Are Singaporean really stupid or Dumb? Quotes from li au, Taiwan. Its not the first time I heard comments that Singaporean are dumb. Why us? Spoken to some Chinese expatriate and they totally agree. They explained that the majority of Singaporeans fought like hell for small little things and they always ended up paying more for less. To think again, we have profitable organization earning millions such as Temesek holding, ntuc, the best changi airport SIA, medal winning imported athletics, SingTel, dbs, ntuc, smrt, mediacorp. So why are Singaporeans still labeled as stupid? Though Singaporeans do not have much savings, they get to live in expensive houses. They even have an award winning movie "I am not stupid" to tell people that Singaporeans are not. Your comments please
Are Singaporean really stupid or Dumb?
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Li Au's argument is that we are of inferior descendants... S'pore's early Chinese immigrants were mainly poorer and lowly educated Chinese who wanted to leave China to earn a better living... Hence, the descendants of such poor and non-educated Chinese should obviously be of inferior quality, and hence, dumb...
He further said that he doesn't know of any famous S'poreans, apart from LKY and son, as well as Stefanie Sun...
Tsk... Although I have fairly good regards of him in term of his ability to view issues from different angles, I'd classify him as selective ignorance in this case...
If we even get offended by what he said, then we really are dumb...
Cheers to Singaporeans :bsmilie:
He further said that he doesn't know of any famous S'poreans, apart from LKY and son, as well as Stefanie Sun...
Tsk... Although I have fairly good regards of him in term of his ability to view issues from different angles, I'd classify him as selective ignorance in this case...
If we even get offended by what he said, then we really are dumb...
Cheers to Singaporeans :bsmilie:
If everyone is the world was dumb, they wouldn't know - wouldn't have anything to compare against, and so, they are not dumb. They may be relatively smart, yet absolutely dumb! 
hah
hahSome examples:
1. A lot of S'poreans thought they were getting a good deal when they bought HDB flats at 600-700k... look what happened now.
2. Gangsters in Hong Kong and China fight over territory, protection money, drugs or arms smuggling. S'porean gangsters? They fight over staring incidents.
3. People paid over $50,000 for COE's back in the 90's. Look what happened now.
4. People are so happy with their "progress" package. Little do they realise that it is not a gift, but it is because we are being taxed and fined too much. Why are you happy that someone taxed you too much?*
5. It's undeniable that, in terms of being streetwise, S'poreans are among the worst, simply because of the nanny state we are in.
6. During the height of the dot com revolution, there was a Ministerial committee to examine how to increase S'poreans' creativity and entrepreneurial instincts. A government committee! To discuss how S'poreans can become more creative!
7. We have so-called freedom of speech and freedom of association, yet you hardly see anyone speaking freely or protesting in the streets. Remember what happened to the people who protested against CPF at Raffles Place? Remember what Jack Neo told PM Lee, when he showed his friends the script for Money No Enough, their first reaction was, do you want to get jailed or sued to bankruptcy? Why do you think S'poreans react like that? More importantly, isn't it dumb of S'poreans to accept a system like that?
8. We can't even go Malaysia to buy petrol as and when we like-- which country in the world has a 3/4 rule?
9. In fact, to think about it, which country in the world has banned chewing gum? Dumbest thing to do.
Wai Leong
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* To elaborate-- it is the duty of a government to equalise taxes and spending, so that people are not taxed beyond what is necessary to provide government services (such as education, healthcare, police, etc). Yet our govt runs surpluses year after year, and refuses to dip into past reserves when necessary.
Although our personal taxes are low, there are many hidden taxes (on TV licences, wine, petrol, cigarettes) and fines which collectively raise a lot of money for the govt as well.
This means we are over-taxed, effectively. Should you be overjoyed if someone overcharges you for a service, then gives you a "rebate"?
1. A lot of S'poreans thought they were getting a good deal when they bought HDB flats at 600-700k... look what happened now.
2. Gangsters in Hong Kong and China fight over territory, protection money, drugs or arms smuggling. S'porean gangsters? They fight over staring incidents.
3. People paid over $50,000 for COE's back in the 90's. Look what happened now.
4. People are so happy with their "progress" package. Little do they realise that it is not a gift, but it is because we are being taxed and fined too much. Why are you happy that someone taxed you too much?*
5. It's undeniable that, in terms of being streetwise, S'poreans are among the worst, simply because of the nanny state we are in.
6. During the height of the dot com revolution, there was a Ministerial committee to examine how to increase S'poreans' creativity and entrepreneurial instincts. A government committee! To discuss how S'poreans can become more creative!
7. We have so-called freedom of speech and freedom of association, yet you hardly see anyone speaking freely or protesting in the streets. Remember what happened to the people who protested against CPF at Raffles Place? Remember what Jack Neo told PM Lee, when he showed his friends the script for Money No Enough, their first reaction was, do you want to get jailed or sued to bankruptcy? Why do you think S'poreans react like that? More importantly, isn't it dumb of S'poreans to accept a system like that?
8. We can't even go Malaysia to buy petrol as and when we like-- which country in the world has a 3/4 rule?
9. In fact, to think about it, which country in the world has banned chewing gum? Dumbest thing to do.
Wai Leong
===
* To elaborate-- it is the duty of a government to equalise taxes and spending, so that people are not taxed beyond what is necessary to provide government services (such as education, healthcare, police, etc). Yet our govt runs surpluses year after year, and refuses to dip into past reserves when necessary.
Although our personal taxes are low, there are many hidden taxes (on TV licences, wine, petrol, cigarettes) and fines which collectively raise a lot of money for the govt as well.
This means we are over-taxed, effectively. Should you be overjoyed if someone overcharges you for a service, then gives you a "rebate"?
ahbeng said:
Haha, you called yourself ahbeng, but are u beng? r u stupid? :think:ahbeng said:
That Taiwanese, who is supposed to be an intellectual is actually like a frog who is still in the well. He called himself a smart person, but believe that there are only 3 smart Singaporeans, namely LKY, his pm son and of course Stephanie Sun, and the rest are juz stupid/dumb/asehole/idiots, etc.. If he is so smart he should at least know that there are at least 2 more smart ppl in S'pore, HC (among the world's most powerful woman) and LHY (regional powerhouse).
In fact, there are too many smart Singaporeans around but doing stupid things. A smart Singaporean trying to dethrone Apple, a smart employee trying to steal more millions from SIA when he should know that $10,000,000 is already too much, smart drivers going to Johor to save some monies by pumping petrol and kanna carjacked, and so many stupid examples....
So my friend, dont worry, be happy.:angel: We are not stupid, we juz act stupid. :sweatsm:
I will agree it was a rather baseless and unnessary remark on the issue by Li Ao. Because plenty of famous and powerful people comes from poor or uneducated background. So there's no really clear connection between background and capability.
But it is also true that there isn't really any outstanding person from Singapore yet. As least not someone who will be instantly recognisable and associated with our country. Even people who Singaporeans preceived to be successful 'global' are quite unknown elsewhere in the world. For example, all along we have looked up to Sim Wong Woo as a successful technopreneur of a MNC, but to most ordinary people elsewhere in the world, he's pretty much an unknown even if Creative products are everywhere.
Then there's this little thing I've noticed in our local papers. From time to time, there's alway articles that will point out that someone famous was born in Singapore, or studied here. But the question is, are these people associated with our country at all? If they had stayed in Singapore doing the things they do, will they had become as famous? Maybe our society are good at producing talents, but just a bit lacking in polishing them.
But it is also true that there isn't really any outstanding person from Singapore yet. As least not someone who will be instantly recognisable and associated with our country. Even people who Singaporeans preceived to be successful 'global' are quite unknown elsewhere in the world. For example, all along we have looked up to Sim Wong Woo as a successful technopreneur of a MNC, but to most ordinary people elsewhere in the world, he's pretty much an unknown even if Creative products are everywhere.
Then there's this little thing I've noticed in our local papers. From time to time, there's alway articles that will point out that someone famous was born in Singapore, or studied here. But the question is, are these people associated with our country at all? If they had stayed in Singapore doing the things they do, will they had become as famous? Maybe our society are good at producing talents, but just a bit lacking in polishing them.
ahbeng said:
then somebody got to define "dumb" and "stupid" before we can comment.........but as a singaporean I have to admit one thing, we do not have much self esteem........we do not allow oursleves to be proud of our own achievements and we tend to let other people tell us if we have achieve anything.......so when Li says we are stupid, we start to think why are we labelled as stupid......but for me the main thing is, "do we think we are stupid?"
Li chose to concentrate on what we have not, as he clearly said, besides LKY and SS, we have nobody famous.....so you take out people like Bush, Gates, Trump, Jobs, Michael Jordan, and a whole bunch of other famous people in US, what do you get?
There are people from other countries who would die to be in a country like Singapore, given our security, decent government, infrastructure, etc.
Li comments, at best is only a opinion, so I am not too bothered by it. we are a country or 3.5 million people, and is only 40 years old......if we are stupid, we would not be where we are today
Singapore is clearly a very successful country given our age,and we tends to invite jealously
waileong said:
I do concurred with you on Point 5 and 6...but not quite sure about the others
6. During the height of the dot com revolution, there was a Ministerial committee to examine how to increase S'poreans' creativity and entrepreneurial instincts. A government committee! To discuss how S'poreans can become more creative! --- this is really stupid :dunno: :thumbsd: :bigeyes:
Canonised said:
Actually, I was thinking along the lines of some musicians.
Ann C. just make good tabloid news here lah, I don't really think a lot of people in the US will know who she is and certainty won't give a thought where she came from. It's just overhype by our papers which has nothing else to write about.
I forgot one!
10. To be a busker, you must audition with the National Arts Council, and if you pass, you will get a permit which then allows you to keep half (!) your takings. The other half? Goes to charity-- whether you like it or not. Don't want to comply? Then the police will arrest you under for providing unlicensed entertainment in public.
Ha! How stupid can S'pore get? Which country in the world does the govt decide who can or cannot busk? Surely it should be the public, not the Govt, that decides?
And one more
11. To sell things at Sungei Road... guess what, you must get a licence from NEA!!!!
Stupid.
10. To be a busker, you must audition with the National Arts Council, and if you pass, you will get a permit which then allows you to keep half (!) your takings. The other half? Goes to charity-- whether you like it or not. Don't want to comply? Then the police will arrest you under for providing unlicensed entertainment in public.
Ha! How stupid can S'pore get? Which country in the world does the govt decide who can or cannot busk? Surely it should be the public, not the Govt, that decides?
And one more
11. To sell things at Sungei Road... guess what, you must get a licence from NEA!!!!
Stupid.
Nikonnew said:
waileong said:
Erm...actually, Singapore is not the only city that requires a permit for busking. In fact it's common practice for buskers to seek permission from the local city council or arts association to perform. And some cities even expressively ban busking in certain areas for reasons such as:
- obstruction to traffic/pedrestrains
- safety
- local complaints.
Jia Wang said:
I've to agree. Please go through Li Au's entire "commentary" before jumping into this. His main pt. is that Singaporean's are of Chinese immigrants of "inferior" quality. Not to put any of us down, if we trace back our roots.... dun be too surprised ok. Our fore fathers from China are mainly those of poor & low education. Also, include some jailbirds who escaped here.
If my memory serves me correct, our LKY also said these in jest when pointing out how large China will become in the next Century by using Singapore (of inferior quality) can achieve so much in 30 yrs, so what more of China.
Also, true tht Singapore tend not to produce heros. We are good at moving and progressin as a team rather than having individual heros.
ok, so i'm guessing i'm probably proving this guy right because this a dumb question but who the heck is Li Au and why do we care what he has to say?
Li Au is a taiwanese man desperate for media attention so he can get enough publicity to make money off franchising his "brand" of ignorant through interviews on medias and publications.
Taiwanese are very good at that! Remember that gal who became famous for leaking out her private video ? And that Ugly taiwanese woman who think she's very rich? These people are real talents who knew how to make use of media to become rich! Li Au is just one of them.
And some of our fellow Singaporeans, especially the elders, always falls into their tricks by paying them to come to Singapore to perform.
Kinda like William Hung but alot smarter.
Taiwanese are very good at that! Remember that gal who became famous for leaking out her private video ? And that Ugly taiwanese woman who think she's very rich? These people are real talents who knew how to make use of media to become rich! Li Au is just one of them.
And some of our fellow Singaporeans, especially the elders, always falls into their tricks by paying them to come to Singapore to perform.
Kinda like William Hung but alot smarter.
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