I thought the deep Asian currency crisis in 1998 has taught the
HOW LIAN Singaporeans a pretty good lesson, but now a new breed of
HOW LIANs have emerged. Down to earth Singaporeans, young or old,
may not be able to survive without 3 meals. But those HOW LIANs may
not be able to survive without showing off a chain of credit cards
and new generation of handphones.
Those hardcores or diehards might have found life too boring in
Singapore. They found it exciting to accumulating a chain of
first-2-year free credit cards, and flashing it in front those long
queue of NTUC customers, while paying even $5 of grocery! This
trend has diminished over the past years.
Now it seems a new trend has appeared, comparing new generation of
handphones in the office, SMS their way into the drain, must show
that they have handphones when they are on the road, or in the
train or bus,eventhough they could not afford or are trying to
delay paying their monthly subscription, or are they hoping for a
free service?
It was a worrying trend when young graduates aiming for all the Cs
when they just graduated. Comparing their addresses when they are
in the office, comparing the car when driving on the road and now
some have to surrender some if not all of their dreams when they
are out of job!
Are the schools doing enough to rig them of these materialism when
they are young? Why they want to get themselves bog down to such
burden even they hardly can afford them?
The entrepreuner skills of most Singaporeans have suffered
tremendously partly due to their distorted
life style. Most trying hard to cosmetically touch up their living
standard and lifestyle and enjoy life first before they put their
entrepreneurial skill into work.
Are we going to be dominated by the so call down to earth foreign
talents?Are Singaporeans going to drown themselves in buiding those
castle in the air, dreaming of those 5Cs and just be happy with it?
Or just showing off their only earthly belonging-a new generation
of handphone, even at this precarious economic situation?