The Straits Times carried out a survey and found that "Honesty" is rated at the top among the values that Singaporeans found to be most important. This survey was carried out for the purpose of teaching the right values in our schools.
Does this reflect that our society has become somewhat dishonest and that this value need to be re-affirmed? Can you identify the areas, regarding honesty, that need to be improved?
Does this reflect that our society has become somewhat dishonest and that this value need to be re-affirmed? Can you identify the areas, regarding honesty, that need to be improved?
3 comments:
No surprise at all.
We've been duped so much these few years by investment banks, ordinary banks, insurance companies, stock brokerages, property agents,landbanking companies, etc., whereby there is loss of social trust among the peoples.
So honesty comes up as the top rated value in our society.
The standard of honesty has deteriorated in Singapore over the past two decades. Many people are not able to tell the difference between honesty and dishonesty, as the drive to make more money, i.e. greed, seem to have taken the top priority.
Here are the different levels of dishonesty - starting from the worst:
1. These are people who create scams to cheat people. They knows that they are dishonest, but they also know how to avoid getting caught. Some of them engage lawyers to protect them against criminal prosecution.
2. These are people who give mis-statements, but they do not know that they are misleading other people. They are naive, rather than dishonest. They were probably told the lies by the dishonest people, but they fell for it. Most of these naive people are those that sell bad investment products to their friends and family members, to earn a commission or meet the sales quota, but do not know that they are harming the people the people who are close to them.
3. This category of people are the business leaders who aim to increase their company's profits by overcharging customers and levying penalties. They might even make life confusing for customers, so as to take advantage of their ignorance.
4. Finally, we have people who are happy to make a gain from the chaotic environment. This include professionals, e.g. lawyers, who come in to earn their fees from the suffering of the consumers. They are happy to have this environment that allows them to prosper, rather than take steps to improve the situation.
Start with the government and the ministers. Be honest in admitting shortcomings and policy failures. Call a spade a spade and not a u-turn a rethink. Be honest with the people and not be condescending and obfuscate. Business, industry and other leaders take the cue from political leaders who have the greatest visibility. When the upper beam is crooked, the lower one will be bent.
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