No News is Good News

HDB Flat in the West

       We have a good thing going here. Today I drove to the Bukit Gombak estate and had my lunch at the coffeeshop there. Nothing unusual, but I opened my eyes and looked around me. People from all walks of life, some office staff, some students, many elderly and some middle aged people having their lunch and chatting. So what ? 

        It struck me that with all that is happening in the world, we have a good thing going right here in Singapore. Our waters are calm, we are blessed with a deep harbour, surrounded by large archipelago of Thailand, and the large expanse of land called Sumatra. We are in a peaceful region and there is harmony between the neighbours. ASEAN Governments should all be lauded for keeping the South East Asian region peaceful.   

      The walkways are clean, safe, and pothole free. The water management is excellent, the electricity is stable and for the most part, affordable. Many tourists all over the world are amazed at our country's orderliness, citizen's industry and remarkable development. A lot of this is thanks to the first generation of our country's leaders from 1950s till the late 1990s.

     We bitch and complain about everything and anything. Yes, there are valid points. However, if you look and compare Singapore to HK, we would come out better in many aspects - the most important being affordable public housing. My earlier post about the poor in Hong Kong living in abysmal and coffin like apartments subjugates the human being to nothing more than a body enclosed by 4 walls, which become like a furnace during the hot summer months.

     

Plenty of clean open spaces and void decks at the foot of the blocks

        The town management of the estate which I was in keeps the estate clean. All the food centres and most carparks of the newer housing estates have covered walkways for protection against the heavy rains during the rainy months of Nov - March each year. 

        Yes, there are complaints about the state of the MRT ; why the frequent breakdowns  leaving many commuters late for work and fuming. Costs of car park coupons have gone up a staggering 20%, water by 30% the list goes on.  

        The local economy is sputtering, having had 3 painful years of restructuring, many Singaporeans have lost their jobs to the disruptive world economy, the labour market while tight, is only looking for people with Fintech experience, and so there are a group of people who will have to downgrade and lower their expectations or try their careers in other countries. Uber, Grab and the food distribution service companies (Food Panda, Redmart, Honest Bee etc.) have been the biggest employers in the last 3 years, so its a massive shift in job performance expectations, and its impact has hit us hard.    

          But again, ours is a complaining society and I believe we will need to look beyond these failings and take everything in its proper perspective. On the whole, it is still pretty good living for almost everyone, rich, poor, and of all walks of life.