Won’t you include Graciousness and Compassion in our education, please? These traits are glaringly missing at the top echelons!

Hi Mr Tan,

This is a superbly written article… I totally agree with what you said…
Singapore desperately need more people with integrity to step out to really fight for the people…
Hence, Mr Tan, I really hope to see more of you… hopefully, when the near election comes along, singaporeans can have a chance to to vote for you.

Accountability is the key word. Our PAP leaders are responsible for our country be it defence, education, transport, economy, health etc… But are they accountable for their actions ? When there are credits to be taken, I see the ministers claiming for it. When there are blames to be made, I see the civil servants or the private sectors/citizens taking them. Look at issues like Geylang Serai Rojak, GIC/Temasek investment loss, Mas Selamat, Nicoll Highway collapse etc…

What about you Mr Tan. You had shown interests and skill in politics… You even contemplated to take part in the next Presidential Election… but, you set a condition… unless you have 100,000 fellow singaporeans to express their supports first…. you also mentioned that your family is against it…..

Why u didn’t simply say, “Just Do It”..

Hi Mr Tan,

Good articles, I too wonder can Singapore ruling party be honest to us Citizen, Fair treatment, Show Public Interest as a Politician and not a bussinessmen and Courage to admit of their wrong decision making.

Since our PM Lee have toiok our the post of PM of Singapore, all things have change from bad to worse, they increase their own salary to the unbelievable figure while comparing to the other gaint countries leaders this figure are huge amounts. But have they help Singapore Citizens interest of surviving in Singapore?

How can we stress all this issue to our ruling party and ask them to take action to help us poor citizens? There are so many hiden things that our ruling party trying to cover up, by pushing the blame to other people or just keep silience until the matters forgotten by Singaporeans. I think we should really need to list out all the issues to our ruling party and ask those Ministers or even PM, MM and SM to stand out to clearify the issues.

And more important why are we still paying a high salary to the Ministers, PM, MM and SM while right now Singapore are facing a finacial crisis, instead of showing to us that they suffer together with us, they are enjoying wonderful life not worry about when are we going to be retrenched. Living standard in Singapore should be force to lower down, so that our poor Singaporean can pull thru the period of time and not force into committing crime, borrowing money from loan shark, or killing themselves to stop the suffering.

Singapore Can we do some about this and stop just taking care of your own self. We must be united to be a strong country and not living just to take care of your own pocket or rice bowl.

It is hard to blame Singaporean for been negative because been positive and constructive endup in self-denial and been taken for granted.

Look at some of things gov says.
Increase fare => It’s okay, it is still cheaper than other countries

Public Order Act => You should feel lucky staying in Singapore.

Increase Special Account in CPF => It is for your own good !

I am sure one can add more examples of how government take Singaporean for granted and for a ride.

Our gahmen are very unique in the world in that in good and bad times, they are always in happy hours. They are never responsible and accountable to anyone other to themselves. It is always the little people that take the blame while it is the same clowns taking the credit.

Doesn’t matter what negative traits.

The most important trait the PAP is interested is 50% walkovers, 66% mandate and 98% seats at elections. Once they ensure this, why would they heck care what traits you all have or what you say about him?

This article reads like a manifesto of sorts.

With respect, I don’t think the education system can do much about “educating values” — Civics and Moral Education has proven to be quite a flop. What the education system can do is to de-emphasize grades, so that students understand that academic achievement is not the only route to success, and that success isn’t just about material prosperity.

I think one crucial value that has been overlooked is ‘Empathy’. It’s a little more than ‘fairness’ or ‘compassion’, because it implies a willingness to look through the other person’s eyes, to understand their hopes and anxieties, and to acknowledge them as equally important as one’s own.

ha ha
good jokes
when my neighbours are hungry and unemployed
worst of all
still have bloomin tissue choopers in food court who thinks their tissues is their maid in waitin….

tan kin lian

what you are hoping for a systematic, cultural makeover of the contemporary Singapore society… for that to happen Singaporeans need to

1) hear what you just said (well you are just reaching out to say 5000 neticizens)
2) reflect (singaporeans never have the ability to reflect on life, reality and truths.. they rather swallow facts that are fed)
3) realize the truth and wisdom in what you say (do singaporeans care about truths and wisdom in life?)
4) they then need to accept it (the self-righteous attitude of singaporeans will not allow this)
5) then they need to make a conscientious and wilfull change for the better (thats never gonna happen)

perhaps this explains why the society has not grown to be gracious in recent decades and instead lost all graciousness that it used to have

I worked with a government scholar once and he was totally incompentent. The system is still unable to weed out the truly valuable individuals amongst the pile. I truly fear for the people if he becomes a future leader or anything (he really was that bad).

Just another suggestion, we need to create an education of failure. Less formal testing, greater channels of feedback and also eliminate the stigma of being wrong and hand-in-hand stop the parading glorification of the few so called ‘exceptional’ individuals. The more exclusive you are, the less inclusive you become and for all their intelligence, most are not able/willing to recognise the bigger picture of ther situation.

Re: education. This reminds me of Summerhill School which I’d want my kid to study in. But I doubt it would make the cut here because it lacks the testing systems.

Mr. Tan, you have accurately identify one of the major weakness of the Singapore system.
In other genuine demoncratic countries with a change of government after some years, the natural corrective and cleaning process is there to weed out weaknesses and errors before they get too deeply entrenched.
However in the case of Singapore with the same leadership for 50 years, dangerous and negative culture and attitude have taken deep roots. I am not sure that they can be changed without a change in government. Even with a change in government, I still have my doubts as the entrenched interests of the establishment will be too strong for any new government. In Japan the top civil servants dictate to the politicians what policy to pursue.
I am certain Singapore is heading in the direction of the Japan.

Do you think it has something to do with opportunity cost, rather than education?

i.e. that pay is so good in the elite Administrative Service and above, that it’s too risky to stick one’s neck out, because frankly it’ll be difficult, as a mid-career civil servant, to find an equally attractive job in the market (in terms of overall balance between guaranteed pay, workload and volatility / risk)

May be Tan Kin Lian can run for President instead of GE since he is not affiliated with any political parties yet.

be fair to the ruling party if expected to receive fairness
any party once allowed to gone unopposed, would face the same degradation the author describes

culture change cannot be wholly attributed to political reasons
the very fact is we got prosperous
look at any developed nation, they share the same governmental incompetence
only difference is
unlike a public company
we have no tools to change the management layer

they could all pay themselves to match Bill Gates if they wanted to
truth is when going is good, we too are greedy and stuffing our pockets
and now that things are impacting our bottom line
we think :: misery seeks company

when we pull out of this recession, lets not forget this very moment
and do the necessary plumbing while the going is still good
make-force the ‘gahmen’ take responsibility for their poor results
the same way they expect workers to be responsible for their situations

talking about SPUR ? are they themselves worthy of their job?
job credits? thats a laughable amount when the massive civil sector is propped up and shielded from layoffs using taxpayer dollars

In the 2 1/2 years of National Service, we see the regulars practise one thing regularly, which is COVER BACKSIDE. So generally, the male population have this occupational reflex after seeing such incidents during their formative years into adulthood. Its hard to change 30 months of indoctrination.

Perhaps the one thing wrong with our education system is that it schools our children into economic digits (workers), less so educates them into good citizens.

I thank all readers for your useful and helpful comments. I agree with several additional values that were suggested, scuh as:

1) James Tan: Won’t you include Graciousness and Compassion in our education, please?
2) Well Written: Singapore desperately need more people with integrity to step out to really fight for the people…
3) Gary: Accountability is the key word. Our PAP leaders are responsible for our country be it defence, education, transport, economy, health etc…
4) xlandjy: Why u didn’t simply say, “Just Do It”..
5) Richard Tan: I too wonder can Singapore ruling party be honest to us Citizen, Fair treatment, Show Public Interest as a Politician and not a bussinessmen and Courage to admit of their wrong decision making.
6) Daniel: It is hard to blame Singaporean for been negative because been positive and constructive endup in self-denial and been taken for granted.
7) Daniel: Our gahmen … are never responsible and accountable to anyone other to themselves. .
8) 66%: The most important trait the PAP is interested is 50% walkovers, 66% mandate and 98% seats at elections.Once they ensure this, why would they heck care what traits you all have or what you say about him?
9) la nausée: I think one crucial value that has been overlooked is ‘Empathy’. it implies a willingness to look through the other person’s eyes, to understand their hopes and anxieties, and to acknowledge them as equally important as one’s own.
11) singapoor: what you are hoping for a systematic, cultural makeover of the contemporary Singapore society…
13) Mr E: we need to create an education of failure. Less formal testing, greater channels of feedback and also eliminate the stigma of being wrong and hand-in-hand stop the parading glorification of the few so called ‘exceptional’ individuals. 15) Harry: In other genuine demoncratic countries with a change of government after some years, the natural corrective and cleaning process is there to weed out weaknesses and errors before they get too deeply entrenched.
18) sgcynic:

Most of the additional values are related to the four values that I mentioned. Honesty includes accountability. Fairness includes empathy, compassion.

I have observed President Barack Obama of USA and found that he is an excellent role model of these values. There is an additional value of Being Positive or Hope. I may add this as the fifth value or include it under Courage (to make change for the better).

I hope to hear more views on the right values for Singaporeans to embrace.

We dont need good citizens, we need only Batteries… look at the imported FT, even in sporting events…

Do we make a different by winning Gold or silver in Olympics?

aiyoyo

no eye see (“The top scholars never make any mistake”)

not sure if commoners really benefit with so many elites (& high paychecks)??

this economy downturn gives a ring to all people – to see how good elites are…

aiyoyo

If only the relevant government officers responsible for enforcement of vandalism in public places take their job seriously, our streets would be much cleaner living up to the name as Garden City.

http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/singaporeseen/viewContent.jsp?id=67684

triats from the government?

Yep i agree that the worst trait is not admitting one’s mistake.

The Worst Trait is to be rewarded for making mistakes.

My apology Jackson Post#23, me not copying your comment.

You inspired me to a slightly different take.

And it’s all because of Labour Day Awards that made many
Singaporeans feel ashamed.

patriot

and indignant; to conclude my Last Paragraph in the Above Post(#24).

patriot

15) Harry

Precisely, they are suffering from the success syndrome

I got an interesting take: a lot of it is due to NS. Let me explain.

After our basic training, NSFs are usually given appointments in units. How many of us are really passionate about making things work when we’re only holding the appointment for less than 2 years? And most of the time we inherit a lot of skeletons from the previous person, who also didn’t give a shit.

So the best attitude to adopt is ‘let me cover everything up and pray that it’s all well until ORD’. And this attitude has transcended into our adult, professional lives. Only that the waiting time is much longer. ie: a minister would say ‘let me keep quiet about the problems until i retire and migrate. someone else can take the blame after me’.

I would like to nominate Mr Tan Kin Lian to be the next President…..

Nothing will ever change as long as the 66.6% is still sleeping . . . . . . . . . . .

one of the dominant traits of the government (especially the civil service) is that of strong focus on public perception management t –

most of them (i think 70%) think that their real job is just to manage the public’s perception, hence the phenomenon of many initiatives with fancy acronyms that does not really solve problems.

Take the NEA situation – the problems were festering for some time probably, and definitely there were feedbacks. But without 2 deaths to change public perception these people will ignore the need to solve the problem

Dear Mr Tan

A well written article. We hope to see you in e coming GE so we can vote for you!!! We need a voice inside to watch the establishment!!

let me share my story abt the education system as I am in my mid thirties.

Fifteen years ago, after my NS, I went to a local bank for interview where i hold a biz diploma in Singapore Polytechnic.

At the end of the interview, i asked the final question: “If my performance is better than a University graduate, would I be given a better chance for promotion?” The bank officer told me that priorty would still be given to a Uni-graduate when considering any promotion of junior bank officer post. This is also the same situation for our Singapore civil service when i talk to my friend serving the army and statutory board. Those scholars always get the cake first and path already plan out.

So, in the end, I did not took up the bank offers and promise myself that i would NEVER work for a bank.

Today, I have my own humble trading business for more than 7 years and those University graduates with the post of Vice President and Department Head have to service me for the business.

I must say that i didnt pick the university route even though my grade can very well made it as it would be a great financial stress for my parent during those time.

Most importantly, if our govenrment dont change the way they groom the civil servant with extreme emphasis on academic grade, we are losing a handful branch of capable people who are deprive of the opportunities they should be given in the first place. When those scholar heads the stat board, local bank and local MNC during their tour of duty after many years, they follow exactly the same process that they were selected in the first place and it becomes a norm for selection.

So, whose fault? And why till today, they still dont realised this mistake!

Answer: Because those heads are still the scholar now.

30/4/09

Dear Tan,

I am travelling and have been very busy for the past 2months and I try to find time to read up on TOC and again I must write this ie as ordinary Singaporeans, we must not totally dependent on our Government ie PAP government of the day and if do, we sure die and conversely, we must depend on ourselves and our own hardwork like myself down in 1997 and three years ago when my only brother,two of us in the family, all out to get me by paying the Malaysia Police to put me under ISA-Sedition, I carry on with my life and go out of Singapore to look for deals (plus with God’s help).

Our young Singaporeans still expect the Government to help them and if they continue believe in this, they sure die standing and end up like those Malays in Malaysia especially the majority unemployed Malay graduates. We as ordinary Singaporeans must help ourselves and go all out especially outside Singapore to look for opportunities and deals. Again, I must write, there must not be any Welfare State in Singapore today or near future and let us look back, our forefathers had survived and we too can to so like them.

Regards
Andrew Chuah

Having a free press is very important in cultivating a strong sense of responsibility and accountability amongst our political leaders.

The local media are totally controlled by the ruling elite and thus are heavily biased towards them. In particular, Straits Times has honed its biasness to a very high level…..many articles are worded subtly against opposition parties and favours MIW. For example, one of ST headlines on JBJ’s son becoming the Sec-Gen was “….Reform Party denies internal conflicts….”, but had it happened within MIW, I am very sure ST would report something like “There is no conflict…”

Without the local media properly playing their role….questioning our leaders and keeping them on their toes…..all high level mistakes get swept under the carpet.

Hi friends,
The tones of most of the comments to this article has been positive and constructive. Even if the writer disagrees with another point of view, the writer shows respect to the other person. This is graciousness, which is an important trait to be developed in Singapore. Thank you.

Our Gov never graciously apologized for their mistake unlike US where the plane fly over New York and Obama quickly apologized.

This is an attitude different! Just vote for me as I know the best, no one else!
How to learn from their mistakes and improved with this type of attitude.

KL,
I dont think you should generalise that there are many bad policies but cited two only. Unless you have more, dont think it is then a fair statement.

66% #2 – I totally agree with you. Win at all cost and by every mean is their motto. Can’t blame them as the rewards are extremely great. Even after they have retired, the older members are still richly rewarded with appoinments to high posts in GLCs etc. With such a policy who does not want to join in the fray and win. With mega GRCs all over, winning for them is more or less guaranteed.
As for the negative traits of Sporeans, I agree with Mr. Tan.
It is the failure of our education system and society at large. Our education system focus on academic results (the more As the better), nothing else is more important than getting all As. The behavour of our society is “what is in for me” I must win at all costs. I must get infront of others in order to win. Just look at the queues for buying of new flats/condos will get you an idea how our society has evolved into such a sad stage. Who is to be blamed ?. As usual, it will be .. tolak balak.. (taiJi) again.

Thanks for the letter , i would like to comment on your 2 sentences.
“Our public transport system has now become quite expensive and does not provide the standard of comfort and convenience that is possible. Our education system produces students with good marks, but lacks the moral values and practical common sense (i.e. street-smart).”

Public transport system – could you clarify why you think public transport (buses, trains) are expensive (comparing to?) Which country’s Public transport system are you comparing to when you say that it is expensive and not convenient?

Education system – maybe you would like to elaborate whether moral values and practical common sense can be taught in schools? as the word ’street-smart’ suggests, it is not something that can be learned through the books. Perhaps it is the responsibility of the parents then?

I returned to singapore in 2005 after a long stint in the UK, and worked at a local university. initially I was always more than just happy to offer my apologies no matter how minor the mistakes was and was always happy to give other the benefit of doubts. i gradually realised that my colleagues, especially foreign china colleagues, took advantage of this and used it to crush me. The rest is history: i no longer work in Singapore; i am staying in the country next door and have found it more pleasant and democratic than Singapore. Dear Singapore, what has happened to you and where did we go wrong?

A patriot.

Scholars are good for scoring high marks in examinations. Little else.

The Public Service Commission is staffed by cowards who dared not make any assessments of the work effectiveness or abilities of the scholars it had employed.
10 years after their employment, their career prospects and promotion are still based on their school and university results. It looks like the whole Govt Service has no competence to grade its own employees on results. They had to rely on the historical gradings of the schol teachers and examination system.
I heard of a case of a scholar who worked for a year, could not take the heat in the kitchen and had a mental breakdown. She went on medical leave for a few years during which she was promoted, received her annual increments, performance bonuses, etc. all the time while she was on medical leave. This is the lead set by the PSC and followed by all the branches of the Civil Service.
This of couse apply to the scholars.
It is common knowledge that if you do not have a scholarship don’t join the Civil Services, because no matter how hard you work or how competent and able you are you will never be promoted over a nincompoop who knows only how to score at school /university examinations.

Hi 39) wudang

Public transport (train, MRT) is expensive in Singapore, relative to wages. Many people have to make transfers, which adds up to the total cost. The alternative of taking a taxi or driving a car is even more expensive, considering COE, ERP, etc.

There are some cities that are more expensive than Singapore, e.g. London, but there are many many other cities where the cost is lower, relative to wages.

Ethics and values can be thought in school. I teach part time in an university and take a small portion of the time to talk about these matters. The students appreciate it very much, as it is something interesting and useful to them.

We can also teach these values through the subejcts of language, history, literature and philosophy. We need to re-balance the syllabus to have a good mix of subjects. We should not just focus on science and mathemathics.

A very good article Kin Kian.

Singaporeans are probably famous for their scared to lose mentality and bochap attitude. They probably wont even want to give their seat to an old man in the MRT or bus.

They are groomed to do well in school, get their degree and hopefully get into the civil service iron rice bowl job. They hope then to get their car, HDB flat and maid if possible before trying to have one or two kids to settle for a typical Singaporean lifestyle.

Their children will copy after what their parents have done before – study hard, work hard and take good care of yourself first before others.

The competitive spirit that is within us sometimes turn against us as we become too self centred and selfish.

It is me against the world mentality and sometimes within the family many I know will not share their money with one another. A minority has joint account and when the chips are down, many will not want to help out even those who are deemed as their loved ones.

Money rules here and alot will sacrifice intangible stuff for materialism.

Unless we devalue materialism here and try to raise our children elsewhere I believe that the whole population is sucked into housing loan,c ar loan and the 5 C mentality which is typical of us.

Sad but true…

The country governing body are on their way reaching to the top hill… and let see if this thrid generation of government will fall ……efficacious the chinese proverb of ” the rich will not sustain thru the third generation” 富不过三代…..

And I wonder assuming one sudden day a tsumani attacked singapore, how is the governing bodies react? Their bungalows, properties, $$ may just “go to drain”, are they going grab whatever they have and leave Singapore for their own good or stay together with us in the refugee camps to fight and re-build the nation………

Singapore philosophy :

If it’s ain’t broken, why fixed it ?

If Singapore formula can sustain till today, then this formula is the right one, so why change it ?

This is the mentality problem, Mental block.

If there’s no motivation to do the right thing, people will just do things for themselves.

Solution is very simple: understand people’s motivation and you can predict their every move. Put it badly, you can manipulate people with that.

I gave a talk at Nanyang Junior College about “Business Ethics” under the theme, “Global Financial Crisis”.

I introduced the four values:
> honesty
> fairness
> public service
> courage

A participant asked this question, “Mr. Tan, how do you assess the Government on these values?”

My reply: ” I do not wish to assess any person, as the assessment may not be fair to them. My purpose is to educate people on these values. I hope that many people, including our leaders, adopt these values and that they will contribute to build a better society.”

The reasons in the article can be summarised as 2 major points:
1) Bad culture created by the government
2) Lack of virtues

I agree to a large extent. This is how I propose to solve the problem:

1) Taking up more personal responsibility and becoming less reliant on the government.

When people are less dependent on the government, the government loses grip and people naturally become free from both the negative and positive aspects of their policies.

2) Education begins at home.

State education is important, but nothing can replace the responsibility of parents, family, and ultimately oneself. If everyone becomes more virtuous, the society naturally becomes better.

Dear Mr Tan,

I agree with most of the things you said. However, in order to breed responsible citizens who want to say ‘it is our responsibility’ and ‘we want to fix it’, the system in Singapore has to allow space and is democratic in a way that people can make their choice. Each citizen has to feel that can trully create change. Look at the AWARE EGM yesterday. Majority voice won & best / most qualified group of people get to run the organization. The political system today is controlled and structured to the extend that it is almost impossible for alternative candidates to get majority win in the GE. Why have GEs if there’s so much fear within PAP of losing to non PAP candidates ? Why our MM is so fearful that without his leadership, Singapore will be worser -off, not better-off ??
To the current leaders, give democracy a chance and Singapore will be run by trully SMART, RESPONSIBLE and COMPETENT group of people.

Hi laughingoutloud (#52)
I agree with your views about relying on democracy. It is quite sad that for the past 20 years, democracy has weakened with the introduction of the GRC system. I wish to see the system revert back to single constituency, like in most other countries.

Hi 1c (#51)
It is nice for parents to play a role in educating their children. The problem in Singapore is that both parents work, and they return to office rather late. The education is left to the maid, or nobody cares. If this is not corrected, things will get worse.

There are a lot of social problems in Singapore, if we continue our current economic and social policies. We have to make a change.

NUmber 50…Mr. Tan…we rather u answer the question and not gave political correct reply. What’s so wrong in giving an assessment? FEAR? Your point 4 is COURAGE!

Hi blackfeline (#54)

It is my policy not to pass judgement on other people, whether political leaders or ordinary folks. I believe that this is in all fairness to the other person.

Who am I to judge? Like Chirst once said, “Let those who have not sin cast the first stone”.

I find a trait among Singaporeans to be judgemental. They like to judge other people, but under an anonymous setting.

I prefer to speak openly, under my real name. But my value of fairness restrain me from passing judgement on other people. I hope that you will agree with my views.

Dear Mr Tan, thanks for your reply in post 45
” Our education system produces students with good marks, but lacks the moral values and practical common sense (i.e. street-smart)”

“Ethics and values can be thought in school. I teach part time in an university and take a small portion of the time to talk about these matters. The students appreciate it very much, as it is something interesting and useful to them.”

There are 4 values which you think are important and which I agree can and should be taught in school. Moral values can be taught but not the practical common sense. That ’street-smart’ is not something that can be taught but only can be gained via experience. The HKers are probably more street-smart due to circumstances forced upon them by the environment. Same for the mainland Chinese and Taiwanese. I think they possess what we may term as ’survival instinct’.

The social problems arose because of the competitive environment in Singapore and also globalisation. A stressed up family raises stressed kids. What’s causing stress? Growing materialism for bigger homes and cars which means increased burdens on the parents. How to rectify this? Can we also teach our kids to relax and smell the roses?

Hi #56 wudang10

I like to suggest how we can teach the students to be “street smart”. If we give less stress on exams and give a lighter syllabus, there will be more time for them to focus on other activities and develop the confidence, common sense and be street smart.

Maybe, there are some training that can build these skills, but perhaps the most important approach is – give them the freedom (of time and action), and they will learn the skills.

I find that our education system teaches students to ask for the answers, rather than to think and judge what the correct answer should be. They like to be sure, and cannot accept unclarity and uncertainty. But, initiative and common sense come from accepting the world as being uncertain and unclear.

I wish to share this story about the trait of avoiding responsibility.

Six months ago, I tried to top up by EZ Link card at the ATM machine. It did not work. I had to approach the station attendant. He topped up my EZ Link card. I told the attendant that the ATM was not working. His reply, “The machine is under Tansit Link”. He implied that as Transit Link is a different organistation from SMRT, it is not his responsibility. I told him, “Can you tell Transit Link that it is not working?”

Six months later, I tried to top up my EZ Link card at the ATM machine again. Again it is not working. I went to the station attendant one more time to top up my card, and to report that the ATM machine is still now working. I still get the reply, “The ATM machine is under Transit Link”.

It seemed that many passengers must have reported the fault, and that it is not corrected for the past six months.

Why are Singaporeans so focused on only their specific duty? And they do not bother to correct any fault that falls outside of that specific duty?

This behaviour is not only for people at the lower level. I have seen this type of behaviour at senior level, including government ministers. It seems to be a Singapore trait. Each person likes to define his own area of responsibility and his KPI. And will not be bothered to go outside of that area, as it does not add to his own KPI.

What a bad trait!

I can understand where Kin Lian is coming from by penning this article. But it is the angle at which one looks at a half empty glass. Arguably there is probably equal if not more Singaporeans who have such positive traits. Leadership of a country plays a pivotal role in creating a nurturing environment to cultivate good common beliefs amongst its people. I agree that political leaders set the tone of the value system in the country. Certainly current spate of events indicates that current leadership departs from the past leadership who believe in hands on approach to solving problems, have strong views on specific core values like no legalised gambling and being forefront in the challenge we are facing. Being in power since independence, the current government has take on a more corporate like approach in dealing with issues. And new office bearers work on the need to climb the corporate ladder by “looking good” to top echelon leaders. Most who have been exposed to branding will learn the art of managing sensitive issue by avoidance and revealing limiting details or just sufficient to appease the mass media, while emphasising on their past good performance. Well a few mistakes aren’t too many. For example, Suzhou investment is probably one of the earliest severe mistakes made. It was not met with much resistance from the ground. It was explained away. This I hope was not the trigger point in Singapore that public or corporate leadership will think that it is ok to make serious mistakes and continue to stay in office. The latest one that is fresh in mind is ABC Learning; Temasek paid A$400m and it is reported this week to be sold for $1 to a charity. Most singaporeans may not care quietly. Such report brings home the implicit view that it is ok for leaders to make mistake at the expense of someone else money; i wish there are subsequent coverage to this news to send the final message that “it does not pay to make a mistake”. I believe that most Singaporeans have the required traits. But they need to to be reminded by the leadership who are setting examples for all. If the leadership lives in the shade of “wanting to look good”, then they are setting bad examples in terms of upkeeping our value system. In my view, all these stem from the lack of political pluralism in Singapore. No deterrence. Since “no matter” what, there is only one choice. When you reach a certain stage of seniority in office, it is hardly possible to “discredit” what you have done. Imagine you are the only car dealer in Singapore, would you not take a more unreasonable sale approach? It could be customers calling and begging for an appointment with the car dealers, or an upfront downpayment of thousands before you can secure a face-to-face appointment. If Singapore is ours, all Singaporeans need to stand up for what they believe. We need more actions to support our belief system to make it clear to subsequent generations. Lastly, i think to call our education and public transport system “bad policy decisions” may be harsh in my view, as there are clearly great benefits in them (since you constantly commute by MRT); they certainly need improvements but not complete overhaul. They are parts of many things in Singapore that we ought to be proud of. I am constantly reminded by friends living in other parts of the world on these.

I’ll give a reason for Mr. Tan on why people like to define their own area of responsibility and not bother about other stuffs, nor going the extra mile to work harder these days.

On personal experience (mind you I do not have alot of exp though, but I had my fair share), what I had noticed was that these people believe they’re paid ONLY to do their job, and will not take on any more chores. Also, they will grumble alot when given more than their fair share of work…sure they won’t complain, but over at their level, top or bottom, they complain to each other and compare. And they all want the best salaries pegged to them, so if they feel anywhere underpaid they’ll only do their fair share of work.

Like what Mr. Tan had said, many are unwilling to take on responsibilities, and would shun them if possible. (Oh you guys have seen it in army, nearly every male has) What I believe that’s causing this system is perhaps, not just the education system taught us, but also what our society has been driven in.

Incentives.

They say people will work harder if they gave more incentives. It used to work great, still works sometimes…but looking at it now, people have been exploiting it as well. The thing here driving what I call “lazy people” is that since there’s incentives to be given if you work harder, I’d just do my share of work if there ain’t any.

I mean, just look at the army…I’m sure everyone had their fair share of meeting people whom you think would never survive “outside” once they leave. These people are prime example of “lazy people” I’m talking about. They just do their job scope, and push everything else off if possible. The funniest part is, they think they’re doing a whole lot more than “everyone else” and should deserve higher salaries because “everyone else” has higher salaries as well.

So in the end people who sees these takes it that there’s no point going out of their job scope. Nobody cares about even Going the Extra Centermetre, less the Extra Mile. Nowadays for people it’s “None of my business”, “Nothing to be Gained”, “Don’t trouble me”

I believe, however, that this is a trait that cannot be easily cured. Simply because actually, it’s happening all over the world. The only places that doesn’t seem to have such things happening are companies and organizations that treat their employees like family. Because working hard for family and friends seems more worth it than working for a company itself.

But really, I don’t know. I think I’ve not seen nearly enough to judge the World and Myself. Just my two cents on our bad traits.

Regard,
Random

Mr Tan, you were part of the old PAP regime. Only after retiring, you suddenly move in opposite mode. I still have qualms your personality, I wonder if you are really trying to do something for the people or having a personal agenda.

Can you please clarify to the public?

The Monetary Authority of Singapore revealed that Lehman Brothers had $500 million of assets with its subsidiaries in Singapore. This is a potential source of funds for investors to get compensation for the losses in investing in the financial products created by Lehman Brothers.

However, MAS said that the disclosure was “not in any way suggesting that legal action is in their best interest”. MAS advised investors to take independent advice with regard to their particular circumstances.

If the regulator is not willing to take the responsibility of making a judgment on this matter, I wonder how the small investor can decide on this matter? Even if they can find a lawyer willing to give this advice, can the small investor afford the legal fees? Good lawyers are expensive.

It would have been better for the regulator to be pro-active in determining the following:

a) Has Lehman Brothers broken any law in Singapore, which are grounds for legal action to be taken by the authority on behalf of the investing public?

b) Is legal action the best course of action in these circumstances.

I have seen examples of the New York State Attorney General take up these matters on behalf of the investing public.

Why are our regulator and attorney general in Singapore not taking this action? Is this an example of “avoiding responsibility or pushing the responsibility to somebody else?” If the authority adopts this appraoch, it becomes a part of the Singapore culture.

well done Mr Tan and all for the exciting discussion thus far.

I would like to call upon readers who believe in the cause to stand up for election ang give us the chance to vote. SGP are said to be politically apathetic, AWARE incident had proved otherwise.

One thing I am not happy with the system, it assumes that everyone is from a reasonably mid-class family. Go army need to buy stuff, sch, need laptop, standing for elections need money….it is as if SGP is a company and not a nation anymore. The voice of the working class is hijacked by the docile NTUC (whose Sec Gen is scholar and never had been a manual worker before). The grassroots activities are taken as apolotical and a mechanism to deliver the message of the Govt. The irony is isn’t the Govt itself a political party? Why is Chiam See Tong and Low Thia Kiang legally elected as MP not made Advisor to GROs? GROs an extension of PAP?

Why is PCF not banned? Don’t they know that psychologically when a young child come to associate PAP (symbol) with power, school and pride…we are rubbing democracy with the wrong message in Singapore?

Dear fellow Singaporeans,

It’s a myth that political talent scarce in Singapore. PAP usually will scout for people in the traditional camps. People you need to scout for those “missing” talents. The unfair rule=effective=is a myth.

A Govt can’t do without the support of the people.

A Govt is not the Almighty who are deemed to be so rare that we need to pay them unreasonably exorbitant salary while the citizens though well-qualified need to upgrade constantly formally in their life and accept their fated life as being “not a scholar” not “the talent as defined by the PAP.”

I have no grudges against the ruling Party. Indeed I enjoy the properity brought abt by the PAP governance but I am afraid for the future if we see the continuously arrogant attitude taken by the Govt. we need a counter-ideology any a set of programme for SGP to assure SGP-eans that we are serious with what we are doing and believe me….. we can do it even if it takes time.

Don’t give up.

I had an interesting encounter with the Immigration Officer at Vancouver Airport. The Immigration officer politely asked a few questions about the purpose and length of my visits.

After he was convinced that I was visiting Canada for three weeks of holiday, and to take a cruise to Alaska, he went out of his way to say a few useful things about Canada – just in a few lines of conversation. There was a queue, so this was done while he was processing the passport.

Here is an officer who went beyond his normal responsibility to play his role as a citizen of Canada, giving a welcome to a visitor.

We can encourage our people in Singapore to go beyond their narrow job, and act like a fellow human being.

“64) Tan Kin Lian
We can encourage our people in Singapore to go beyond their narrow job, and act like a fellow human being”

The fear of stepping out of the standard protocol has very much to do with the “socialist culture” of Singapore.

Despite looking like any other capitalist economy, Singapore rely heavily on socialist planning principles. The government makes plans for the economy and social policies, and the people executes them efficiently.

However, this has created a rigid system of top-down decision making and emphasis on accountability even in everyday life. The burden of accountability has become so large that even the rank and file fear to take responsibility for deviating from the written rules.

So the solution really has to come both ways. The government (bosses, supervisors….) has to be willing to let go. The people also has to become less reliant on the government (bosses, supervisor,….) for instructions, solutions, and responsibility. Only then will people dare to have more initiative.

Hi 1c (#65)

I do not consider the planning system in Singapore to be “socialist planning”. If I have to describe it, I would probably choose “elitist planning”.

Under a socialist planning system, I expect to see the following characteristics:

a) More weight being given to the needs of the people
b) Opportunity for these people to express their views through their elected representatives.

I find the approach now being adopted in America under President Barack Obama to be laudable. He hears the views of many people and summarises them in a strategy. He articulates the strategy and gets the genuine opinion of the people, through the polls. President Obama has been able to win the support of many people to his “socialist policies”.

These policies give more weight to the majority of the people in the lower an middle classes, which have been most squeezed in recent years.

#66 Mr Tan,

Isn’t China’s political system based on the same concept of “elitist planning”? They recruit the “best” people into the single central command that master-plans for the whole country. Our system is not too different in this aspect.

Decision-making in a less or non-socialist system is usually considered to be more decentralised.

Hi kkk (#67)

I am not so familiar with the system in China, so my comments may not be well informed.

I observe that the election of the leadership of the China Communist Party appears to be democratic. The party cadres elect the leadership at various levels, from the lowest level and they influence the leadership at the top levels.

I think, in such an environment, the wishes of the masses will have a larger impact on the policies and decisions of the top leadership.

There must be several million party cadres in China involved in the election. So, this process does involve the views of many people. It is more representative than the actual system adopted in many other “democratic countries”.

Read this Quote:

“I am often accused of interfering in the private lives of citizens. Yet, if I did not, had I not done that, we wouldn’t be here today. And I say without the slightest remorse, that we wouldn’t be here, we would not have made economic progress, if we had not intervened on very personal matters – who your neighbor is, how you live, the noise you make, how you spit or what language you use. We decide what is right. Never mind what the people think. That’s another problem.”

Guess who said it?

MM Lee (speech at National Day rally 1986, ST, 20 April 1987)

It sums up everything.

> 67) kkk: Our system is not too different in this aspect. [from China]
> 69) poeticmi: “…Never mind what the people think. That’s another problem.”,MM Lee

I don’t think our political system is very different from China in many ways. The difference is that the Chinese Communist Party has more political capital.

In China, resources are diverted to grow the big cities, and the development in rural areas is relatively very slow. Even then the government still has the support of many people.

well, our govt does have enough support. lol….

What about our Asian culture of “Speak only when spoken to”…

and the authoritarian style of management, and in schools? We are taught that teachers are always right, parents are always right, top down.

Compare with western culture where children are asked to speak up, challenge, think.

Then we join the army, which further exacerbates the idea of authority. added with a culture of reprimand, no room for failure.

Not surprising we develop a kiasu culture, a culture of covering one’s bottom first, a culture of finger pointing, of not making a decision.

human beings are a lot of funny people. though pride, self esteem and other non tangible factors are more important than tangible ones i.e cash,food,housing, human beings allowed themselves to be subjugated as long as the minor needs are satisfied. only when the latter is acutely lacking will the subconcious awake to realise that it was the acute lack of the former which had been causing the deprivation of the latter.
lets not kid ourselves, things will continue to be so unless we face a big calamity. otherwise status quo. no point wastin time preaching about national values when the utmost importance as of now is to bring dough to poor families sprouting up around the fringes of the island. espousing verbal ideals and no practical actions.

No need to educate other people on the values. There are already many ‘educators’ around and plus the many people here who responded to the article.

Just start from ourselves before expecting other people to do so or putting the blame on the systems.

ArtReach:

Are you suggesting that we blame people, people like you and me, instead? People who’s lives are being shaped by systems, policies and procedures and yet being blamed if those systems, policies and procedures fail?

What and whose values are you referring to? Should we just shut up and sit down in a ‘democratic’ country?

I wonder how Tan’s hope can come true if nothing is done about the education system, or if Singapore continues to allow the import of foreign liberal cultures and values into our education system and to our young.

One word for singapore and pap..

these ppl in the goverment can do what they like..sooner or later..the fustrations will mount and they will be led to REVOLUTION!!!!! DOWN WITH PAP AND THE GOVERMENT!!

THEY EVEN MAKE FOREIGNERS BE OFFICERS IN THE ARMY AND MAKE THEM SIGN ON BUT THEIR OWN LOCAL WHO IS LOYAL AND BETTER,THEY REFUSED..

I REST MY CASE…