Well, this blog post does not have much to do with my cancer. It has, rather, to do with a cancer that is growing surely but surely in Singapore society, and that is the cancer of ungraciousness, elitism, widening gap between the have and have-nots. The fact that the government has been touting the unoriginal phrase of'no-one left behind' tells us that they are aware of this.

I have been prompted to write this by the recent brouhaha over the blog entry by a supposedly bright RJC student, lambasting a poor 40-plus year old man talking about the uncertain future of Singapore, basically calling him a pathetic leech on Singapore.

I tried to make a response on Shu-Min (the RJC student's blog) but she has shut it down apparently after she had received a barrage of responses to her post. Well, (to use her own words) dear, dear, dear darling Shu-Min, if you can't take the heat, you'd better get out of the kitchen. After dishing it out to Derek, you shut down your blog so that you don't get it dished out to you? For shame!

But this bright young thing, already PAP fodder, is typical of what is happening here in this, our little fair isle - the lack of inclusiveness. The lack of support for those who do not make it to the top ranks of upper middle class and upper class Singaporeans, to whom a further 2% GST hike (after a mere 3 years since the last hike) and other rising prices are nary a tickle in their pockets. Fend for yourself, is the message I keep hearing from our national leadership. We take care of our own.

Graciousness starts with the effort to understand others who are not 'one of us', without making them feel not 'one of us'. A gracious society legislates so that there is inclusion - we certainly are not there yet. A racial arbitration board, for example. A ban on sexist advertising for jobs. Affirmative action campaigns for example. In Singapore, we who are so quick to adopt anything American, are particularly laggard in adopting affirmative action with women in leadership - for example, women in the civil service upper echelons - how many women permanent secretaries do we have? And how about women MPs in non-community focused roles? A scant decade ago, I remember our senior minister Goh saying that women did not belong in politics. Malaysia, which we delight in lambasting and portraying as our hick neighbour, at least has a woman trade and industry minister. From an ethnic group which we in Singapore tend to view as not being as aggressive or commercially savvy as, well, the other 80%. Malaysia has not yet gone under, so - go figure.

I think, dear, dear, dear, darling Shu-Min, elite (and elitist) Singaporeans need an attitude check. You, of our future generation, and the attitude you foster and so proudly wear on your sleeve, simply illustrates what I have always felt - that we are an ungracious, self-serving lot, unsympathetic to the woes and needs of those who make the top echelon possible ie, 90% of the tax-paying, hard-slogging Singapore population without whom at the bottom, without whose support, the word 'top' would have no meaning. You are going to take this country in the exact opposite direction of gracious. And unless you take your head out of your rear end, we are going to end up in the toilet, an ungracious and sad lot whose biggest mistake would have been to so easily, willingly and blindly believe our own PR.