As a Malaysian, I have always wondered why is it that my
neighboring country, Singapore, has been labeled as the home of the
"kiasu" people. Kiasu, it seems, is such a proud claim that there
are t-shirts and apparel with the word kiasu at it. There is even a
sitcom by the name of Mr. Kiasu.
For the uninformed, the word kiasu is an expression in which
Singaporeans use to describe themselves. It basically points to
those who want to get the most for whatever they pay for. In short,
getting the best deals in the cheapest possible way, preferably
free! Not exactly a positive word to label anyone with, yet my
recent trip to Singapore only proves that there may be some truth
in the saying. It is not that I am biased or have any negative
impression of my neighbors, but this is something that happened to
me personally and therefore, I dare to recount the incidents
despite the risk of being deported the moment I step in to
Singapore again for my next trip. OK, just kidding!
Singapore had always made me homesick for Malaysia. If anyone
thinks that Kuala Lumpur is hectic, wait till you check out
Singapore. The whole country never seems to sleep. There are hordes
of people on the streets at any time of the day, worst than ever on
weekends. It is hard to walk without rubbing shoulders with a few
hundred people a day. Everything in Singapore is about queuing up.
You queue when you want to order food, or get a table at the
restaurant. You queue to make your payments, get a cab, take a pee,
or catch a glimpse of a famous starlet's street performance! It
amazes me just how much queuing is involved in that country. Yes,
it may be a good thing to learn how to queue. Malaysians are not
good at queuing at all. Then again, this is probably because we
hardly ever have a need to. Could it be the culture, environment,
and lifestyle that made the Singaporeans kiasu? It is their
constant mad rush to get above each other that turns them into
kiasu people?
I believe it could be the mentality of the people to always want
the best (and better) than anyone else (despite their tiny-sized
country) that made them behave the way they are today. Perhaps, we
cannot entirely blame the people for being kiasu. Sometimes, I feel
they do not even know that they are acting so. However, coming from
an outsider looking in, the kiasu syndrome is quite apparent.
Having been to Singapore several times the past 2 years, I left the
country feeling drained and contented to be going home. In fact, I
let out a whoop of cheer as I cross the Causeway!
On the first day of my visit, my friends and I were at Suntec
City Plaza for the Motor Show 2002. Parking was scarce despite the
numerous floors of parking bays. To get a legit parking spot in
Singapore is as good as finding a miracle. After 15 minutes of
circling around the massive building, we chance upon a couple
heading towards the car, opening the door, and getting into their
vehicle. Boy, you can imagine how ecstatic we were at having found
a decent car park within 15 minutes. After having waited for
several minutes, we got impatient. Not only were we getting
impatient, but the row of cars behind us (we were hogging the
one-lane road) were starting to honk at us. My husband got down
from the car and politely knocked on their window, saying "Excuse
me, but are you leaving soon?" The guy replied yes, he was. We
waited more, reversing a number of times so that cars could squeeze
past us. While we waited, we watched as the guy spoke on his mobile
phone and made several calls. Later, after 5 minutes, he told us
that he is not leaving after all, as he has forgotten to pick up
some items from the store. By then, you can only imagine our
frustrations. We, being a real pain, refused to budge. We sat in
our car, waiting for him to make his move - which is either driving
off or going back to the stores. He did neither. He said there for
as long as we did, refusing to move. It was quite a comical game we
played, now that I am home and can laugh at the incident. After a
couple more minutes, we gave up and drove away. The moment we drove
past his car, he left the car park spot, making us even angrier
than before. Was this a blatant show of kiasuism, we wonder? Was
that his way of getting back at us for having bugged him about
leaving, or was it just a common form of Singaporeans who do not
like to give others their parking spot, even though they were
leaving? Anyhow, I am sure it would have infuriated him if he had
known that we got his parking spot after all.
After we have parked the car, we moved on to the Motor Show
2002. There, while going up the escalator, we saw a little boy
struggling with a huge Mazda paper bag, which we gathered was
obtained from the Motor Show. The paper bag was large enough to
envelope the boy had we stuffed him in it. That pretty much made us
wonder... is this again a form of kiasuism? That their paper bags
must be bigger than anyone else? Some families (of four) had a
paper bag each. When the employees at Mazda came out with a bundle
of these bags, it was snatched up faster than you can say, "Wow,
what a big bag!"
The Motor Show was interesting enough. Two floors of pure power
and gleaming machines! We had to pay S$8 per adult, which was
decently priced. Ah, but alas, we weren't quick enough, therefore
no Mazda paper bags for us! Perhaps we should learn to queue up the
next time...
That night itself, my friends and I went for dinner at Tiong
Bahru. It was a delicious meal of fish head bee hoon, Singapore
fried kuey teow, fried chicken, vegetables, and tofu. It was a
simple meal no doubt, but the noodles gave us a fright! Bee hoon in
Malaysia is a slim as vermicelli. However, the ones in Singapore
are 4 times the size. The kuey teow in Malaysia is half the size of
that found in Singapore. Again we joked amongst ourselves that
"Gee... even their noodles has got to be bigger and better than
anyone else!" What a motivation for achievement!
The next day, at lunch, we were at the Yee Cheong Yuen Noodle
Restaurant. This restaurant prides itself for serving delicious
noodles since 1970. Some of their specialties include the Oyster
Sauce Chicken Hor Fun (a type of noodle), fried won ton, and other
forms of noodles. The restaurant (as with all restaurants in
Singapore) is crowded and the queue was building up. The table we
booked was an 8-seater one. However, our lunch party was made up of
either 5 or 6 people. A friend's presence was unconfirmed. Very
soon, the place was filled up and the three of us (my husband, a
friend and I) were the only ones seated there, waiting for the rest
to arrive. An elderly woman with her husband and a friend came up
to us, asking the number of people that will be occupying our
table. My friend replied, saying we have either 5 or 6 only. The
woman promptly insisted that she would like to share our table,
since 5 plus 3 people on her side made 8. Having plunked her
husband there to "guard" their space, she proceeded with her friend
to the queue to order their meal. While she was gone, the remaining
people from my group of friend arrived, a guy and his girl friend.
With a total of 6 people in my lunch group now, we realized that we
have no space for the woman. When she came back with her lunch, to
our great surprise, she made a huge fuss out of it. She pointed
fingers at us, saying we told her we had only 5 people in our group
(duh, we did tell her we might be expecting 6). Since we have an
extra person in our group, she insisted that my extra friend cannot
sit there. We were outrageous, of course. I mean, we were there
first (oops, first sign of the kiasu syndrome invading us), we
booked the table for ourselves, she wanted to join in, but if we
did run out of space suddenly, who should move?
With much reluctance, she finally gave up her hold on the seat.
We thought she was about to flip my friend out of her chair.
Mumbling some sarcastic remarks at us, cursing us Chinese in
general for not being able to speak Mandarin (whatever for), and a
horde of other insults were hurled at us. Not wanting to get into
an argument with an old lady, we quietly went on with our meals.
When we left the restaurant a moment later, boy oh boy, if looks
could kill, I will be dead by now. I thought she was shooting
daggers at us with her looks!
Isolated though the cases may be, yet it was these little small
incidents that marred our weekend there. Of course, I believe that
there are many polite and decent Singaporeans in that country.
However, the kiasu syndrome is something that cannot be denied. It
is there... in that country and living amongst them. To me,
Singapore is all about money. You cannot leave your house without
spending money. If you are at KFC, watch your queue. Once, at KFC,
the first and third lane was opened to customers to make their
orders. Suddenly, a staff decides to open the middle lane to take
more orders. Immediately, people from the first and third queue
jumped in to the middle lane, and a fight ensues. The question
is... who came first? Some would say that they were there at the
first lane wayyyyyy before the guy from the third lane came in. The
third guy said, too bad, I saw the middle lane opened first, so I
get in line before you. Then someone would say, "No way, I was here
2 minutes before you!" At the end of the day, who is right and who
is not?
Perhaps I have been too harsh in my judgment, or maybe I have
not. Do not get me wrong. I am not saying that every Singaporean is
kiasu. There are plenty of kiasu Malaysians as well. But somehow,
this phenomenon seemed more apparent in Singapore. I wonder
why...
Disclaimer: Views expressed here are those of the author and not
a representation of the website.
Taken from http://www.thingsasian.com/stories-photos/2196