thanks. Makes me appreciate singapore even more now n left a smile on my face n a warm feeling in my heart.
Many Singaporeans fathers and men are like that.
They will say that their children are not good enough even though they score 6 A1s and 1A2, or they will say they are not earning enough even though they bring home $10,000 a month after deducting CPF for their retirement fund. But in their heart, they are actually very proud of their children and themselves. They are not hypocrites. It's just that many have been brought up this way - to be humble externally but proud internally.
Ditto with their country's founding father LKY and his achievements. He will never be good enough. But you can sense their pride - especially when they are overseas talking about their country. You meet many of these people; it is a Singaporean trait - side by side kiasu-ism and kiasi-ism.
That's why 40% of the people are getting shrewder - they are holding the PAP government to ransom with their votes. They make the PAP go soft - to the extent that even a saleswoman can make a police report because her son's hairstyle was altered by his school teacher, or a part-time cleaner housewife can sue the Prime Minister in court.
They panick the government with their complaints - it hastily built thousands of government-subsidised flats all over the small island, even squeezing new blocks of flats between open spaces of old blocks; it drastically cut down the inflow of foreign workers to the extent that a dishwasher can now earn more than a newly Polytechnic graduate. It even gifted a billion dollars to private bus companies to improve their services. The 40% even make their PM and Ministers come down to talkcock with them more often to listen to their complaints, nicely packaged as the "National Conversation".
One wonders what else the government will do to satisfy the 40% of the people.
The 60% should thank the 40% - this magic formula should be retained. 81 out of 87 is still a good score.