The parental approach must be changed!

This photo was taken from a discussion forum in the internet.

It is not about Sarawak election.

It was taken during one of  the opposition election rallies in Singapore recently. This will be remembered as the most heated election of the Island nation.  That so many attended the rallies is an indication of the people’s wish for change, even though PAP has done a very good job  in making it one of the most developed places in the world.

Those of us up North must be wondering why Singaporeans, who are enjoying a higher standard of living than most of us, want change.

I think this is a worldwide phenomenon.

During my childhood years, I had to obey whatever my dad told me to.  I can still remember the times that I had to kneel facing the wall after doing something wrong–fortunately it was not very often– to contemplate what I did  wrong and  how I should do it the next time.

We did what our parents told us to. We never ventured out without their permission. We slept early as told. We bought only those food in schools canteens that our parents told us too. We watched those shows that our parents allowed us to watch. We dressed conservatively like they did. We never argued even when we realised that we might be right. In fact, our lives centered around our parents.

I have no complaint about the rather strict upbringing that i have. It makes me into a more principled person and the Confucius teachings make me a better human being. In fact, the habits inculcated in me lasted me a whole life time.

My parents moved down from Penang and stayed with me during their last few years of lives, and as a 40s-years old then , I still had the habit of going to their room to wish them every night i came back from work, and informed them of every place that i would go.

Try doing the same thing to the children nowadays, and you will find them rebelling/yelling at you in no time.

Younger generations are more individualistic, and pursue things very differently from us. They long to be free. They do not want to be told what to do. They  stay up late at night, and listen and watch videos over the internet. They don’t even care for traffic rules; just observe how the young drives nowadays.

Extrapolate this yearning for freedom outside, and you have a society that does not want to be told how they should live their lives.

Our world is becoming borderless. We view the same information that our counterparts in US and Europe, half a world away, are viewing. We dress the same. We watch the same TV series over the internet. We listen to the same music.

Travelling overseas is no more a luxury confined to the rich. Most of us can do so now, and what we see overseas influences our thinking.

All these borderless peer-induced influence makes the people long for a life similar to what they see over the net and in their travel.

They want to have less restriction and more freedom. They want a fair and equal society as being practised in most places in the world.

Singapore’s government ‘s parental approach in implementing policies is being resented by a lot of younger people.   Then there is the loss of jobs to skilled foreigners (estimated at a million- about one fifth of the population), the escalating house prices ( partly because of  the rich Mainland Chinese who are snapping up  properties without even bargaining), high medical costs– –all these lead to an undercurrent of discontent which have been dammed up for many years. This election may see this undercurrent surfacing and opposition may win a record number of seats, even though PAP will still emerge the winner.

By all measures, PAP is doing a very good job. But the world is no longer like our times, and even if you are good parents, children may not stand the old nagging ways anymore.  The approach must be changed.