A Singaporean has started a serious online discussion over the Singaporean Dream. The netizen shared their sentiments, saying it is “to hentak kaki” — a Malay phrase literally means “stamping feet” or “marching in place” but is also an expression used to refer to a career that has become stagnant.
An online user on Sunday (Sept 25) shared their thoughts on the social ladder unique to the country with an online news forum. The attention-grabbing headline read “The Singaporean Dream is to hentak kaki“.
The Singaporean Dream is to hentak kaki
byu/tsgaylord_069 insingapore
The netizen brought to the table their sentiments regarding what they see as a collective lack of ambition. “Some make it up the social ladder. Some dropped down,” they said, “But the vast majority just end up remaining more or less where they were a generation before, many even lack ambitions in their late 20s or early 30s.”
The netizen then made reference to the nation’s “5Cs” (cash, car, credit card, condominium, country club membership) which is also used to refer to materialism. “This makes me think–what is actually the Singaporean Dream? It used to be the 5Cs, but has it evolved to just getting by? At this rate what would the future generation’s dream be?”
The post served as an invitation for other Singaporeans to join the conversation, which was labelled a serious discussion on the online news forum.
Many argued that the idea of what a “good life” means has changed, therefore changing people’s attitudes towards work. “It’s not that Singaporeans stopped striving towards a better life,” shared one, “It is that the means to achieve a better life has changed, and working harder, earning more, and progressing fast in your career is no longer the best way to achieve a better life.
Another mentioned, “You don’t need to get the 5Cs to have a good life.”
One netizen even mentioned the role they think the government plays in forming a hustle mentality.
“It’s starting to change over the last decade with bits of the education system improving, but I reckon we’ll only see real change when the People’s Action Party (PAP) and the government let up on their rather insane obsession with meritocracy and grades (who cares about what your O level or PSLE results are in the working world?”
