Are Singaporeans an inconsiderate bunch?

STOMP_Team · #1 18-07-2006, 10:04 PM

Mr Md Maideen saw this blind elderly woman with a walking stick being guided into the train at Aljunied station. She was left standing and held on to the bar for support until she alighted at Bedok.

The 44-year-old businessman, who stood next to her, noticed her discomfort and wondered why no one offered a seat to the blind lady. At one point, Mr Maideen wanted to ask the two women sitting near the old lady to offer their seat to her, but refrained because he felt they "might be offended".

Mr Maideen thinks this is a "serious social issue" and hopes people can be more considerate, particularly to the disabled.

Are Singaporeans in general an inconsiderate bunch? What makes us so?

seantzw · #2 18-07-2006, 10:11 PM

wow. this has been discussed countless times already. anyway, here's my two cents worth.

maybe we should give the benefit of the doubt to the 2 women sitting down - they appear to be sleeping and it's entirely possible that they're tired and are genuinely taking 40 winks. maybe they didn't notice the poor blind lady.

then again, if they weren't, the only thing to say is that they were very mean and inconsiderate. she is blind and old after all...

I think it's a sweeping statement to say that Singaporeans are an inconsiderate bunch as I believe that there are many really nice, polite and kind Singaporeans out there. Singaporeans' reputation is only marred by the black sheep within our midst. only incidents like this are reported.. how about the incidents showing how considerate Singaporeans are? I'm sure there are quite a few..

STOMP_Team · #3 18-07-2006, 10:31 PM

According to Mr Maideen, the two women were not sleeping and one of them was reading a book.

mayannlee · #4 18-07-2006, 10:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by STOMP_Team

Mr Md Maideen saw this blind elderly woman with a walking stick being guided into the train at Aljunied station. She was left standing and held on to the bar for support until she alighted at Bedok.

The 44-year-old businessman, who stood next to her, noticed her discomfort and wondered why no one offered a seat to the blind lady. At one point, Mr Maideen wanted to ask the two women sitting near the old lady to offer their seat to her, but refrained because he felt they "might be offended".

Mr Maideen thinks this is a "serious social issue" and hopes people can be more considerate, particularly to the disabled.

Are Singaporeans in general an inconsiderate bunch? What makes us so?

Blind passengers are easily noticeable, I have witnessed a lot of passengers offered their seats to blind and handicapped passengers. In this case Mr Maideen thinks she is blind maybe she is not putting on dark glasses is no evident that she is blind. She should show her 'white' cane.

seantzw · #5 18-07-2006, 10:40 PM

oh man. then they're mean and inconsiderate.

I've missed my bus several times before when I was helping a blind person to catch his/her bus. I mean.. it's just the right thing to do..

danspeaks · #6 18-07-2006, 10:59 PM

Most singaporeans are ugly it seems. We're ranked lowly in terms of courtesy and service standards. It seems as no suprise that another incident speaks of it again.

I guess, we, as a whole take a step back and reflect on our very own behavior and attitude. Then, we'll finally be able to progress as a nation with values that others and ourselves can be proud of.

Bored_Dad · #7 18-07-2006, 11:00 PM

The blind person can be easily identified, they will be holding a red/white colour foldable stick to help them to walk.

Before I started driving, I also will give up my seats or help a blind person whenever I come across one.

csp007 · #8 18-07-2006, 11:26 PM

I think we should not condemn everyone just from some selfish acts by the few black sheeps in the society.

Let me just describe what i seen today when i was on my way home from DobbyG to Potong pasir in the NEL.

During one of the stops an old malay lady came in and was carrying a lot of stuff, basically her hands were full and i'm sure she would need to put down her stuff in order to hold the standing poles. During that time a guy saw this and stand up to offer his seat to the lady in double quick time. I'm quite pleased to see this act and i felt like taking his pics down and post it on stomp.

Maybe stomp can implement an area to commend on all these helpful, considerate and kind people and encourage more of these kind acts in the future.

Bored_Dad · #9 18-07-2006, 11:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by csp007

Maybe stomp can implement an area to commend on all these helpful, considerate and kind people and encourage more of these kind acts in the future.

Yes, I agreed, so far it seem that we have nothing good but all sort of complaint and negativities about Singaporeans.

I think there are still plenty of great people among us that truly worthy of praise and appreciation, and perhaps this will encourage more people to follow their examples instead of keep focusing on the negative ones?

Yes, I support the idea of have a place to post good deeds by those good samaritans out there.

tantk · #10 19-07-2006, 12:11 AM

Blind people are very noticeable. However, to be sarcastic, the people who can see, pretend they are blind and ignore such people. If I had been there, I would have given up my seat to this person and most probably have told the inconsiderate person off. Some seats in the MRT are marked for handicap and elderly people. People should "automatically" give up their seat when they see a person in need.