Battle lines between haves and have-nots
The same could be said for ‘Thatasianmama’ and her belief that a family of three need up to $40,000 a month to clothe, feed, educate and entertain their kids in Singapore. Apparently, that figure was based on a lifestyle that doesn’t include looking at price tags, which will at least make the family a huge hit with SimplyGo advocates.
But the $40k figure also factors in a parenting choice to “say yes to the child's request for extra hobbies”, which is most laudable, but what are these extra hobbies? Yacht racing? South African diamond mining?
When I was a kid, I had to choose between a karate lesson or playing in goal for the local football team. Both cost £2 a week. My mother couldn’t afford both. In the end, we opted for the latter, which gave me a sports media career of sorts, but I lacked the self-defence skills to protect myself when I was mugged twice, so I applaud any parent who can say yes to a child’s extra hobby requests.
But I’ve done it already, haven’t I? I’ve played the Oliver Twist card early, reminding readers again of my poor upbringing and drawing those battle lines between the haves and the have-nots, which is perhaps what "Thatasianmama" wanted in the first place, to stoke the fires of inequality and get us all turning on each other in some Marxist hellscape.
It’s already happening, to a degree. On Facebook, Singaporeans are mostly irritated at the elitist, entitled undertones. On LinkedIn, international commenters are bravely raising their heads above the parapet to suggest that maybe, you know, the $40k figure is possibly not far off the mark when, you know, international schools, condos in desirable postcodes, cars and domestic helpers are factored in, you know, the bare necessities of human existence.