kiasu-ism

Monday, March 22, 2010

As I was pondering on an interesting and personal topic to pen down my thoughts on, my mind drifted back to an incident I witnessed two weeks ago.
This took place on an MRT at Jurong East.
I was headed for my tuition in the late morning. I stepped into the fresh coolness of the air-conditioning of the train carriage and sought a seat to no avail; I thus grabbed onto the nearest pole I could find. Just as I was about to dig my head back into the book I had been engrossed in, I spotted some poor soul who happened to let two $2 notes fly from his pocket onto the ground. Before I had the chance to alert him, this auntie immediately stood up and rushed forward like a hawk to its prey and grabbed the notes. Honestly, I was shocked. I always grew up to the notion that Singaporeans were 路不拾遗，拾金不昧, or in other words, honest and not greedy. This auntie had not a single pinch of guilt written on her face; rather, she was hastily rummaging for her purse to store her stash. It seemed as if she thought nobody saw her action. Actually, most of the people in the carriage were staring at her incredulously. Not wanting to attract any bad feelings, I quickly turned away back to my book.
As I type this out today, I ponder if this is yet another manifestation of the oh-so-Singaporean quality of kiasu-ism. I wish I had verified this by rolling a 20-cent coin across the floor...anyway, a direct translation of kiasu is "afraid to lose". Indeed, Singaporeans are always competing to be the top in anything and everything. Meritocracy has become one of the most widely used political formulae, but certainly Singaporeans exhibit the immense desire to achieve the top grade much more than any other country.
My mother recounts an occurence when she was in her university in Edinburgh. Every time she takes the lift, a strange thing will happen: out of the ~14 people in one lift, only she and a Hong Kong-er would actually press the close button. This really shows how anxious we are to be the quickest in getting anything! Such trivialities might seem ordinary here where everyone does it, but in the Western world we would stick out like sore thumbs.
Singaporeans beware. Do not succumb to the depths of kiasu-ism. I know the lollipop is right there in front to tempt you, but are you sure you want to suck it?

11:03 PM

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i'm alvin.
i come from hwa chong institution in singapore.
i'm in class 2i2. yes, i'm a sparkie.
i'm 14+ years old; celebrated my bdae on feb 12.
my hobbies r simple: reading, piano, com games.
i like animals, especially cats mudkipz.
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