Is Singapore lacking ‘heart’?

Written by Ridzuan Ashim

Monday, 25 June 2007

There has been much talk revolving around the reasons why there was a need for the ministerial salaries to be raised. Fundamentally, it was about talent retention. While I agree that an individual’s effort and commitment must be matched with a commensurate compensation package, the strong focus on the monetary returns of public service brings up the question of…Is there such a lack of patriotic Singaporeans(equipped with the skills to govern the country) who are willing to contribute back to the betterment of his, or her, countrymen? Is it really the money and the materialistic perks that drive us? I ask this worryingly because I’m only a 23-year old whose academic experience has revolved around serving in various school leadership bodies(Student Council, Union, etc..). Often, those that served with me are asked, “Why do you do this? Why are you wasting your time instead of studying?” While there is a large proportion of those who serve citing ‘experience’ and ‘good for resume’ as their primary reasons, there are those who genuinely do it because there is a certain sense of duty that they feel towards the people around them - a strong belief that they could actually better the system. Often these people are the ones that make the most impact. There legacies are left long after they have left the organization. What about those who do it for the ‘experience’ and ‘resume’? Their work ends as soon as they leave…although they may have been great while they were there. As I come close to entering the workforce, I see how many of my peers who used to be full of hope and dreams suddenly become filled with such emptiness. Their lives revolve around making sure they’re not dead before lunch after which they then hope for time to fly quickly to 6pm when then can join the rush hour crowd heading home. Some even work overtime for no extra pay. Asking them what they hope to be beyond the next 6 months, the answer would often be something that goes like, “Well, I’m not sure” or “I haven’t given much thought to it” or “See how lor”…which essentially means, “I have no idea man. I’m just living day to day…” Given that we need to have a balance of pragmatism as well as the ‘heart’ in the things we do, how do we strike that balance? What is the state of the people today? It’s obvious that we have pragmatism oozing in the blood of the country…but do we have ‘heart’? I feel this is a very important question to ask because it’s one that affects various other issues like ‘The Singaporean Identity”. Should Singapore have ‘heart’ or should our selling point to the world as Singaporeans really be that we’re a class of people that brands ourselves as a pragmatic lot. How far would you go for what you love? $10k per month? How about 20k? Do you have ‘heart’?