Friday, October 20, 2006
Derek Wee vs Wee Shu Min
On the 12th of October, a blogger by the name of Derek Wee posted about Singapore's 'survival of the fittest' mentality, talked about how it was difficult for older workers to gain employment, and the issue of making babies.
On the 19th of October, a little girl called Wee Shu Min commented on Derek's post, labelling him "one of many wretched, undermotivated, overassuming leeches in our country".
Both Derek's and Shu Min's post can be read here:
http://forums.delphiforums.com/n/mb/display.asp?webtag=sammyboymod&msg=121090.1
I do agree with Derek's post... it's not getting easier to live in Singapore. Yes, the government has done a good job in ensuring that we have clean and safe streets, and making sure our economy is able to reinvent itself to suit the world's needs and trends etc. But in terms of quality of life, I do not think that Singaporeans are a really happy lot. Material benefits can only fulfil a person til a certain extent.
And the older employees are having it tougher. And seriously, the joys of having children aside, the cost of raising a kid is not cheap. Every parent would want to give his kid the best, and that means working long hours for the money. What's the point of having a kid if you do not have the time to spend with him?
All valid points raised by Derek, who didn't come across as a whiny bitter struggling individual stretching out his hand to the government and crying, "help me while I sit back and relax! I expect you to feed me!"
Shu Min... while she was right in cautioning against people who are unmotivated and expect the government to provide for their every need ie. welfare state, I think she misjudged Derek's intentions. Derek was simply bringing up a valid point in the hope of raising awareness and highlighting to the government that hey, we do have a problem in these areas. And of course Shu Min's language was totally coarse and rude. No wonder people labelled her an elitist born with a silver spoon in the mouth.
It was really disgusting. She simply exposed herself as a naive little girl with no idea of how the real world functions. It's sugar and spice and all things nice to say that oh, the world is like that, you have to work hard to succeed and if you don't, you're just a lazy bum... tough luck. But while there is some truth in her words about how "if you're not good enough, life will kick you in the balls. that's just how things go", there was no need for her to be harsh.
I come from a family which was sorta upper middle-class, all thanks to my parents' hard work. They tried their hand at different businesses, always looking for some way to make money when a venture failed. When the economic crisis happened, things just kinda went downhill. With lots of debt, and difficulty in making money coz my parents are above 40, it was a struggle. It's like being stuck in the middle of nowhere, no place to run. We struggled and with the grace of God, have been able to manage.
So I do understand Derek. I do know what it's like to work super hard and yet somehow, not be able to move up. It's not like my parents were lazy. No, they worked extremely hard. But in Singapore, sometimes working smart and hard is simply not enough. Meritocracy just doesn't cut it.
How silly of Shu Min to think that the life in Singapore is so straight-forward.
On the 19th of October, a little girl called Wee Shu Min commented on Derek's post, labelling him "one of many wretched, undermotivated, overassuming leeches in our country".
Both Derek's and Shu Min's post can be read here:
http://forums.delphiforums.com/n/mb/display.asp?webtag=sammyboymod&msg=121090.1
I do agree with Derek's post... it's not getting easier to live in Singapore. Yes, the government has done a good job in ensuring that we have clean and safe streets, and making sure our economy is able to reinvent itself to suit the world's needs and trends etc. But in terms of quality of life, I do not think that Singaporeans are a really happy lot. Material benefits can only fulfil a person til a certain extent.
And the older employees are having it tougher. And seriously, the joys of having children aside, the cost of raising a kid is not cheap. Every parent would want to give his kid the best, and that means working long hours for the money. What's the point of having a kid if you do not have the time to spend with him?
All valid points raised by Derek, who didn't come across as a whiny bitter struggling individual stretching out his hand to the government and crying, "help me while I sit back and relax! I expect you to feed me!"
Shu Min... while she was right in cautioning against people who are unmotivated and expect the government to provide for their every need ie. welfare state, I think she misjudged Derek's intentions. Derek was simply bringing up a valid point in the hope of raising awareness and highlighting to the government that hey, we do have a problem in these areas. And of course Shu Min's language was totally coarse and rude. No wonder people labelled her an elitist born with a silver spoon in the mouth.
It was really disgusting. She simply exposed herself as a naive little girl with no idea of how the real world functions. It's sugar and spice and all things nice to say that oh, the world is like that, you have to work hard to succeed and if you don't, you're just a lazy bum... tough luck. But while there is some truth in her words about how "if you're not good enough, life will kick you in the balls. that's just how things go", there was no need for her to be harsh.
I come from a family which was sorta upper middle-class, all thanks to my parents' hard work. They tried their hand at different businesses, always looking for some way to make money when a venture failed. When the economic crisis happened, things just kinda went downhill. With lots of debt, and difficulty in making money coz my parents are above 40, it was a struggle. It's like being stuck in the middle of nowhere, no place to run. We struggled and with the grace of God, have been able to manage.
So I do understand Derek. I do know what it's like to work super hard and yet somehow, not be able to move up. It's not like my parents were lazy. No, they worked extremely hard. But in Singapore, sometimes working smart and hard is simply not enough. Meritocracy just doesn't cut it.
How silly of Shu Min to think that the life in Singapore is so straight-forward.
