Singaporeans: Common-sense Challenged or Simply Rude?

I have now been in Singapore for exactly six months and I take the MRT to go to work. I love taking the train. Apart from being cheaper than the cab, especially after the recent fare increase, it gives an accurate picture of the people of a country.

I think after six months I should not be upset any more, still I cannot understand why Singaporeans show such a lack of manners (or rather common sense) on trains when they otherwise behave fairly orderly in most other occasions.

Location: Any SMRT station during morning peak time. The doors open and people just rush in as if their lives depended on it. People trying to get off have to shove their way out.

Once you're in, half of the carriage is taken up by few people reading the paper as if they were in the comfort of their homes. They do not budge as if reading the paper on the train is an inalienable right.

Not to mention the loud music form music players or the continuous shouting into mobile phones.

At the same time, I often see young people giving their seats up if there is an elderly person or a pregnant woman. This contradictory behavior really puzzles me.

I also agree that many of the things I find annoying are not "uniquely" Singaporean. Sometimes, I think it is just lack of common sense, then I remember I'm in Singapore, the land of "kia su" (a term that can be translated as "fear of losing out"). Being the first to get on the train before anyone can get off must surely bring about something good… what? I have no clue. Maybe next time I'll ask.

On interesting fact: Doing a bit of research on the Web, I found out that in 1979, then-Prime Minister Lee Kwan Yew launched Singapore's first Courtesy Campaign. This was replaced in replaced in 2001 by the Singapore Kindness Movement.

I do not dare imagine what this place was like 29 years ago…