The World is Treating Me Bad - in Singapore?

"The world is treating me bad, misery"  So said the Beatles in 1963, but it comes as somewhat of surprise to learn that the sentiment is alive and well in Singapore.

An excellent article in the South China Morning Post questions why both Singapore and Hong Kong are, despite their wealth, so unremittingly miserable?

I have to say that I never found it so but according to a December 2013 Gallup poll, Singapore leads the pack as Asia's most miserable place, ranking rock bottom in the poll of 148 nations and territories. Only 46% of those surveyed felt positive about the place.

The methodology of the poll is somewhat flawed I feel, as Gallup has tried to standardise a basic human emotion "happiness" across many different cultures and ethnicities and each interprets the term differently.

The time and place when the poll was conducted would also have a bearing. Ask a group of Singaporeans commuters waiting for a late MRT train in the sweltering sun if they are "happy" and the result will be resoundingly in the negative.

Ask the same group in the Robinson's Sale when they have snaffled a bargain then they could express an entirely different sentiment. Happiness is a very subjective thing.

The article went on to quote a teacher in Hong Kong, Alan Lo Tzee-cheng, who believes that that local populace are "too focused on achieving material success, which made them unhappy".

"Money and competition about making more money than others penetrate all parts of people's lives. Their education, the way they raise their children, what they eat. Even to go shopping can be an emotional trial" he went on to say.

I guess only Singaporeans themselves can say whether or not this applies as much in Singapore? Certainly the material occupies many peoples thoughts but I am not convinced that this by itself would be the cause for so much misery.

Yeoh Lam Keong, vice-president of the Economic Society of Singapore, believes the survey has pin pointed something important - that Singaporeans work some of the longest hours globally and have a very poor work-life balance. "They are overstressed and do not have enough time for family and recreation."

As the gap between the wealthiest and poorest Singaporean grows wider so does the range of feelings. The wealthy get happier and the poorer Heartlanders less so. Hong Kong is experiencing something similar.

Chua Kheng Kok, Asia Pacific president of Mary Kay says "I find Singaporeans more envious of each other and therefore less happy." She may well be right, but wanting and getting "more" of something doesn't necessarily equate to "happiness" in one's life.

Achieving the 5C's ( car, cash, credit card, condominium and club membership) may be one mark of success in Singapore but it should  not the only one that society or the education system promotes.

As for me, I find music raises my spirits so here is the Beatles' rendition of the song I mentioned above (and keep smiling!)

Related articles

• Are Singaporeans least happy?

In the Summertime

It's summer, or nearly summer, with the first really warm days in many months lifting the spirits as well as the temperatures.

At such times the change of breakfast from the winter fare of hot porridge to the refreshing hit of a bowl of cornflakes is most welcome.

Being  a 'mine of useless information' my thoughts turned to how cornflakes were first discovered.  It transpires that an Adventist with a penchant for strict discipline was feeding the patients in his Sanatorium a diet that was designed to decrease libido.

Kellogg (for that was his name) believed that spicy or sweet foods would increase passions. In contrast, corn flakes would have an anaphrodisiac property and lower the sex drive.

Interesting he chose a rooster called Cornelius to be the mascot of his fledgling company; a bird that is renowned for its sexual prowess and clearly not a great devourer of cornflakes.

But advertising at Kelloggs was not all 'fowl' and the odd spot of violence was also promoted, as this 1908 poster depicts.

The late John Lennon counted cornflakes amongst his favourite foods and during the Beatles' reign wrote two songs related to the cereal.

"I Am The Walrus" had one line about "sitting on a corn flake", and the song, "Good Morning, Good Morning" was inspired by a jingle for a British corn flake cereal commercial.

I regret to say that no one was similarly inspired by a bowl of porridge although Bob Marley's hit song, "No Woman, No Cry", contains the lyric "Then we would cook corn meal porridge of which I'll share with you".

Just think what he could have written if he'd laid off the ganga and eaten cornflakes instead.

One final thought on the subject, if Singapore is serious about raising the fertility level of its population maybe NTUC needs to stop stocking cornflakes on its supermarket shelves.

I Wanna Eat Economy Rice

Let me take you on a little and typical domestic journey in Singapore.

Each non working day we dine locally which to all intents and purposes means the Economy Rice stall (pictured), opposite the Queenstown MRT.

We exit from the rear gate of Queens condo past the ever slumbering security guard (so I use their title advisedly).  The standard of security personnel seems to have dramatically declined in the thee plus years we have been here.

Then there are two choices; wait for the "green man" and cross over Commonwealth Avenue or hug the shade on our side of the road and go past the Methodist Church, crossing over the dual road via the MRT overbridge.

Today we took the latter.  The sounds of the Beatles "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" was booming out of a small set of speakers above the Queens Bubble Tea shop.  It was a somewhat incongruous juxstaposition of sensory delights.

Bubble Tea originated in Taiwan in the 1980's according to some sources.  The introduction of  tapioca pearls into a cold tea product was all that it took to start an Asia-wide fad.

Past the new lift access for the elderly and disabled which had been a work in progress for months and never seems to get completed and then it is downward on the concrete steps, noting that this earlier version MRT station only has an ascending escalator and never a descending one.

On the right is a view of a building that seems to be morphing into some sort of education establishment but it is decorated in a perfectly hideous combination of colours.

On the left is the queue of walking wounded and the infirmed waiting for the free shuttle bus to Alexandra Hospital.

We pass the first food court and head for the second where the Economy Rice is of better quality and more generous in their helpings.

Shooing of the Mynahs and ever vigilant sparrows we select a couple of plastic stools placed under a slow beating fan.  The air is oppressive as the rains have still to come.

Dogs are know to mark their territories and there is a similar custom when reserving a table in a Singaporean food court.  Not that one cocks a leg; an umbrella or packet of tissues left in full view will suffice.

A plentiful dollop of rice and a 'meat and two veg" are to be had for a mere $2.80.  Replete, we retrace our footsteps stopping off for dessert at the Walls ice-cream cart.  A thick slice of Macadamia ice-cream between wafers (or two slices of bread which is a local custom) costs a further dollar.

I note that the Beatles CD is still playing up in the MRT interrupted only by the canned announcement for the station staff to "please mind the platform gap".

I am old enough to remember the original version of this song when it came out in 1962 (below).  What better way to finish a walk in the noon day sun.

Beatles To Bowie

As a 'child of the sixties' I am interested to learn that the National Portrait Gallery in London is featuring an exhibition of the decade.
A very good online gallery can be seen here.