SG AQ Flashcards
Risk-Adverse Career Choices
We are famously cautious with our career choices, as captured through two distinctive phrases in the local vernacular: kiasi (fear of dying) and kiasu (fear of losing). Because we are afraid that we might end up falling behind the pack and floundering on the street if we gamble with our fate, we stick to the tried-and-tested life trajectory of going to school and getting a stable job, or what we call an “iron rice bowl” - even if our passions point in a different direction.
In the 2020 Labour Pulse Survey by Ranstad, job seekers ranked job security as their number one priority; interest value ranked eighth, and impact on society ranked tenth.
In another survey by Employment Hero, 48% of Singaporeans are unsatisfied at work.
Anti-Indian racism
In June 2021, Chinese lecturer Tan Boon Lee confronted an interracial couple, accusing a man that appeared Indian in ethnicity of “preying on a Chinese girl”, invoking the stereotype of a fair damsel-in-distress being abducted by a dark, menacing man.
(Damsel-in-distress: a young woman in trouble)
Before that, the Delta variant of COVID-19 had also triggered a wave of anti-Indian racism, tarring all of Indian heritage with the same brush.
(Tar… with the same brush: to think that someone has the same bad qualities as another person)
These events were significant enough that Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had to use the 2021 National Day Rally to urge us to resist the emotional tug of fear, saying, “we should not let our frustrations spill over to affect our racial harmony… it is illogical to blame the Delta outbreak on Indians, just as it would be illogical to blame the initial outbreak in Wuhan on Chinese.”
Digital Divide
In Singapore, there have been concerns regarding the inclusion of the elderly in the country’s drive towards nationwide digital transformation. Many seniors who are not proficient in the English language which almost all apps use find great difficulty in utilizing otherwise convenient and life-improving apps like Singpass or Singhealth, which have become necessities for most young Singaporeans. Even though the elderly are increasingly owning new technologies, low technological literacy, rates and physical obstacles make it difficult for this group to fully benefit from these modern amenities.
