Nothing New (II)

Are We Becoming a Nation of Complaint Kings? (23 May 2011)

I DISAGREE with comments that our electorate has matured. Judging from the uncultured remarks on online forums, posting boards and Facebook, Singapore’s image in the world has suffered a great blow.

The older generation enjoyed much progress from an iron-fist style of government. We trusted our leaders to make the right decisions for the nation and remained positive in times of adversity. We stayed united and swallowed bitter pills for the sake of our overall good.

The younger generation has taken the success of today for granted. They are clearly rebellious, disrespectful, ungrateful and ungracious towards our respectable, world-class leaders.

Will Singapore become a nation of “complaint kings”? All I hear are negative comments about our leaders. It is easy to criticise policies, as every solution will result in winners and losers.

Do people think money drops from the sky when they want costs to be cut in every area? How could we have achieved first class status in finance, health care, transportation, housing infrastructure, education, legal system, network connectivity, environment and defence without our top ministerial brains?

The new generation thinks it is fashionable to be anti-government. They spread hate messages in cyberspace. All praises for policies are rebutted with protests.

Instead of complaining, one should think of the positive side of our policies. If one thinks a policy is unfair, explain why and suggest better alternatives. Always look at the big picture and be gracious to accept counter-arguments.

Look for opportunities to earn higher wages. Be appreciative of what we have and do not put the blame on others.

The good governance and stable economy has enabled my business to grow over the years, even when times were bad.

Having the right mindset is the first step towards a First World society – a class of understanding, tolerant and respectful citizens.

Inevitably, after the PAP suffered a considerable (by uniquely Singaporean standards) electoral setback at the May 8 polls, numerous letters have appeared in the Straits Times defending the PAP’s record and expressing confidence in its ability to take Singapore forward (reasonable) and decrying its detractors as mere complaint kings only interested in attacking policies and the party without any desire to improve the country (not so reasonable). Until today, none have been very egregious, so I have not chosen to engage. But this one needs some rebutting.

To give due credit to our writer, she certainly doesn’t beat around the bush. She characterizes criticism of government policies as being uniformly negative and harmful. She implies that Singaporeans should trust in “our respectable, world-class leaders” because they know what is best for us. Singaporeans should always seek to look on the positive side of any policies even if, I suppose, these affect them adversely. Any criticism of policies should be accompanied by well-thought-out alternatives. And then, ironically, she states that Singaporeans should be gracious to accept counter-arguments.

Yes, she said this: “The younger generation has taken the success of today for granted. They are clearly rebellious, disrespectful, ungrateful and ungracious towards our respectable, world-class leaders” in her letter and still thinks she is qualified to lecture others about being gracious in accepting counter-arguments.

1) Take your own advice, madam.

2) It is unhealthy to characterize all negative feedback about government policies as mere complaining. As she herself acknowledges, policies have good and bad sides. To minimize the bad, it is necessary to consider criticism and act on it where possible. It will not help anyone being adversely affected by a policy to think positive! What they want is for a policy to stop screwing them over; telling them to think positive is akin to (note: it is an apocryphal story) being an aristocrat telling starving peasants to eat cake. I do not condone personal attacks on any politicians, PAP or opposition – that is definitely beyond the pale. But criticism, even harsh criticism, must be taken in the right spirit. The solution is never to shut everybody up as our writer appears to be implying.

3) The top-down leadership of yesteryear will no longer wash. Every Singaporean has a stake in this country. We have all made sacrifices for the country; we have worked hard for it and many of us have trained to defend it. In return, we must have a say in how things are run. If you want to simply trust in strong leaders, we might as well turn this back into a despotism. And as examples from around the world (North Korea, Myanmar) have amply demonstrated, that is not the way to go in the present-day. It is absolutely vital that any government pay attention to what its citizens want; in fact, it is essential, since the primary duty of any government is to take care of the country and its citizens within. Our leaders, paradoxically, are also our servants. They are not gods sitting, judging, rewarding and punishing us from on high.

4) It is not reasonable to expect citizens to sketch out well-thought-out alternatives to policies they are unhappy about. Firstly, they may be only unhappy about elements of a policy. Their comments should be taken into account and the policy tweaked. Secondly, few citizens have experience and training in policy-making. They are primarily concerned about how, on a micro-level, policies are adversely affecting them. The onus is on our leaders to take into account criticism and feedback to change their policies – because that’s what they have been elected to do! We wouldn’t need leaders if the average man on the street could come up with complex national policies in a flash.

For the country to move forward, both we and our leaders have to be more accepting of change and be more willing to listen. There are signs that it might be happening. I sure hope it is.

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