Singaporeans hate kiasuism, we just don’t know it yet

by Daniel Yap

IF NMP Kuik Shiao-Yin wants kiasuism dead, I’ll be the first to pull the knife. I hate it – it has none of the nobility of competition. The outcomes it produces are the least efficient sort. Its expression disturbs us so deep down in our gut that our only coping mechanism is to laugh about it, or shrug. I hate it and Singaporeans hate it too – we simply haven’t come to terms with the fact that we do.

It’s time to be honest with ourselves. Nobody cherishes kiasuism. It is Singaporean culture’s dirty laundry that has been airing so long we’ve grown accustomed to the smell. Kiasuism is the strange 20-year lump at our armpit – we suspect it’s cancerous but don’t dare to check. Instead we show it off to our close friends like a freakish trophy. But really, we’d rather it be gone.

Our use of the word “kiasu” is uniformly negative. We always exhort others to “Don’t be kiasu!” and nearly never verbally encourage this behaviour. Otherwise we are apologetic about it: “Wah, why you take so many prawns?” “Hur hur, buffet mah… must kiasu a bit.”

Deep down we know every grant-preneur is really mooching off taxpayers, but do we call them out? Instead we find ourselves saying things like “wah, so clever. Can teach me how to cheat the system also?” We see some fool endanger others on the road just to get to her destination three seconds faster and the only thing we can think of is that we should do the same. We are like addicts in the presence of addicts – irrepressibly drawn to our horrific vice when we see someone else fall victim to it. “It’s the culture.” No. It’s disgusting. We want our culture to be noble, praiseworthy, and resilient.

We are ashamed of kiasuism and silently hold others in contempt when they are kiasu. That student who choped four seats at a crowded Starbucks with a small drink to mug for nine hours? The gluttons who take all the most expensive food at the buffet but never finish it? The creeps who rush into the MRT lift ahead of the strollers and the disabled? We hate them all the more because we see the same horror of kiasuism in ourselves. It is a sinful temptation we cannot resist. A dirty habit we cannot shake. A hurtful vice we cannot purify ourselves of.

We try to justify our bad behaviour but we can’t. So we joke about it, make excuses for it. We hang out at online forums and websites with the word “kiasu” in them, feeding off each other and seeking comfort in the fact that there are others as wretched as we are, kind of like weaboos or people who collect preserved fetuses or people who enjoy bestial necrophilia porn. Oh yes, there are communities for every vice and kiasuism is no exception. Heck, sometimes it is even profitable (like TRS, gambling, and slavery).

It’s time to stop lying to ourselves. We can only progress together by cutting out the tumour that is kiasuism. It may have been a part of us for the longest time but it has got to go. Start by calling kiasuism out, but gently as from one fallen creature to another. Stop celebrating the spoils of kiasuism – the nauseating, made-for-envy lists of all these top scorers from this cram school. (Enrol your child now!) Chastise queue cutters. Defend the weak.

Above all, recognise that we, as Singaporeans, have been steeped in this culture and need to talk about it as a people determined to change what is worst about ourselves. It is a poetic irony that we can only shed our kiasu culture by working together, being generous and being open about our dreams and aspirations.

 

Featured image Kiasu Attitude Revealed by Flickr user Jason D’ Great . CC BY 2.0. 

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The post Singaporeans hate kiasuism, we just don’t know it yet appeared first on The Middle Ground.

- Daniel Yap