I’m here to tell you a secret. The Singapore government has succeeded in turning Singapore into a metropolitan city-state in less than 50 years. That is certainly a great achievement. However, behind that, there is a dark side that is only felt by the lower classes in our country. The elderly in Singapore still have to work hard when they should enjoy the fruits of their hard work in old age. This is only felt by low to middle income families whose salaries are mostly used for house rent and expensive bills.
Here are the reasons in my opinion:
The first reason: Overpopulation. As of September 2019, our population reached 5.8 million. The government predicts our country’s population could reach 6.9 million in 2030. The total land area of our country is only 721 sq km. Its population density is 8,274 people per square kilometer. Imagine having to jostle every time you go to work. Imagine a queue of people at lunch time.
The second reason: Transportation. During peak hours, the MRT train often breaks down. Locals always joke that the government never calls the problem a nuisance. Instead, it is referred to as a train “fault”. Simply put, our MRT line has never been built to support so many trains with a frequency of every 1-2 minutes. The reason why our trains have to have a frequency of 1-2 minutes is because there are too many people waiting at the station. This is a picture when the MRT breakdown occurred. Scary huh? Imagine seeing this sight once a week on average after a hard day’s work.
The third reason: The old age is not happy . Or less retired. The minimum retirement age in Singapore is 62 legally. This means, your employer cannot require you to retire before the age of 62 as long as you are a Singapore citizen or Permanent Resident. There is a saying among the elderly here: “Work to death”.
In order to earn a living in Singapore, one has to work until one can no longer walk. Most of our seniors work as cleaners in shopping malls or fast food places. Some even collect cardboard on the streets, others sell tissue. These are just a few of the great examples where most of us in Singapore accept the fact that in order to still earn an income, we have to literally work ourselves to death.
Those are some of the reasons my version of why the stress level in Singapore is quite high even though we are a developed country.