A long way to go...

Here is an article from the Straits Times Interactive. I'm not surprised by it. What's new, really? Please take time to read this. Thank you.
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Singaporeans get 'F' for courtesy

SINGAPORE was placed a dismal 30 out of 35 cities in a Reader's Digest courtesy test, showing it still has a long way to go - even after more than a quarter century of courtesy campaigns.

New York finished tops in the three tests: holding a door open, saying 'thank you', and helping someone pick up dropped items. Joining it at the top were Zurich in Switzerland and Canada's Toronto in second and third place.

Languishing at the bottom of the list with Singapore were South Korean capital Seoul, Kuala Lumpur, India's financial centre, Mumbai, Bucharest in Romania, and Moscow.

The only thing Singaporeans have to smile about was the good score for service standards. Seventy per cent of staff at retailers surveyed - from classy Marks & Spencer to mamak, or corner shops - said 'please' and 'thank you' before and after a purchase.

The Singapore segment of the survey, the first global poll done by Reader's Digest, was conducted over two weeks in March by three of the magazine's Singaporean staff.

They dropped documents, bought various items from shops and barged into closing doors in about 10 locations, including Raffles Place, UOB Plaza, Holland Village and Eastpoint shopping centre in Simei.

During rush hour and off-peak times, among young and old, male and female, the findings of their 'unscientific study' were disappointing.

One of the surveyors, associate editor Miss Siti Rohani, 29, said: 'When I dropped my papers in the Citilink Mall, everyone who saw me ignored me. They pretended not to see me or just stepped aside and walked on.'

Only 30 per cent of Singaporeans helped pick up the papers, and only a quarter held doors open for other people.

Most Asian cities fared poorly, with only the citizens of Manila (21st on the survey), Hong Kong and Bangkok (25th), and Jakarta and Taipei (28th), faring slightly better in the courtesy stakes.

The head of the Singapore Kindness Movement (SKM), Mr Noel Hon, was surprised by some of the survey's findings, but said cultivating courtesy was an ongoing, long-term goal.
'We are improving,' he said, noting that queueing, a practice once uncommon here, is now standard practice throughout Singapore.

But he acknowledged that 'Singaporeans do need to be reminded to be more courteous, and we will continuously reinforce the message for it to take root.'

The findings come two months before Singapore hosts its largest international event so far, the annual International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings, to be attended by about 16,000 delegates and visitors.

The Singapore 2006 committee, which is overseeing the event, launched the Four Million Smiles campaign earlier this month, with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong saying he wants Singaporeans to give a beaming welcome to the visitors.

To ensure top-notch service, a spokesman for the committee said 21,000 front line service staff would attend a two-day customer service training programme.
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Do you remember the lion that came out about July (I think) every year to remind us all that courtesy begins with each one of us? But because I live to shop & I need to maintain the black belt in shopping so for reasons very obvious, I shall not post that picture up.

It never occurred to me when I was a kid, that it was part of the political set-up, or so called, in the Little Red Dot. Now that I'm older, wiser (*ahem*) & a lot more cynical, I just diss at such movements & with such a survey & article that reports the results of such education, I cannot help but sit behind the computer screen & laugh as I read the article.

So much for Asian hospitality, so much for Asian kindness & group mentality, so to speak. Specifically, so much for wanting to be world class or first class in everything but bottom of the rack for basic human behaviour. Looks like where that is concerned, Little Red Dotters are still very little in courtesy.

Here I go again. If basic human behaviour cannot even manifest itself, how in the world can Little Red Dot become number one or world class or first class at all? Every country & society can use its brains & brawn to build something out of nothing, as history has proven & is still proving itself. But if the very heart of the people of the country/society is unable to demonstrate basic human courtesy, everything fails. (Ha! So does that surprise anyone that this Little Red Dot doesn't sink in very well with Amnesty International now that it is proven & revealed that the Little Red Dotters weigh down with a major lack of basic human recognition or acknowledgement of fellow humans?)

I hate to have to say this. While the western countries seemingly have eroded values (not that Little Red Dot's values have not been influenced in anyway), but these are the places where basic human rights, recognition & acknowledgement in whatever forms hold firm. I have to say based on my (limited) personal experiences, it is true that in places like New York, London and Toronto that the people are courteous. It has nothing to do with the fact that I'm a student, tourist or resident in these places. Neither does it have anything to do with the fact that I have a fat bank account or not but the bottomline is that because I'm human so these other humans accorded me with courtesies that they too would like to receive for the very fact that they are humans too!

The irony behind it all, my dear earthlings, is that none of these places mentioned needed the powers that be to remind them every once a year to be courteous or to be kind to someone else. So much about sincerity. I have to kind & courteous because it is the month/season to be so. What absolute bollocks!

While thinking about this, I can't help but think of some examples of unpleasant behaviour I've encountered or witnessed myself.

1. No holding of doors It is true that people on the Little Red Dot don't bother to hold the doors because they are too heavy & rather than damage their delicate hands, they would rather have it slam & flatten the nose of the next person & pretend nothing happened. Classic.

2. No apology It annoys me when there is an accidental brush when walking in opposite directions & that the person does not apologise. Instead, that other person looks ready to pick up a fight. I mean, regardless of who had the misjudgment & caused the 'collision', I always thought that it's only basic courtesy to apologise. Sometimes I feel like the prize idiot when I apologise because that other person gives that look & mumbles something. No, I'm not the prize idiot. I'm the prize courtesy queen. *HMPH*

3. No one else but me Gosh! This IS the cause of the lack of basic & common courtesy. I witnessed this by a student who went to England on the school trip.

We were at a pub dinner & on each table (of about 6 - 7) was a jug of water. Common-sense would have it that the jug goes round the water glasses of everyone seated. Two particular girls poured water from the jug into their own water bottles after filling their own glasses. I was horrified & told them that it's not a nice thing to do because there are others who need to drink water too. What caused the near heart attack was that they just gave the 'so what' look, followed by the mumbles.

Either I was too rigid about it or they were being smart. I don't know but that to me, was rather appalling.

I can't hold the government responsible for failing to educate society, can I? And what makes them think that 2 days of training can make 21,000 people working on the IMF Conference will make them better persons? This reveals the mentality of the Little Red Dot - treat the symptoms. The root of the problem.....treat the symptoms....the root....urrrmmm....I know, we throw in a cutesy lion & hope for the best..hurray!

If a thousand years of domestic law cannot eradicate murder, surely, it is too much for anyone to expect 30 years of campaigning to make a society, an entire country polite.

I really appreciate & thank you for your time & patience in going through this long article with me. Like I said, it's a long way to go.