Graciousness in Singapore
The latest Graciousness Index announced in July 2014 gave Singapore a score of 55. This is 2 points more than what Singapore was given in 2013 and 6 points less than what it had in 2012. Is this borderline and fluctuating score an indication that Singapor
What is the Graciousness Index?
In 2009, the Singapore Kindness Movement (SKM) management committee commissioned a survey titled “The State of Graciousness in Singapore”. This survey looked at gracious behaviour in five areas — public places, home,
work, school and on the roads. Conducted annually, the survey also asks respondents to rate themselves and their fellow citizens in terms of their level of graciousness. The results of the survey are then subsequently reflected in the Graciousness Index. The annual survey captures the perception and experience of kindness and graciousness over the past year. It also probes general attitudes towards graciousness-related issues around the community.
In the latest survey, 1,666 respondents were polled, and more people reported that they have done, received and witnessed gracious acts. This boosted the experience indicators, which in turn drove the moderate recovery of the Index from 53 to 55. In comparison, the perception indicators, which measure attitudes and opinions of self and others, held steady. It appeared that some of the residual cynicism from the past two years have remained, but at the same time, having more people say they are experiencing graciousness is an encouraging sign that there are now more tangible acts of graciousness happening around us.
The latest Graciousness Index study included a component on social-media attitudes and behaviour for the first time. This new component was added because of the rising usage and influence of social media. This comes in the wake of insensitive online postings of racist and anti-foreigner sentiments, among other concerns. Interestingly, among the respondents, the heaviest users of social media overwhelmingly agreed that it is necessary for people to be gracious when engaging others online. They also felt that more needs to be done to educate netizens on how to apply gracious social behaviour online.
On values formation, 81% of respondents indicated that nurturing good values in young people is the best way to create a culture of kindness in Singapore. Yet, just 37% believed that parents in Singapore are actively reinforcing these values in their children.
To encourage Singaporeans to be kind and considerate; to create public awareness of acts of kindness; and to influence and raise standards of behaviour and responsibility
The Singapore Kindness Movement (SKM)
The SKM was launched in 1997 in response to the then prime minister Goh Chok Tong’s call for Singapore to become a gracious society by the 21st century. The objectives of the movement are “to encourage Singaporeans to be kind and considerate; to create public awareness of acts of kindness; and to influence and raise standards of behaviour and responsibility”. The SKM is managed by the SKM Council and comprises members from educational institutions and private organisations. The SKM conducts activities and programmes to promote gracious acts, and below are some examples of its efforts.
SINGAPORE KINDNESS WEEK
One of the major activities of the SKM is the Singapore Kindness Week, which is held every year to promote and raise public awareness of the importance of small acts of kindness. The first nationwide Singapore Kindness Week was launched by Mr Goh on 8 November 1998 at the Istana. The SKM Convention was at the World Trade Centre Auditorium the following day. Some 800 delegates comprising primary and secondary school principals and teachers attended the convention to hear speakers from Japan, USA and Canada share their experiences in running the Kindness Movement in their countries.
THE KINDNESS GALLERY
The Kindness Gallery was opened on 8 March 2012 at the former MICA Building (also known as the Old Hill Street Police Station) to chart the origins of the SKM and its relation to the National Courtesy Campaign. Artefacts on display at the gallery include campaign posters, old newsletter clippings and roadshow merchandise, which together showcase the various stages in which acts of kindness were encouraged and practiced in Singapore.
Cultivating graciousness on public transport
Most of us take the public transport to commute around Singapore every day. During our journey, we encounter some ungracious commuters who give little thought to others. This experience has been escalating over the years, and the Land Transport Authority of Singapore (LTA) has put in place several graciousness programmes and contests to inspire commuters to act graciously when travelling on public transport. One latest example is the use of three thoughtful characters – “Stand-up Stacey”, “Give-way Glenda” and “Move-in Martin”, to highlight how commuters can help make everyone’s journey more enjoyable.
COMPASSION DEFICIT IN SINGAPORE
On 14 March 2013, British journalist Charlotte Ashton wrote in a BBC News Magazine that there was a massive compassion deficit in Singapore. The article, in which she recounted her unpleasant experience on the MRT when no one rendered help when she felt faint from her morning sickness, and the rarity of someone offering her a seat when she was visibly pregnant, triggered active discussion on REACH.
Many were unhappy with Ashton’s comments and provided their own anecdotal accounts of kind acts on the MRT. Others disagreed with the generalisation of Singaporeans as ungracious over one isolated incident. They argued that the bad experience of an individual cannot be representative of all Singaporeans and that every country has its share of people with poor behavior. However some agreed that there are ‘inconsiderate’ and ‘unkind’ Singaporeans for every ‘good’ and ‘caring’ citizen. A few others questioned if the issue was receiving undue attention as Ashton is a non-local.
Several contributors who reacted to The Sunday Times’ commentary on 23 March 2014, ‘Compassion Deficit – it’s true of all cities’, agreed that ungraciousness is not unique to Singapore but common in affluent cities. One contributor suggested that the over-crowded city and high cost of living were reasons for the compassion deficit, and urged the Government to “go back to basics”. A few called for focused efforts in educating commuters to be considerate and to behave graciously.
Food for Thought
Despite Singapore being “world-class” in areas of its’ infrastructure, education, labour, housing, healthcare, transport and all that “hard-ware”, Singaporeans do not seem to have advanced in their behaviour in tandem with all the developments. One would probably expect citizens of a first world country like Singapore to be more courteous and gracious. However, the exact opposite seems to be happening as Singapore progresses. In the beginning, Singapore started out as a more gracious society. Though we were once a poor and undeveloped village, locals lived in kampongs and developed a “kampung spirit” where they pretty much looked out for one another, trusted one another and had less anti-social behaviour. As Singapore progressed into a more fast-paced economically driven society, the spirit was gradually lost and we evolved into a society that emphasizes more on self-centeredness, materialism and self-gratification. While the government has made efforts by launching several campaigns and contests to encourage more acts of kindness and graciousness in Singapore, these are mostly one-off and have not been very effective in engaging Singaporeans to carry out acts of kindness.
While there have been a few isolated incidents that portray Singaporeans as cold-hearted and ungracious toward other members of the society, we continue to see a rising level of awareness among Singaporeans. They are slowly but surely starting to realise the importance of graciousness, and this is evident in this year’s Graciousness Index. Perhaps what we need are more citizenled initiatives where citizens themselves lead groups of people and encourage acts of kindness amongst the community. Such an approach that takes place at the local or community level may be more effective than top-down approaches by the government, as most Singaporeans are usually too caught up with their work and family commitments to be too concerned with all the graciousness activities and campaigns that are happening at the societal level.