Forum: Do more to help seniors, before a generation dies
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I refer to the excellent reminder Ms Nicole Chan gives to Singapore society in her Opinion piece “ How to get the care right, before grandma dies
The headline is inspired by the current Thai box office hit How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies, a fictional story about what true riches are, and one that serves as an urgent wake-up call to real-life societies everywhere. It is particularly relevant to Singapore as we draw closer to 2030, when one in four citizens will be aged 65 and above.
As with Ms Chan relating the touching story of her grandma, this letter is not an indictment of the many praiseworthy schemes and movements here that are already reaching out to needy senior citizens.
But how often have we all seen elderly citizens cleaning toilets at our excellent Changi Airport, and not given it a second thought? I found it embarrassing when a visiting overseas friend asked me why there seemed to be more than a few white-haired senior citizens labouring away there. Isn’t Singapore a very wealthy country, she asked.
Then, there was the Grab driver in Kuala Lumpur who asked me why he often sees senior citizens cleaning tables in the hawker centres he frequents when visiting Singapore, a super-rich country, as he put it.
There are others in difficult situations, such as the rough sleepers, the tissue sellers, the cardboard collectors, and those dying alone, sometimes tragically by their own hand.
We are all aware of the dangers of desensitisation when young people are exposed to excessive amounts of violence in real life, in the news, and in films and video games.
That repeated exposure to anything has a normalisation effect is well researched and evident in everyday life. It would appear that as a society, Singaporeans may have become desensitised to our less fortunate senior citizens, so much so that it takes foreigners to notice them.
Loh Kin Poh
