[Speech by Dr Ang Yong Guan at the 2013 National Day Celebration Event in Hong Lim Park on 9 August 2013.]
1. Fellow Singaporeans, thank you for coming to Hong Lim Park to celebrate our nation’s birthday. Happy Birthday, Singapore.
2. Today, as we celebrate our nation’s 48th birthday, we take great pride in being Singaporeans. We have come a long way to take our place on the world stage. In terms of economic prosperity and infrastructure, we are the envy of many people in the world. We are also a safe place to live in. But without we people, such achievements will not be possible. Let us give ourselves a round of applause and a pat on our back.
3. But hardware and feeling safe alone does not make a great nation. A nation is only great when its people feel good about themselves, get along well with their fellow citizens supporting especially those who are weak and feel connected to their leaders and their nation.
4. So, are we as a people becoming emotionally more insecure? More emotionally dumbed (I don’t mean intellectually dumbed) and numbed? According to a Gallop Poll in 2012, Singaporeans are the least emotional people in the world. Singapore is also the 8th most pessimistic nation in the world in the same year. Being emotionless and pessimistic can make us vulnerable to mental problems. We are not only emotionally dumbed and numbed, some of us are also down in the dumps.
5. According to an IMH 2012 survey, 1 in 33 Singaporeans have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, which is linked to emotional insecurity. Our OCD rate is the highest in the world, we are said to be the OCD capital of the world. Life can be so stressful for some that they end up taking their own lives. 467 Singaporeans took their lives in 2012; the highest in 21 years. SOS (Samaritans of Singapore) receives about 40,000 phone calls for help per year; on an average, about 110 calls a day.
6. It is a paradox that this bleak state of affairs is happening against a backdrop of economic success. Singapore has one of the world’s highest GDP per capita, low unemployment rate of about 2%, and high life expectancy of 82. PM Lee said in his National Day message last night that our economy is expected to grow by 2.5-3.5% this year. Such traditional economic indicators alone do not, and cannot, quantify our emotional well-being.
7. While higher incomes may improve people’s emotional wellbeing, they can only do so up to a certain extent. Two economists D Kahneman and A Deaton found that after we have made SD$95,000 annually (about $8000 a month), additional income will have little meaningful effect on how we experience our lives.
8. It is clear that for our government to over-emphasize economic growth plus an obsession with building our reserves at the expense of the citizens’ emotional well-being (emotional bank account (EBA) or social capital) is no longer acceptable. We must do more to increase the emotional bank account (EBA) of Singaporeans. Just as we insist on maintaining the minimum CPF retirement account, we must insist on a healthy EBA. A healthy EBA is vital for a high self-esteem, which is the best anti-dote against unhappiness and pessimism.
9. Building this EBA depends on 3 inter-related factors: the self, the stress we face and the support we get from home, schools, work place and the nation.
10. Parents need to spend time with their children (especially the first 5 years before they enter kindergarten) for emotional bonding and depositing into the children’s EBA (emotional bank account). But if both parents have to work long hours and overtime to finance their high housing loan and to cope with the high cost of living, such emotional bonding I am afraid is not taking place optimally.
11. Once our children go to school, the school becomes another agency to build their EBA. If the school is supportive and provides a conducive environment for our children to do, learn and grow; they will continue to deposit into their EBA.
12. If schools are obsessed with academic results at the expense of personality development, then such healthy deposits into the EBA will not take place. Next, after they finish school and enter the work force, their emotional growth continues. If employers are supportive of work-life balance, then they will continue to build their EBA.
13. Finally, the nation plays a vital part too. Homes, schools and workplace operate within the nation and they take their cue from the nation’s leaders who must have clear vision, passion and the desire to help the citizens deposit into their EBAs.
14. PM Lee said again in last night’s message: “Singapore should always be our best Home, with Heart and Hope….” But unfortunately, we see our houses but don’t feel the home, we see the head but don’t seem to feel the heart and where is the hope when what we see is despair.
15. I feel strongly that we need a new narrative, a new mental model to make Singaporeans less emotionally insecure, less dumbed and numbed. But how do we do it? In this new mental model, we want to build a quality society without sacrificing economic growth. A quality society where people feel emotionally secure with healthy EBA to weather crises and emotional storms.
16. What policies need to be re-examined? Which one to fine-tune and which one to remove? Let me just give a few examples because of lack of time.
17. First, I feel that we should not equate helping the disadvantaged, the poor and the elderly as turning Singapore into a welfare state. The government’s over-emphasis on self-reliance has its limits. Cases like that of Rebecca Loh who threw her 9 year old son from the 5th floor should be identified early and not be allowed to slip through the safety net. When people know that an easily available safety net exists, they will naturally become emotionally secure.
18. Our health care costs are high and that is making people feel emotionally insecure. The 3M system (Medisave, Medishield and Medifund) accounts for only 15% of our health care expenditure. What we take out from our pockets to pay for our health care expenses can be as high as 60%. The government needs to implement a universal health care insurance system. By risk pooling, we can lower the insurance premiums for every Singaporean. As a nation, we can then provide peace of mind and emotional security for all when our citizens fall sick. Once again, this is not robbing the reserves. This must be seen as an investment in our citizens’ EBA. We are only spending less than 5% of our GDP at the moment.
19. Second, review policies which make an individual feel labeled negatively. For instance, whilst MOE has done a lot in removing ranking of schools and modifying streaming, I feel strongly what they need to review and drop is the term express and normal in secondary school. We all know that express is normal and normal is abnormal. Who are we kidding? We are mature enough to remove such euphemisms.
20. Whilst being slapped with the label of normal may not affect many students, the sensitive few get affected and their self-esteem is ruined for the rest of their lives. With negative labeling, there will be no positive deposit into the EBA.
21. We know how one event in our lives can affect us for the rest of our lives. Former PM Lee Kuan Yew told the press a few years ago that he did not allow casinos when he was PM as he was emotionally and intellectually against gambling because his father he said was a pathological gambler (his father played blackjack at Chinese Swimming Club). In his memoirs, he wrote how he witnessed his father coming home to demand jewellery from his mother to pawn and gamble (page 34 Volume 1 of 2) and how his father had traumatised him when he was 4 years old (page 25).
22. Third, do away with the one-size-fits-all mentality. Civil servants need guidelines but they must create exceptions to the rule for deserving cases. For instance, Pamela Lim’s 5 children have various types of developmental problems and therefore, according to MOE guidelines, would only be suitable for special needs school. As their IQs are high, she wanted them to go to main stream schools. When MOE turned her down, she educated her children at home and abroad. All of them entered university overseas before the age of 14.
23. Fourth, remove policies that are unfair and illogical. PM Lee himself said last night: about “playing a bigger role to build a fair and just society.” To create a fair and just society, stop shifting the goal posts. For example, by adjusting electoral boundaries. Emotional security comes from a sense of belonging to a place. If one moment, you are part of Holland-Bukit Timah, the next moment, you become part of Tanjong Pagar GRC by the stroke of a pen, you feel dislocated and this can drain your EBA.
24. Illogical policies must be exposed. In GE2011, I pointed out that it was ridiculous to set the ERP timing for homebound vehicles along the CTE up to 10.30pm when we should be encouraging people to go home and bond with their family members. I am glad that soon after the GE, the timing was adjusted to 8pm.
25. Fifth, constantly reassure Singaporeans the government embraces diverse views. Stop creating a climate of fear by threatening law suits against citizens who choose not to be dumbed by daring to speak up. This climate of fear is not in keeping with PM’s call for an inclusive society. Quoting from PM Lee’s message again: “all this is only possible if we are not divided by race, social class, or political faction” Let us be mindful that when we Singaporeans speak up, it is not against the country because we also love our country; we are speaking up only against the unfair policies dished out by the ruling party.
26. Let me turn your attention to total fertility rate. Are we doing enough to bring up the TFR? Former PM Lee Kuan Yew has already admitted defeat. He said it has nothing to do with money. 23 years after stepping down, his younger successors have also failed to solve the TFR problem. Last night, PM Lee himself admitted that we need “immigrants to make up for our shortfall of babies”. Is he too, like his father, also giving up on this topic? Yes, if having a child is not about money, could one reason be the emotional insecurity many parents feel regarding bringing up a child in a highly competitive and stressful Singapore environment? It pays therefore to build the EBAs of Singapore parents so that having a baby, seeing the child grow up in a secure environment and contributing to that child’s EBA is seen as a joy and not a chore.
27. The child, because of his healthy EBA, will contribute more and better to the nation. From amongst them will spring forth our entrepreneurs and innovators and who knows, Singapore’s first Nobel Prize winner.
28. Happy Birthday, Singapore. Singaporeans, relax, have fun and enjoy your holiday. Remember to deposit into your EBA (emotional bank account)!
Dr Ang Yong Guan
Psychiatrist