Singapore – For 3 a long time, Singaporean company lawyer Gerald Yeo* chased the so-called Singapore Dream.
He climbed the ranks to turn out to be common counsel, managing a staff of attorneys on a six-figure month-to-month wage.
Typically he would rack up 20 hours at work dealing with calls with shoppers and colleagues in Asia, Europe and Latin America.
When COVID-19 compelled workers to begin working from residence, Yeo put in much more face-time on-line – till he suffered burnout and swapped the rat race for retirement in early 2021.
Today, Yeo volunteers with the aged, dabbles in pictures and indulges his love of journey, with jaunts which have taken him to the North Pole and Africa to identify gorillas.
“In Singapore, it’s drilled into our minds to pursue excellence, and you may’t slack off …We’re all the time ‘on’. You’ve gotten the mindset that you simply’re serving the company however with out realizing, you slip into doing an excessive amount of,” Yeo, who’s in his 50s, advised Al Jazeera.
Yeo is amongst a rising cohort of Singaporeans who’re looking for to reimagine the Singapore Dream as being much less about reaching materials success and extra about discovering which means and fulfilment.
Singapore’s prime minister-in-waiting, Lawrence Wong, is amongst those that argue the time has come for the city-state’s residents to look past cash and work.
After the launch of a report on residents’ views on the way forward for the social compact in October, Wong mentioned Singaporeans in the present day “not speak a lot concerning the 5 Cs” – referring to a condominium, automotive, money, bank card and nation membership membership.
“From our engagements, it’s also clear the Singapore Dream is extra than simply materials success,” Wong, who’s deputy prime minister and finance minister, mentioned on the launch of a competition based mostly on the findings of a 16-month session involving greater than 200,000 Singaporeans.
“It is usually about fulfilment, which means and function in what we do. This isn’t a top-down authorities agenda. That is very a lot a shared consensus, a co-created street map for our subsequent spherical of nation constructing.”
Singapore, whose authorities tightly controls shows of dissent and political activism by the inhabitants, is on the cusp of a significant political transition.
Present Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, 72 — the eldest son of Singapore’s founding chief Lee Kuan Yew — is that this month stepping down from the helm of the tiny city-state after twenty years in workplace.
On Could 15, Wong will likely be sworn in as Singapore’s fourth prime minister.
Beneath Lee Kuan Yew’s management, Singapore transitioned from poverty to prosperity inside a era of gaining its independence from Malaysia in 1965.
At the moment, Singapore has the next gross home product (GDP) per capita than america and its residents take pleasure in among the highest residing requirements on earth.
Whereas Singapore’s success has been credited to a tradition of competitors and exhausting work, the city-state has additionally gained a infamous repute as probably the most overworked, stressed-out and strait-laced societies on this planet.
However there are indicators that priorities are starting to shift.
In a survey carried out in October by the Institute of Coverage Research, greater than half of Singaporeans mentioned they’d settle for decrease pay or a much less senior function to profit their household or private life.
Wong, who gained plaudits for his dealing with of the nation’s pandemic response, has been seen as Lee’s successor since April 2022, when the long-dominant Individuals’s Motion Get together (PAP) selected him as head of its staff of “4G”, or fourth era, leaders.
A former technocrat, Wong emerged as a darkish horse for the premiership after the PAP’s first alternative, Heng Swee Keat, a former central financial institution chief and training minister, stepped apart in 2021 citing age and well being points.
Wong, a self-professed fan of enjoying the guitar and listening to rock, blues and soul, has admitted to not harbouring any grand political ambitions and has been portrayed in worldwide media as being extra relatable than as is typical of Singapore’s governing elites.
A spokesperson for Wong declined a request for remark, citing his busy schedule.
Donald Low, a professor at Hong Kong College of Science and Expertise who research Singaporean governance, mentioned that Singapore can’t merely prioritise GDP progress or emulate different extra superior societies or economies going ahead.
“This isn’t as a result of Singapore has nothing to study from different nations. Relatively, it’s as a result of Singapore is now at the forefront of improvement and it’d should chart its personal future…The nation should harness the creativity and ingenuity of its individuals – to a far better diploma than the PAP authorities has been used to,” Low advised Al Jazeera.
Low mentioned that whereas he hopes Wong can oversee “small however much-needed adjustments” in Singapore’s political tradition, it’s unlikely he’ll do a lot to fulfill Singaporeans’ need for the federal government to embrace better range and illustration – or higher tolerate dissent and criticism.
“As a result of the social gathering management shouldn’t be emotionally satisfied that there’s a lot benefit in what the critics or dissenters should say – a consequence of its elitism and high-handedness – I don’t see any important shifts in the way in which the PAP conducts politics,” he mentioned.
Chong Ja Ian, a political analyst on the Nationwide College of Singapore, mentioned that extra Singaporeans are expressing curiosity in points past financial and materials success – together with the setting, significant political participation and variety – which can form their profession plans and the way they dedicate their cash, time and vitality.
Chong mentioned that whereas the PAP has been making an attempt to melt its picture and interact extra with youthful individuals, it’s “much less clear when and whether or not such contact and picture administration have translated into concrete adjustments in coverage”.
Chong identified that Wong has largely confused continuity.
“Whether or not and the way he intends to maneuver in a clearer and bolder course on these points – particularly how he transforms common ideas and concepts into particular and concrete insurance policies – stays to be seen,” he mentioned.
Eugene Tan, a legislation professor at Singapore Administration College, mentioned the Ahead SG initiative to rejuvenate the social compact needs to be seen as an “try and strike the steadiness between materials and post-material issues”.
“Going past materials issues to balancing that with post-material aspirations – equity, social justice, egalitarianism, nationwide id – is not only about setting up and financing measures that help the coverage shifts recognized within the Ahead SG report,” Tan advised Al Jazeera.
“It’s a basic mindset shift requiring tangible behavioural adjustments and dedicated motion that may take years earlier than the outcomes could be evident. The query is will Singaporeans be ready to attend patiently.”
Tan mentioned that bulletins within the 2024 Finances, similar to monetary incentives for graduates of the Institute of Technical Schooling, which offers vocational coaching to post-secondary college students, are an essential first and needed step.
Nonetheless, Tan acknowledged that shifting the notion that progress is critical in any respect prices has been tough.
“The vulnerability of Singapore signifies that materials issues are all the time writ giant however Singaporeans don’t need that to be all that’s to life in Singapore,” he mentioned.
“Ahead SG seeks to nudge and mold societal understanding of success and if the PAP underneath Wong is unable to do this efficiently, then its political grip on energy will weaken additional and quicker.”
Whereas Singapore’s financial transformation was a vote-winner for Singaporeans born earlier than and shortly after independence, millennials and members of Gen Z who’ve solely ever recognized prosperity are in lots of circumstances itching for change, as demonstrated by the rising vote share for the opposition Employees’ Get together.
Jayee, a scholar at Nanyang Technological College, mentioned he acknowledged that the PAP has regularly allowed better area for discourse on points like LGBTQ rights and earnings inequality, however wished for extra ample checks.
“Whereas the PAP has performed wonders for the nation, it’s typically performed with a heavy-handed strategy…There’s a actual want for extra watchmen in parliament to scrutinise the PAP and query their insurance policies and conduct,” he advised Al Jazeera.
Toby Ang*, a former civil servant in his 30s, mentioned he’s extra fearful about structural points within the financial system, similar to stagnating wage progress, that solid a cloud over the city-state’s future trajectory.
“Actual management and contemporary concepts are missing,” Ang advised Al Jazeera.
Ang mentioned he’s unconvinced that Singaporeans who aspire to a extra egalitarian society are ready for the required trade-offs.
“The longer term state of the financial system is sort of worrisome. I’m a bit involved that we’ve put ourselves on a slippery slope, that we’re shifting in the direction of a high-income Scandinavian mannequin. However we’re wired very otherwise in psyche from the Nordics,” he mentioned.
SMU’s Tan mentioned that Singaporeans more and more anticipate a authorities that “talks with – relatively than talks to or, worse, talks right down to – the common citizen”.
“They need Singapore to stay distinctive but in addition a spot that they’ll name residence whilst others make the nation their lodge and playground,” he mentioned.
“In the end, they need their views to matter and so they need to be courted for his or her votes.”
As for Yeo, the previous company lawyer, he’s decided to make up for the time he misplaced working himself to the bone.
“I ponder what life would have been like if I’d lived otherwise up to now, if I’d set extra boundaries and prioritised my well-being as a substitute,” he mentioned.
*Names have been modified to guard privateness.
