilities, I can go on, all keep rising and these are basic stuff.
We need foreigners, we need the workers, but you cannot fast track them into citizens and PR and place them in the same bracket as us and compete with us.
Demarcation must be there. You do realise for all the westerners here working very few of them actually want to become citizens or PR, most are just happy to work here and go back. In fact they go back every chance they can, say for Christmas, Easter, summer etc. Even the Japanese and Koreans do the same, only the Asians who come worse off stay, become better off because we place them as equals. And they always have the opt out key, something 90% of us dont hv.
Hi there - you must understand please that I do NOT support the PAP's stance on 6.9 million in Singapore! I'm merely comparing different cities which are more populated than Singapore and analyzing the differences. I hope you realize that I have been so anti-PAP from my very first post and I left Singapore because I didn't want to live in a country ruled by the PAP.
DeleteHey LIFT, I can understand your sentiments exactly because it is also one of my main reasons for leaving Singapore since 2006. I never really represent myself as much of a Singaporean or Singaporean Chinese per se, whatever people say about my hybrid accent (which comes from having lived in Canada for a long time), and if I represent myself as ethnically Singaporean Chinese and culturally western, many people react to that. I don't care much for that kind of judgment though, and am proud to say that Singapore is only my country of birth at the most. Either way, it's good to be a global citizen nowadays! We are all more than the countries which we are born in.
DeleteOf course la, I been following your blog for 8 months already and have replied to some posts too. I was answering in general, reference to you was to visualise what's happening on the ground. Btw even AMK changed so much, I think only the ending parts of Ave 4 and 5 near Yio Chu Kang is as close to what it was when you were living in AMK>
ReplyDeleteOh my, do you realize that this area you've just described, " the ending parts of Ave 4 and 5 near Yio Chu Kang" - that's EXACTLY where my parents live and where I lived in Singapore as a child until 1997 (when I left Singapore after my ORD)? That's a little corner of the world that is very dear to my heart - that specific corner of Ang Mo Kio!
DeleteWow, that is so near where my parents live in Singapore. I don't technically have that many memories of Singapore anymore but that neighbourhood does ring a bell in my mind because my parents live there!
DeleteOne wonders who is going to support 6.9M when they can't get 5.31M right.
ReplyDeleteNow they say, "let us increase the population now and we will get it right for 6.9M later, even though we are still trying to fix the problem with 5.31M".
This sounds so much like, "we have to increase fares now so that transport operators can give better service in the future even though they are giving shitty service now".
Then, "we have to pay a lot now so that we can attract talented people to serve in the future even though they haven't been performing up to your expectations".
Similarly for everyone else, "you have to work harder now to increase productivity so that your wages can increase in the future even though you may be underpaid now".