The Moley Prophet

I just found out something, my ideas don’t come to me unless I am out of my home, so I’ve taken to blogging while on the bus, train, cab, walking on the streets.

So why do I say Singaporeans are selfless? In general, Singaporeans always think for others before themselves. Singaporeans may be known for being the 2 “kias” (kiasu - afraid to lose/kiasee - afraid to die), but they are afraid of something else, they are afraid that others lack help.

2 weeks ago, I was at a toastmaster chapter of another club. One of the topics discussed was, should we restrict what our maids wear? And the general consensus was, no. But has anyone given a thought to our people? The waiters at McDonald’s, the door man at our hotel lobby, the insurance agents selling policies on the streets. They were all given specific instructions or specific clothing to wear. Has anyone sympathized them? They are all employees under paying employers, what’s the difference?

Singaporeans may be known to be best at picking the right bargain, in fact sometimes things may turn ugly, ruining the image of Singaporeans as a whole. But when it comes to giving, the sense of saving is lost. Singaporeans, no matter how poor they, how distraught they could be, don’t resist giving. Besides the all fanfare charity shows, the kindness of Singaporeans could be seen when disaster strikes at a neighboring country. Support from all levels would come pouring in. Take Myanmar’s Cyclone Nargis disaster for example. People from all levels pour in donations of all sorts. Even with the inflation affecting everyone now, people continue donate whatever they could. A certain local company, whose financials aren’t as strong as before, continued to show support for this cause with a huge donation of money. Renhao says that this is just flaunting of corporate social responsibility. But I say not. Many of the companies which called in for donations are only willing to donate in kind, donating their old stocks, and these are foreign MNCs with huge capital. What they are doing is of course very nice of them, but given the comparing financial positions of the companies, what the former did is unbelievably generous. They have also shown immense concern for the efforts. I’m not sure whether the news has been out yet so, I’m not gonna say its name here. But I’m sure those who are receiving this donation would have utmost gratitude for them.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 10th, 2008 at 1:00 am and is filed under The Prophet. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.