I refer to Mr. Andrew Robinson's letter "Singapore Has no Generation X because it is so Successful" February 16, 1996, Life, The Straits Times.
Contrary to Mr. Robinson's belief, Singapore does have its own species of Generation X; albeit fortunately not the Western model of frustrating unemployment & underemployment. The rose of Singapore youth who graduate from universities have a more insidious creeping alienation.
True, Singapore youth do not riot & engage in media-worthy acts of violence. But lately, the reports of drunken brawls fights at Boat Quay & other youth-related excesses have hit the Singapore news. Fortunately, our strict drug laws have ensured that there is no great drug problem. Drugs may not savage the flower of our youth but drink will definitely deaden our youth's sense & sensibility.
The means to self-destruction may be different, but the motivation is the same. It stems from restlessness, estrangement from life, alienation, motiveless endeavors, & the ennui of the drunken youth at Boat Quay is symptomatic of the slacker in the US.
Mr. Robinson observed that the youth "are smart enough to acknowledge that a secure future is no longer their birthright". Unfortunately, not a few Singapore youth are also succumbing to this Gen-Xer dilemma of thinking that they will never get what has been promised to them by their parents, their schools, the State & their own expectations. The prosaic Singapore formula was that if you work hard; you will get what you want. The axiom is if you work harder & you may get what you want if it does not clash with the national interest.
The sad reality is nothing is to be taken for granted & no social system can ever guarantee a birthright to prosperity. Society & its institutions can only ensure that there is opportunity. It for those Gen-Xers to make & take their opportunity in order to prevail. In engage in self-pity is to slide on the slippery slope of ignoble emotionalism. Singapore Gen-Xers seem to think that the opportunity is getting harder to make & take.
However as ideals go, Singaporean youth seem to believe that it is their birthright is to partake in the great Singapore success story. However, the unfortunate Singapore measure of success for the erstwhile graduate is to afford & attain the symbols of material success e.g. car, cellular phone, credit cards, private housing etc. One could say that we may be spoiled by our success when compared to the Gen-Xer problem in the UK & the USA.
The recent Singapore university graduate wants to realize the same goals that his predecessor graduates of the 1970s & 1980s realized. But in recent years, even these tangible desires have appeared to be harder & harder to attain. The Singapore Gen-Xer climbing the ladder of success keeps finding more & more rungs being added as he climbs.
In Singapore, the expectations were raised with talk of the Next Lap. In Singapore, the prosperity for some is evident for everyone to see but life is unfortunately not a spectator sport. The Gen- Xer wants to participate & increasingly, they see the terms of such participation are being more onerous to meet.
The symptoms of the Gen-Xer discontent may differ in Singapore when compared to the West; but the illness of alienation, lack of empowerment, powerlessness to effect change is the same. In Singapore, this problem is compounded by an impoverishment of our inner lives where the pursuit of happiness is equated to or subjugated by the pursuit of wealth.
The Singapore Gen-Xer has to contend with intangible notions of empowerment & self- actualization. It is hard for the Singapore Gen-Xer to obtain the intangibles of empowerment & self-actualization. One may say that they want to have a limit to the amount of personal liberties to be compromised. Not to be patronized, condescended to & unrepresented in the national discourse. To participate in a meaningful dialogue. No more endless litany of how-to-dos & how- not-to-dos. No more we-know-best mantras.
The Singapore Gen-Xer muddles along. After a few years of subsistence & if they have not obtained or been seduced by material pleasures, they leave to create such opportunities to realize the intangibles. We see them leaving Singapore to seek new experiences, obtain some overseas exposure, march to a different kind of drumbeat & hopefully make a few more dollars. Some who leave, do not return because they may have actualized themselves & obtained empowerment in their lives.
Therein, manifests the more insidious creeping alienation of the Singapore Gen-Xer, they who remain in Singapore to toil & hope to realize the Singapore dream. When they have seen that their youth has evaporated into middle-age acceptability & resignation, the Singapore Gen-Xer will not want the same thing happen to their children & they too will eventually join the diaspora, in search for self-actualization & empowerment in their lives. Singapore does have a Generation X because it is successful & that is even more alarming.
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