Published on Apr 09, 2013 - ST Forum
IN VIEW of the increasing incidents of abusive
behaviour towards health-care workers ("Protect health-care workers
from abuse" by Dr Zhang Weisheng, last Thursday; and "Abuse of
health-care workers on the rise", last Saturday), it is time to
examine why economic progress has brought with it the emergence of
the "Ugly Singaporean".
Part of the reason is that many of our children are now brought
up by maids, and they lack the strong cultural milieu to cultivate
codes of good conduct.
Once they grow up, they treat nurses the way they treat their
maids - because they know of no other way.
When I was growing up, I was immersed in the culture and
traditions of my grandparents, who made me read
San Zhi Jing (Three-Character Classic), which taught Confucian
morality.
My uncles and aunts told me stories
from the Chinese classics of great men and heroes with outstanding
conduct.
These have influenced my thinking and conduct in later life.
Now, some affluent, Westernised Singaporeans throw litter, abuse
nurses and are road bullies.
Fortunately, they are a minority, but nevertheless, the trend
cannot be ignored.
Singaporeans must learn to be self-disciplined and civic-minded,
and respect other people, regardless of their social standing.
The other problem is that we have been brought up expecting the
Government to take care of everything.
Hence, the solution to littering is to increase fines, use
closed-circuit television cameras and increase policing. But what
happened to self-discipline?
It is time for Singaporeans to grow up.
George Wong Seow Choon (Dr)
