Uniquely Yours, Singapore (2)

In my earlier blog, I had written, "I am drained to ....Singpore!"
Having lived in this little dot for the past 25 years, I dare say I have grown to enjoy staying here. I do not understand why people find this place boring! I find Singapore one of the most interesting countries to live in and I hope at the end of my article, I will convince my readers to a certain extent.

I have been charmed yet at times exasperated by the unique and interesting behaviour and mentality of our people. On the one hand, we have people who will spend hours queuing for freebies given out by magazines such as Her World. Just think. The hours I waste for an exchange of a free gift is not monetarily viable. Time is precious. Papa always said that an ounce of gold could not buy us 5 minutes of time!

Then there would be people who had no qualms about turning up in their luxurious Mercedes and Jaguars to grab $1.99 items at 10 cents a piece. After all, it was a voluntary amount stipulated by Mr. Sim Wong Hoo, who out of kindness, helped Nanz Chong Komo to take over her stocks. Mr. Sim announced that people could just come and choose to pay any amount they liked. I dared not even turn up for such an event, lest greed overtook me, and I too, unabashedly just grabbed and grabbed!

On the other hand, we have extremely generous people like the gentleman who turned up in shorts and slippers at a funeral wake and just plonked $200,000/- in cash as a donation to the bereaved family. Nobody knew who he was and he quietly announced that all he wanted was to help a family whose plight had moved him.

Suddenly Singaporeans became excited and the whole island became abuzz with the sudden announcement of increase in ministerial pay. And just as quickly, we received the announcement from our Prime Minister that he would donate his increase in salary to the poor! Isn't it better that all our ministers receive a slight increment in salary so that they could still remain popular and not be perceived as mercenary? Then there would be no necessity for them to donate their increase in salary? And worse to announce to the whole world of their intended donation? Were'nt we taught not to let the right hand know what the left hand had given? An overseas friend of mine said, "Sure, there is no corruption in Singapore, because greed is legalised in your country!"

The police constantly reminds us that low crime does not mean no crime. Yet we have
people like Huang Na's mother who could just go back to China and leave her daughter alone for 8 days to fend for herself! We had the 3 China students who just opened the door to the man who pretended to be a repair man. He turned out to be the Balestier Monster and Rapist! Yet, after this incident, the New Paper conducted an experiement and found that people still opened their doors to strangers! Why do we have such short memories?

When property prices were low, people hesitated to buy because they were expecting prices to become lower. Suddenly prices began to shoot up and everyone jumped into the bandwagon! The spiral in prices continued because some people had no qualms o pay $100K cash above value for a HDB flat in Bukit Merah. Yet these flats were selling below value during the recession! Some would camp for 3 to 5 days to buy a property of their hearts' desires.! Agents are finding it harder to close deals because owners suddenly think their floors are paved with gold! My client offered $2M for a very run down 5 storey building in Chinatown which has 44 years of lease left. Suddenly one of the partners wanted $3M instead! He did not consider that banks would not even loan for propeties below 60 years of lease. I still remember a sermon by Pastor Derek Hong when he was teaching us about good stewardship. When stocks or properties are low, buy, because you do not know how much lower they could get. When the price is high, just sell and be contented with your profits because you do not know when the crash will come!"

When I left teaching because of the strain on my voice, little did I realise that I would have to talk just as much in property sales! I would not mind giving clients and agents the salient points of a property; I get annoyed when I am asked questions like, "How big is the unit? Freehold? etc,.?" All the information are already given in the advertisements and yet people want to be spoonfed with information.! Some would ask questions like, "Why does your client want to sell?" This question has little relevance and I am not going to be put in a position where I reveal about my client's impending divorce, bankruptcy, etc. Buyers should be more concerned about the location and whether it is deemed as a fair buy instead of wanting to know the reason! Are they expecting me to say, "My client is selling because the house appears to be haunted!" Sometimes an advertisment can garner 20 to 30 calls and you can imagine how exasperating it could be to answer less than intelligent or relevant questions!

I am sad that the divorce rate in this country is so high! Is it because of the stress of life here or are the women becoming more independent and capable? I am amused when people commented how lucky I am to be single, free and easy, and worry-free! To me, it is not so much of whether a person is single or married. More importantly, whether a person is truly happy and fulfilled.

Despite all that, I love the people here! I find them unique and interesting; exasperating yet lovable. Morever, what a wonderful melting pot we are.! I am amused when some of my friends are concerned that I am moving to Little India. I told them I grew up in Penang and fought with Indian and Malay boys in the process of growing up! I feel comfortable with them because I can speak their language.

I guess I too, am an interesting and unique Singaporean. This is why I have taken to Singapore, like a duck to water all this quarter of a century!

Gan Chau