Kiasu-ism

OKIE!! My 3rd consecutive weekly post is here. I am going to touch on kiasu-ism. The term "kiasu" means scared to lose in hokkien dialect. Firstly, why do i consider this a culture of Singapore?? It is because Singaporeans are known to be very calculative and would not do anything for FREE!! But they will be the first ones to grab everything thats among the trend and everything that is FREE!! If you try to think from another point of view, Singapore, being a highly competitive country, often lead we Singaporeans striving hard to be ahead of others be it in school or work. They are also likely to compared material status and educational qualifications. Being KIASU for those reason is not a bad thing but all these years, the KIASU spirit brings about unhealthy levels of competition. for e.g, playing a game, winning and losing is common and is part of a competition, but, being AFRAID TO LOSE (KIASU) is totally unacceptable. Sadly, some Singaporeans seem to be proud of this local image and they even developed a local character named Mr.Kiasu who behaves in an extremly exaggerated kiasu behaviour. In conclusion, striving for excellence is a must for everyone but being kiasu is seriously unacceptable. Its only a thin line between these two catogeries. We need to work hard to change this negative perception or we may just end up in a sorry state. A small small test on how kiasu u might be http://www.med.nus.edu.sg/pcm/stress/Kiasu.html.