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Kiasu In Singapore Essay

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Introduction Queuing hours before a sale starts, piling up foods during buffet and rushing for empty seats in public transports are some of the most common behaviors seen in Singapore. These behaviors are commonly known in the Chinese Hokkien dialect as kiasu. Kiasu, defined as “fear to lose out”, is the most prominent cultural value in Singapore’s society. Cultural value refers to a shared idea by citizens in the country thus, displaying them in their daily life (Jackson, 2014). Singapore has come a long way. From a fishing village, to a country filled with advancement in economy, technology, education and even its people. With advancement, it placed pressure on Singaporeans to be at the top or at least of an advanced level. Hence, they …show more content…

(2002) that Singaporeans displayed a negative kiasu attitude for free items. This included piling their plates with foods at buffets, taking complimentary items from hotels and airlines or even asking for more free gifts (Leo, 1995; Kirby & Ross, 2007). Kiasuism was also evident at taking any opportunities of using things for free. Borders, a popular bookstore at Orchard Road, had to go against its “lifestyle” bookstore values and plastic wrapped their books due to Singaporeans’ kiasu attitudes (Kim, 2009). As mentioned by an interviewer in Kim’s study (2009), Singaporeans took the chance to read the books for long hours in the store without purchasing them as books were free for browsing. Such behaviors of taking advantages of any opportunities portrayed by Singaporeans regardless of age were viewed …show more content…

In order to win in a competitive country, many Singaporeans value kiasuism. Singaporeans took advantage of any free seats, items and opportunities to be ahead of others. However, the intention for being kiasu sets the younger generation apart from the older generation. Younger generation often displayed kiasuism for one’s benefit. As for education, they would take advantage of the environment for their personal growth and to obtain extensive knowledge. Queuing long hours for toys was necessary because they desire them. To them, kiasuism should be viewed positively as it served as an advantage for one’s desire. Whereas, kiasuism displayed by older generation was merely to take advantage of the situation in other not to lose out such opportunities. This was clearly evident in the Hello Kitty toy incident and preparing their children excessively for school. Hence, despite the difference in displaying kiasu acts by different generations, the kiasu acts were still the product of fear to losing

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