Singapore Materially Rich, Spiritually Poor

Singapore is materially rich but spiritually poor -- and the government is partly to blame, one of the city-state's most prominent authors says.

Catherine Lim, also a political commentator, is one of a very few to publicly criticise the government in Southeast Asia's most economically advanced society.

Lim said that while Singapore is consistently ranked high in various surveys on material measures, such as business friendliness and economic achievement, the standings are reversed when other factors are considered.

"Press freedom, happiness and even love life and romance and so on, Singapore is ranked very low," Lim said in an interview with AFP.

"Maybe it leads to some questions. Are we achieving all this material prosperity at the cost of something? Soul, spirit, heart, senses, whatever you want to call it?"

She said the government's tight political control is partly to blame for a lack of happiness among the city-state's 4.6 million people.

"If there were less of a climate of fear... we would be a happier society," she said.

Singapore is one of the most politically stable countries in the region and has become the base for thousands of foreign firms.

The country's leaders say its tough laws against dissent and other political activity are necessary to ensure such stability which has helped it achieve economic success.

It is illegal, for example, to hold a public gathering of five or more people in Singapore without a permit, meaning demonstrations seldom occur.

Singapore's leaders maintain that Western-style liberal democracy is not suitable for the tiny, multi-racial nation which has been ruled by the People's Action Party since 1959.

Lim said the government is doing much better than others in helping to deal with "material issues", including rising global food prices.

"This is a very pro-active government... a very pragmatic, problem-solving leadership," the Malaysian-born Lim, 66, said.

"The problem is in the other areas, political and social liberties that we don't hear much of here in Singapore."

Lim, who has lived in the city-state since 1967, spoke to AFP on the sidelines of a conference on The New Science of Happiness and Well-being, where she was invited to speak, and which ended Thursday.


Nine in 10 people stressed

Paris based media watchdog Reporters Without Borders ranked the city-state at 146 out of 168 nations, lower than Zimbabwe at 140, on a global index of press freedom released last year.

Singapore has also placed at the lower end in global surveys of sex frequency and satisfaction.

A recent poll by advertising firm Grey Group found that nine in 10 people living in Singapore said they were stressed.

Singaporeans are not "unhappy in the real sense of the word as in poverty-stricken countries", Lim said, but they seem to feel something is missing to complete their happiness. "We need more time to relax. Singaporeans are always talking about pressure. We make money, but hey, we don't have the leisure to spend our money."

Lim has written more than nine collections of short stories, five novels and a book on poems. Her works have been published internationally.

Last year she also turned to the Internet, after the pro-government Straits Times refused to publish one of her commentaries, her website says.

The newspaper had, for 13 years, published her commentaries even though they were critical of the government, she wrote on the website.

But in September it rejected one on "the need for a political opening up", the website says. The Today daily also refused to publish it, forcing her to go online, she says on the website.

Direct criticism of the government is rare in Singapore's mainstream media, forcing dissatisfied Singaporeans to resort to the web to express their views. (ANTARA News)

A gold digger's paradise...
Slip on those high heels and catwalk those streets ladies

Singapore = Where losers drive rich cars!

Yeah, it's a rich city state where prostitution is getting rife, there's lots of women from china, vietnam, mongolia, india, bangladesh even russia coming on the pretext of holidays but making $$ as pros or being mail order brides.

^^ I know where I'm going to Uni now !!! SG !!!









hahaha, joke...of course not. Disgusted with those ppl.

this is old news man..

remember those kids(12 yrs old) who commited suicide because they couldn't get into their sch of choice after PSLE?

I guess the stressful situations help out a little bit because its a dog eat dog world out there. If u can't keep up, ure gonna get left behind!

^^ What !?!?!?!?! 12 y.o. kids commit suicide just because they didn't get into a school !?!?!?!
WTH is wrong with those kids...they should be having their greatest time ever, having fun. Man,the parents must be blamed.

yeah..they couldnt get into schs like RGS and ACS, top schools like that, and they knew their parents would be mad at them so they commited suicide.

is caning still practice in singapore as a form of punishment ?

Yes, so sad....
Anyway I don't think this kind of case is not exclusively a Singaporean thing, kids these days are getting more and more stressed out if we compare them to earlier generations...

Bah! Spiritually Poor? Wtf does that mean???

Which country is spiritually rich???? India? Bhutan? Bible belt in the USA?

The critic in the article Esfan posted her name Catherine Lim is a bit of a whiner. She's a self-styled Maxine Hong Kingston or Iris Chang of Singapore. Often writing soppy novels about turn-of-century chinese women struggling with lost love, making prayers to gods and deities and making nostalgia an obsessive past-time.

I look around me and see lots of my countrymen doing their own thing as far as spirituality is concerned. I don't think Catherine LIm has even bothered to attend an indian thaipusam ritual, or muslim prayers for safe haj, or buddhist meditation retreat... i bet she's only focussed on seeding out these pagan chinese gods cuz it's the only form of romantic link to her childhood growing up in chinatown singapore. But these believers are slowly being phased out by growing christian groups. Nowadays, it's more fashionable for chinese SGs to be christians. Less hassle, no noisy, polluting n expensive rituals, even the malls make christianity fashionable with their xmas lights.

spiritually poor? well, i dunno what's that mean

but i think generally singaporean are happy. still, most of them expect more from the country, human nature lah, can never be stasfied
spiritual / religious activities are quite common here, buddhism and christianity have significant numbers here, although i believe most singaporean are free thinker.

singaporean are one of the most pragmatic society i ever know. most of them don't really care about politics and so as long as they can have enough and happy life.

Spirituality has to do with a connection to nature... it's different from say a spiritual practice like institutional and ritualised worship like in a building such as a church, temple or mosque.

The problem with Singapore is many of the inhabitants are crammed into concrete living spaces that are devoid of a connection to nature. Much like the inhabitants of say Manhattan... There are far out rural places within Singapore that are almost jungle like, but are militarized zones for which the public have little or no access to. I used to go water-skiing along the seas off Punggol with my dad and we'd picnic by the islands offshore, but now these islands are militarized zones and we are no longer allowed to get off our speed boats to enjoy these quiet uninhabited islands.

What I do believe is that Singaporeans lack a connection to nature because of their living spaces.... malls, flats, condos, and not much wild parks and island retreats..

Most of us who have money would just get the hell out of the island every opportunity we have to other neighboring countries where access to nature is possible... but most SGs unfortunately tend to go to urban cities for holidays for more stimulating experiences rather than a connection with nature...

1st world countries are like that....

That's probably what they mean by spiritually poor, following a poor religion.

Oh how blissful are the ignorants unforturnately for the majority of singaporeans, it has come to pass.

meaning???

yeah, i feel unhappy with my life here. It is not i am not happy with all the facilities, but really, there is something that is missing. I still can't figure out that missing thing.

For most of us here, Our World was this piece of real estate. We have since realised that it is not

It's a maslow 3rd level effect

nah...sky needs a girlfren real bad... and SG girls are too stuck up for him...

lol! true!

Most people were feeling "spiritually unhappy" because they endured their life without knowing their "raison d'etre" their reason of existence, their purpose of life, as the result they might felt "something was missing" in their life despite all that material achievement they've made.
(However having enough material fulfillment is better than being poverty stricken though.... )
I dunno if Singaporean felt this way, coz some just seems dandy, really happy and enjoying their life.

If somebody felt that his purpose of their life is fulfilled by their social life, family, work, deed, and their career, (ofcourse next to make a living) they might enjoy happier life.

For example people whom felt their life purpose is to be a care giving person (nurses, doctor, nanny, orphanage worker), they might felt good knowing they have helped people.
Or educator that felt they make a difference by contributing on nurturing young minds (like a teacher that somehow felt happy if they can reach out to their students and saw their minds blossoming).
A person (media workers: reporter, editors, graphic designer, etc) might felt they've made a noble contribution by reporting the truth in news, informed society and educate them to be a better society.

Yes its kinda self-gratituding attitude, but in a healthy way, coz a person need to know they're worth a while, that somehow they've make a difference and contribute good things to others.

What's the most democratic country in SE Asia? Can you even compare Malaysia with Singapore or the Philippines and Indonesia?
Given the current state of economic recession and some obvious flaws in some democratically governed countries in the world today, it's not surprising that freedom of expression is particularly frowned upon and speakers dumbed down.
Speaking's a natural gift and it's psychologically, a sound practice.
Most people do not bother to differentiate between freedom of speech and democracy but they are vastly different.
It's a DUMB country where its citizens are afraid to express themselves. and whose government is afraid of people speak.
People who are afraid of criticisms become nothing but inflated egos and smugness in the end, is not productive or imaginative.
There's too much Kiasu all round except for Britain because it really is misty most days.