Why are singaporeans gracious

Share on whatsapp WhatsApp. Subscribe for Newsletter Sign up to receive important news avoided by other media. Homegrown Tech Innovators. Will Cryptocurrency Survive in Singapore? People and Society at A Crossroads — Part 3. An SKM study also looked at attitudes towards community issues such as neighbourliness and parenting.

Most respondents were satisfied with neighbourliness here, and over 40 per cent wanted more positive interactions with neighbours, but among this group, fear and awkwardness were cited as common stumbling blocks. Nearly six in 10 respondents, including non-parents, felt that parents are not leading by example when it comes to being gracious. But close to eight in 10 parents agreed that they could do more to inculcate the right moral values to their children.

Join ST's Telegram channel here and get the latest breaking news delivered to you. We have been experiencing some problems with subscriber log-ins and apologise for the inconvenience caused. Until we resolve the issues, subscribers need not log in to access ST Digital articles. A redefined VUCA — being vigilant, united, compassionate and adaptable — is an acronym that can guide us if we internalise it in our values, thoughts, processes and education. Besides ground-up initiatives and a new acronym to help guide us, what more can be done on a macro-level?

After all, as a society, we have been used to heeding top-down signals on desirable societal outcomes.

In the past, before the Internet, public campaigns, largely conducted via radio and television, were used to encourage positive social behaviour. For 23 years, SKM has been advocating graciousness as well as a spirit of togetherness and neighbourliness among Singaporeans.

Our latest campaign, Be Greater, emphasises kindness — and not the usual measures of wealth, status, and power — as the yardstick of success. It also challenges us to go beyond random acts of kindness, and instead consider our values as individuals and as a collective.

Kindness should be second nature. It should be purposeful, and thus sustainable and infectious. While maintaining a safe distance from one another, technology has made it possible for us to show kindness anywhere and at any time. National campaigns of the past had used mascots as rallying points. But while Merli, Teamy, Sharity and other icons have lived on only in our memories, Singa has gone on working quietly behind the scenes.

The courtesy lion of the s and 80s has grown into the kindness lion of today. That said, Singa has spent most of its time in schools, where it shares graciousness and compassion with our primary school children and pre-schoolers. With Singapore transforming into a digital nation, campaigns need to adapt to the increasingly fragmented audience through different media.

Campaigns can no longer be just a television ad, a poster or a jingle. Singa, of course, can be relied upon, yet again, to help bring us to another public goal — a gracious Singapore through another public campaign.

But our humanity has a part to play in the development of a nation too. The COVID pandemic has awakened us to the importance of living not just for ourselves, but also the community that we are part of. That said, we have a lot to catch up on — and new role models to seek.

Michelle Lau: I agree with Lay Beng. In a gracious society, nobody is made to feel like a stranger, and empathy and kindness are shown to all, regardless of language or cultural background. My hope is that while we strive to be number one in finance and everything else, we can also strive to be number one in graciousness. Is building a competitive nation at odds with nurturing a gracious society? Ivy: The economic development of our country is something that we should appreciate and treasure, but we do need to be able to code-switch [from a competitive mode in the corporate world to a gentler way of living outside of it].

And it is possible: I left the private sector for the social service sector. Mustafa: They are not mutually exclusive. But to even just think about it is recognising the importance of being gracious. In fact, we see acts of graciousness in all sectors these days, from private-sector companies becoming more socially responsible to the public sector putting more effort into building an inclusive society.

Things are changing — and I expect it to happen more quickly now, given the wave of social movements around the world. While Singaporean society is unique, we are not immune to global trends, and these events can motivate us to build a better society. Lay Beng: Striving for excellence and being compassionate can co-exist, but I feel that we need graciousness in our leadership to build a gracious society. I see our youths doing volunteer work to build their academic portfolios — but does our education system impart important values and ethics?

Or are we treating graciousness as a subject? Michelle: Our education system and government have been trying to put more emphasis on promoting graciousness through small initiatives.

And we do observe youths being enthusiastic about helping others. KampungKakis, a buddy system that matches volunteers with neighbours-in-need — with a focus on elderly and vulnerable residents who may be increasingly isolated due to social distancing measures, has seen an overwhelming number of volunteers.

However, we found that the youths did not know how they could help or get the ball rolling — this is an aspect that we can improve on. Mustafa: As an academic, I find it hard to teach graciousness. It is not something that stops when you leave school. Values are inculcated through action.