46 percent of people in Singapore believe that the social fabric “that once held this country together has grown too weak to serve as a foundation for unity and common purpose”.
This was reported in consultancy firm Edelman’s 2023 Trust Barometer, release yesterday (15Mar).
44 percent of respondents believes that the lack of civility and mutual respect today was the “worst” they have ever seen.
When asked how they would act towards a person with whom they strongly disagreed, only around 30 percent of Singapore respondents said they would be willing to help them if they were in need.
About 1,150 respondents from Singapore were polled.
The results did not come as a surprise to most Singaporeans who aired their views on the poll.
Said one netizen:
“Result of competitive society. We compete with each other in our education system and we continue to compete in our job career. We were taught we win when other lose, then what do you expect?”
Some believed that this was a by-product of the influx of foreign labour:
“So many years of kindness movement has gone down the drain. Inevitable when new residents do not try to integrate into local culture and locals do not feel the need to give in to others because they no longer believe in the need to be kind.”
