Singaporeans are lucky people. If you open up the newspapers in
Singapore to read , there is nothing but good news and good ideas
from the ruling government. There is daily hope that things will
get better. Once a week someone in Singapore achieve something big
- like urine power batteries. Everyone live in harmony with the
government - even opposition in Singapore is nice and quiet. The
government is virtually perfect based on what the Singapore
newspapers say and are always thinking of ways to improve the lives
of Singaporeans. The govt of Singapore is always helping its people
- recently to help the poor buy flats. It looks like Singaporeans
are relatively problem free and happy - not much suffering in
Singapore.
When I went on tour in the US for one month and when I read the
newspaper, I was horrified this country has so much problems.
People going on strike because they think their pay is too low.
Politicians is always arguing with each other on various issues -
Something unheard of in Singapore. The
newspapers is full of criticism of the govt - obviously the Leaders
in America are not as smart as Singapore leaders - nobody in
Singapore can find anything wrong with the PAP. The people I met in
America are generally unhappy with their lives and is always
talking about trying to change it - they dream of becoming rich,
becoming movie stars, becoming singers, becoming this and that. I
even met a 40 year old guy who was attending medical school -
obviously he is unhappy with his job as a waiter. Contrast to
Singaporeans who are very happy with their current existence, many
are happy with their current jobs and don't dream much about the
future.
When I was on tour, I found out America has poor public transport
system - no MRT, few public bus. Can't imagine how they get
around.
Their service sector is behind us by decades, I went the hotel
restaurant to eat, the first day they were very nice to me. The
second day I went back, they were not nice. I was offended, so like
every good Singaporean, I complained. They told me I did not tip
them the first day. Walao, in America must 'tip' to get service. In
Singapore, I never have to tip!
Another day I wondered on to the streets and found a man
distributing anti-government material. I read it and it accused the
US govt of causing the suffering in 3rd world countries. Why does
the US govt allow the people to accuse it? In singapore, this
person would have been arrested.
Another day, a Hispanic union group gathered in a rally accusing
employers of discrimination - how can they do that? don't they know
that businesses if not given a free hand to do what they want will
just invest in china or india. How come their union is not working
with the employer to harmonise worker relations and persuade
workers to accept their current conditions?
One day when I was on the "free and easy" part of my tour I found a
way to take the bus around in Los Angeles. At my 3rd stop, a
cyclist wanted to take the bus, the bus driver got down the bus and
help him to mount his bicycle on a structure at the front of the
bus. I was disgusted, how can he do that, it caused delay to
everyone on the bus. I'm surprised Americans put up with that. Half
way through the ride, the bus got a bit crowded, just like
Singapore people don't move to the rear. At the bus stop people
trying to get up shouted loudly at the people in the bus to "move
to the rear guys!! we can't get up!!".
In Singapore, people would have kept quiet and waited for the bus
driver
to do something - if nothing is done they would have just waited
for the next bus. This shows that Americans are impatient lot -
unlike Singapore they don't trust the person in the leadership
position(bus
driver) to do his job.
As I move around in America, I realise the problem of older workers
getting jobs is far worse that in Singapore. I saw very few old
folks working in America - they are mostly sitting in parks or
playing with their grand children. I guess they do that because
they are unable to find a job. In contrary, we see many old folks
in Singapore working as cleaners or at MacDonalds. We should be
thankful that in Singapore even old folks can find jobs. In
America, old folks are jobless and sitting around doing nothing. It
is obvious the American government is unable to solve the
structural unemployment problem and are unable to redesign jobs for
older workers. These old folks in America must be
suffering without an income and spending so much time in the park
when
they should be working.
I went to one place that was having an election for a Mayor. So
much money wasted on posters and hundreds of people wasting time
campaigning for the candidates. Why do they waste time doing that?
In Singapore, instead of having so many people choosing a
president, we simply have a panel of 3 people to do it - it is
cheaper and waste less energy. Obviously America has alot to learn
from Singapore.
The only place I like alot is Las Vegas. Wow the bright lights and
the wonderful casinos. Yes, I like it alot although one night at
the jackpot machine, I don't know what happened to me and I lost
$500. For some reason, I couldn't stop myself. But later when I
watch the show with the pirate ship and girls in bikini, I felt
much better and forgot my loss. Certainly I'll come back to Las
Vegas. You can see that the Singapore govt also realise that most
Singaporeans will like Las Vegas, so they are building 2 casinos in
Singapore to bring Las Vegas to Singaporeans. See, how much the PAP
govt cares about you, to make sure you're well entertained and have
some excitement in your life.
You can see for yourself how lucky singapore is as a country.
People above 60 are still able to find jobs and continue working.
Everyone living in harmony happily. No time wasted on debates and
protests. No confusing concepts to deal with. After my tour in
America, I'm so glad that we have such a good government that put a
smile on the faces of Singaporeans everyday... and when I open up
the newspapers, I can see everything is fine and dandy. Our
citizens are obedient and trust their leaders. - sammyboy
