Difference in Philosophy

October 13, 1994

I think I have finally solved the mystery of why some S'poreans crack their necks. In case you are wondering what I am talking about, lots of people crack their knuckles. But it seems that some S'poreans also crack their necks by tilting their heads swiftly left and right (or right and left if you are a lefty 8-) At first I thought it was the backlash from too much "head banging" dance at the local Hard Rock Cafe. Then it finally dawned on me. It's the SBS buses! Ever noticed how the drivers would jam on their brakes to stop and floor their accelerators to leave the stop. My speculation is that these sudden stops and gos cause minor whiplash which most people correct by cracking their necks. And this is aggravated by more stops and gos during the traffic hours. Since most people take buses here, the problem becomes more evident. Or maybe it's not the drivers' fault at all. Maybe the buses here are designed to be in only two positions - stop and go 8-) By the way, did the local paper ever published who won the most courteous bus driver award during the courtesy campaign? I like to personally shake the hand of this individual.

Thanks to Terrence Ho of MIT. The entire collection of the MTS series is now available at URL:

For those of you who are not familiar with the series, here is a little background. I started working in S'pore in February of this year after living for 15 years in New Jersey. (let's go Giants!) In the process of keeping my friends back home updated with my progress here, the Moving to S'pore (MTS) series was thus created. The contents of the series are extremely biased toward my personal view and experience, so please do try to read them with an open mind. And of course, the standard disclaimer applies - the contents of these articles are purely my own opinion (or figment of my own imagination) and they are in no way reflect the opinion of others...blah...blah... well, you know the standard drill so I don't need to repeat it. They are freely distributable if the contents have not been altered in any way.

After 9 months in S'pore, it's time for me to consider the possibility of staying here for the long term, however remote it might be. I guess this means that I finally have to fill out the application form for permanent resident, or resident alien as in the official US vocabulary. I think I have been delaying it long enough. I think it's also time for me to make some critical comments regarding differences between the two countries.

There is one very fundamental philosophical difference between US and S'pore (putting the word philosophical usually means you can get away with it.) You can label it as Confucianism versus Western value, society versus individual, or whatever buzzwords you wish to use. It boils down to this: In S'pore the needs of many supposedly outweight the needs of the few. While in the States, the needs of the few supposedly outweights the needs of many. It's funny that the situation in the States sounds contradictory to the belief of democracy. Case in point, in the States people might go a great length to protect an individual's right (no illegal seizure of evidence, innocent before proven guilty, right to bear arm, freedom of speech and press, etc.) while some criminals can get away scott free. But in S'pore, a few innocent people might suffer (no one free phone call to the attorney, guilty before proven innocent, internal security act where the government can hold a person indefinitely, restriction of speech and press, etc.) while most criminals will be caught and punished.

But benefits of either philosophies are still not as clear cut as they might appear. For example, the well-received portable toilets in New York were never implemented because some physically challenged organization claimed that they were discriminated against. Then there is this NRA who are trying to stop the legislation on assault rifle ban when most of the public support the ban. In S'pore, you sacrifice a little of freedom for the good of the society, at least in concept. I like to use the quote "freedom is chaos in a better lighting." In a few years, most individuals here will not be able to afford a brand new car. But this restriction will help to cut down on the pollution and congestion thus benefit the public in general.

The effect of all these is that in the States, we strive for individualism while in S'pore they strive for conformity. We tend to have more creative and expressive people in the States. But in S'pore, instead of letting the individualism flourish, they tend to create better workers and soldiers. But recently there are a few dangerous precedents that the government is increasingly putting the blame of local problems on the supposedly "Western" value. My answer is that the local censorship board is not doing good enough of a job to filter out these Western values 8-) But seriously, people usually put blames on others when they couldn't figure out how to solve the problems. The government may begin to realized that they can not stop this thing called individualism.

But there might be some hope for a compromise. The recent legislation on anti-smoking laws in the States have put a damper into personal freedom. And S'pore has been trying to encourage students to speak up. Who's to say who is wrong and who is right? Is one better than the other? Well, the answer will be revealed in MTS part 300 8-)

13/10/94

Next Article
Back to the List 1