DISCLAIMER: This analysis is based on a summary written by Robin Rheaume, which is available here:  http://on.fb.me/1dEO51W. I don’t wanna summarise her stuff. Zzz.

Recently, there has been an uproar (of anger and support) towards one Stephanie Koh. I have never heard of her before (yes, I hate music until I can’t even recognise the artistes of popular songs), but some of you might have heard of her before (or not!).

Let me just give my so call thought/analysis on her very casual argument on “Why I am not proud to be a Singaporean!”. If my microphone was not faulty, I would have just created a video. I am not agreeing or disagreeing with her, as you will see soon!

Preamble

• Singapore is beautiful and great if you are an expat on a nice package but is not affordable for the average person
   

  My thoughts: So is other countries too! If you are a value added person in a company, you would get a nice package too. I have heard of friends who had gone to Germany or US on very nice expat packages that we can only dream on, if we moved there on our own. Yes, other countries are cheaper than Singapore, but if you are there on an expat package, you are most likely given benefits that the average people there won’t get. It’s part of employee retention.

• “Everybody” and “All Singaporeans” means the majority – of course there are exceptions but they are the minority
   

  My thoughts: Okay then. I am the minority of those Singaporeans.

1. It’s no place for an artist (2:02)

• if you do badly in school, you have a bleak future (She did say its the same in other countries, just how ‘terok’ it is)
   

  My thoughts: Yeah! It’s true that Singapore is a place for the successful. Just like in London, New York or Sydney (within a 50km radius).

• the country is obsessed with the idea that the most important goals are to be a professional (doctor, lawyer, engineer…) because these are high paying jobs
   

  My thoughts: A more appropriate point would be, ”Singaporeans are NOT risk takers”. Singaporeans are very traditional people. They want you to be successful and lead a comfortable life in the most conservative way. Why is it so? There are two reasons for that:

  1. Our parents (and grandparents) had it hard last time
  Well, I’ve asked my parents (and people from the older generation) and they said that they never had the opportunity to have a fulfilling life, because they had to work to survive. In essence, they are doing this to HELP you have a secure future. The problem is, they are still stuck with the conservative mindset of an iron rice bowl.

  2. Singapore ‘Asian values’
  Asian values could be the reason for the lack of risk taking among Singaporeans (and more!). Asian people tend to value security over creativity. They do not want to waste their efforts to risk it. I had my fair share of “You won’t make it and you would just waste your prime years of your life on this crap, when your friends are now a manager at an MNC”, when I said to my classmates that I would like to be an entrepreneur. Yes, only a few made it and those few RISKED it to get it.

• there’s barely any room for an alternate successful career path outside the “ideal” careers that make big bucks
   

  My thoughts: It’s not only Singapore! Why are there jokes on 9GAG, Reddit and troll sites in general on Arts majors working in McDonalds, flipping burgers and the occasional “I ordered fries with that!”. Even in other countries, you won’t be successful in the “alternative career path”.

  Artistes, artists and entrepreneurs don’t get paid monthly. They get paid based onPERFORMANCE. I don’t have specific examples in the music industry, but for every One Direction/Justin Bieber/PSY, there are thousands of people who never made it.

  I can also point out the same in the “entrepreneurship” career path. You have companies which failed in the end, such as WebVan and even those companies that you might never heard of before, running from a small town in Iowa.Her argument is flawed in the sense that you cannot compare ‘apples to oranges’. Singapore has a population of 4-5 million people. Compare that to 22.6 million people in Australia. If there is one successful superstar (worldwide fame) in Singapore, there would be around FOUR of them in Australia.

2. Singaporean are narrow minded (3:19)

• they just believe what the read in the ST without criticism
   

  My thoughts: Nope. They read ST and criticise at coffeeshops and hawker centers (for older generations/those who are not Internet savvy) or on the Internet. ST won’t post their criticism (obviously, its out of their interests, just like overseas newspapers have their own political stances). Girl, go and lepak more often with the ahpeks at the coffeeshops. Then you would see that they don’t just any old how believe in such things.

• It’s ridiculous to say that the Singapore “payment system” (wage system?) is better than the minimum wage that Australia has. (not a main point, but more of an example)
   

  My thoughts: She is not an economist. So am I not one. The guy on Straits Timesmay be an economist (they do run those people’s articles on). Both of us are not business owners or politicians. It’s just an opinion with no substantiation. Come back when you do have one. (By the way, I am a fan of negotiated minimum wages and not blindly setting minimum wages for ALL industries)

  Oh yeah, sounds nice that a waiter makes a lot of cash. But where does the money come from? 

3. Singaporeans are not creative (4:05)

• there is talent but those with talent are suppressed by the education system
   

  My thoughts: My secondary school was an Arts Elective school. I HATED ART. BULLSHIT THAT THE TEACHER ASKED ME TO DO ART. I HATE HATE HATE ART. I failed Art and Gamelan (yes, why should I take this?!) in Sec 2. No, I am not brainwashed by the Singapore education system. I am just a practical and sciencey person. I don’t see the point of making stuff look nice, when they are supposed to serve a purpose. Ergonomics in design, yes, but making your buildings look like Pinnacle@Duxton. No! I don’t appreciate such crap.It’s a hit and miss on this one. If I went to that Taiwan school she talked about, I would have cry like hell. There are choices of schools in Singapore, some are more science based and some, like my school are arts based. She’s generalising.

• there is no room for creativity in the Singapore system
   

  My thoughts: See above.

• kids have to be homework robots – kids just work, eat and sleep
   

  My thoughts: They DON’T have to if they are SMART enough to use their bloody brains and find the logic behind everything. The thing is, it’s our conservative culture which turns people into mindless homework robots. I NEVER did my homework, yes. When I do, I only do those which look interesting.
  End result: I got into a JC and my ‘A’ level results is such that I can enter Medicine in NUS. Yes, hao lian much, but the point is, rote learning is a waste of time. Rather, we should encourage people to use their brains and learn from the concepts.

• most parent believe this is the formula for success
   

  My thoughts: See above on the two points of our parents suffering and/or Asian values in Singapore. More of ‘kiasu’ due to their low risk appetites.

• this creates kids who are book smart but not able to think
   

  My thoughts: School is a place to acquire knowledge. Schools should not teach you how to think. If you need a school to teach you how to think, then good luck to you. Thinking and critical analysis should come from yourself, not from the school. No one can teach you how to think, is what my father once said.

• this system is too rigid
   

  My thoughts: Like I said, I was from an Arts intensive school. Like what you say about, “Where are those people doing arts and stuff!”, I, in my secondary school, asked myself, “Where are the science and maths competitions? Why only arts here, arts there?!”. On the other hand, our principal was quite liberal in school rules. We were mostly given leeway on a lot of things and also, flexibility.

  Oh yeah, I don’t wanna be those arts hippies. It’s sooooooo mainstream nowadays to rebel.

• local film productions cannot compare to foreign film productions (exception: Jack Neo films are super)
   

  My thoughts: You compare apples to oranges again! If you wanna compare Hollywood to Singa-wood, it’s unfair lei! US has 319 million people, while in Singapore, you only have 5 million people. The ratio of directors in Singapore to directors in USA is around 1:60. That’s right. Other countries have a larger audience and hence, they have so called room to grow. Singapore is too small.

  It’s like comparing why Singapore’s military is so shit compared to US military or heck, Israel. Our military is NEW and never fought a war. US and Israel have been into wars, and hence, have more experience.

  Instead, she should compare Singapore with Finland, a country with the same population. Name me one Finnish director who does English movies and is considered like ‘Jack Neo’. I can’t think of one. Which brings me to another point: language. Finnish films are not popular outside of Finland, tell me, have you watched a Finnish film before? In Singapore, we do have our fair share of Chinese, Malay and Indian films. Are they popular outside Singapore? Of course not. Most of them have Singapore context in them.

• there is talent but it’s not nurtured
   

  My thoughts: Ditto.

• so talented people can’t get into uni unless they are booksmart
   

  My thoughts:  It’s the same thing overseas. Again, compare apples to apples. Let’s compare NUS to unis which are ranked near NUS standard. Can you enter into Oxbridge or Ivies without good grades? Of course not! Aside from Oxbridge, where their admission process is like NUS Medicine, only more rigid, Ivy League universities, even though they emphasise on holistic education  have their SAT requirements. Looking from MIT’s SAT requirements, it is clear that they don’t take those who flunked their SAT.

  In NUS, they do have the Exceptional Individual Scheme (EIS), where people who missed their grades would be able to enter if they show interest in the subject. However, if you missed the mark by a certain margin, whatever you do, you still can’t go in. It’s the same everywhere.

• We don’t become different, we are the same (I merged the three points together)
   

  My thoughts: I think being artistic and whee whee, I LOVE MUSIC and ARTS, is just too mainstream. It’s sooo bloody boring.

4. Singaporeans are submissive (6:58)

• Blah blah blah (what she said)
   

  My thoughts: Order is good for the economy. Do you know why other countries think that Singapore is a role model for their country? Because order makes things efficient and brings about stability. The side effects would be that people will follow rules and don’t question them. Why is it that Singapore is ordered? Asian values!

5. Singaporeans are not happy (7:24)

• people in service in other countries (Taiwan & Australia) serve you with a smile and seem genuinely happy
   

  My thoughts: I have worked with Taiwanese people before. Yes, they are happy and serve customers with a smile. But they like to backstab people. I got backstabbed by them for being creative in work (oh, the irony!) and thus, my view is that they just do it for the sake of doing it.

• but in Singapore, being in the service sector is “just a job”: they don’t take pride in their job, they don’t smile
   

  My thoughts: They don’t want to work in the service sector. They work for the money. Again, Singaporeans like to be practical. I don’t get paid, why should I do it.

• one of the highest suicide rates in the world
   

  My thoughts: Suicide = unhappy? Oh really? Do you know that, as a young boy, I wanted to kill myself, not because I was unhappy, but I hated people who joked on me. Yes, it might be unhappiness, but then again, it’s just too generalised.

• It’s a stressful country
   

  My thoughts: Again, we are small. Compare us to Taipei, Seoul, New York and Sydney (within a 50km radius). Go live within a 50km radius of these places, instead of some funny suburban area. Yes, Iowa feels very nice and not stressful, but all I can see is farms.

6. Singaporeans are not nice (9:00)

• in Australia, strangers greet you all the time and will help you if you seem to be in distress
   

  My thoughts: Greeting you all the time does not mean you are friendly. Yes, ang mohs are generally nice people, but I get annoyed when people greet me all the time. Do you know that Bangladeshi people are nice people too? But Singaporeans don’t think so.

• Singaporeans don’t help
   

  My thoughts: True enough. Singaporeans have the so called, you defend yourself mentality.

  They don’t want to help not because they don’t want to help, but they are scared of repercussions. What if the person they are helping sued them for not helping them properly?

  I have seen from my eyes that the Malays are much more willing to help and protect people, even though they are stereotyped by people as ‘mats’ and ‘gangsters’.

7. Everyone just follows the rules (11:56)

• they never speak up and just go with the crowd
   

  My thoughts: Check on Facebook and coffeeshop, as what I have said earlier. There are a lot of people speaking up, just look around you.

• freedom of speech does not exist
   

  My thoughts: True enough. Nuff said.

I am not agreeing or disagreeing her, I’m just bringing in my viewpoint, to bring in greater clarity. I’m indifferent in terms of ‘proud to be Singaporean’. I’m just a fence sitter most of the time.

Hmm, I think I should blog more on current affairs, since I like these things.

Syed Abdullah

TRS Contributor

*The author blogs at http://syedabdullah.net

Related: 

DEAR STEPHANIE KOH, WHY I AM PROUD TO BE SINGAPOREAN

THE ALTERNATIVE VIEW: SINGAPOREANS ARE PROUD OF STEPHANIE KOH

S'POREAN CONTESTANT IN K-POP STAR HUNT 3: S'POREANS ARE SMALL MINDED AND SUBMISSIVE