Thursday, June 21, 2007

The more I try to love Singapore, the harder my heart aches.

Is this how some of you feel? Is that the reason why some of our fellow Singaporeans choose to leave for greener pastures? We work hard or even struggle to maintain a certain quality of life, to only realise that we have to work even harder, as the quality of the life we have attained begins to require more from us, as part of the national workforce? A government that continues to squeeze the only main resource this nation has? Its people?

Are the majority of Singaporeans living a life that revolves around working paying off for a HDB flat, paying off a car loan, paying off study loans for tertiary education? Where the same amount of effort, in another place or nation, could very well yield a life with a humble home, car, with healthcare and education for the kids taken care of. Are the majority of middle income earners in Singapore even home owners? In a nation where costs of living are beginning to go up across the board. Do we actually have something in this nation to live or strive for?


It has only been what 13 months since the last General elections. We have seen, public medical costs go up. Public transport rates going up. NETS cost due to be increase. Goods and Services Tax due to rise. Minister's getting super pay increases. Property prices going on a roller coaster ride. So how have the majority of Singaporeans(lower middle working class) benefited from this recovery of the economy?

Extracts from Wikipedia
"Patriotism denotes positive and supportive attitudes to a 'fatherland' (Latin patria <> Patriotism covers such attitudes as: pride in its achievements and culture, the desire to preserve its character and the basis of the culture, and identification with other members of the nation."

"Patriotism has ethical connotations: it implies that the 'fatherland' (however defined) is a moral standard or moral value in itself."

Love for the country, to preserve a way of life, but the way of life we seek to preserve, has been ever so gradually, shifting. Shifting away from a more balanced work life balance. The values of society have been slowly conforming to being part of PAPs GDP machinery. The influx of "Foreign Talent" isn't doing anything to help the job security of the average Singaporean either. What choice is there left to a Singaporean who is yearning for a better quality of life?

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