Singaporeans a happy lot

Imelda Saad, Channel NewsAsia 24 Aug 09;

SINGAPORE: Singaporeans are generally a happy lot, especially when compared to people in countries such as China, Vietnam, Korea and Japan.

The findings - released on Monday - were part of a survey on the quality of life, conducted across seven East Asian economies by a Japanese university.

Asked if they were happy, a whopping 70 per cent of Singaporeans said they were, topping the Happiness Index in the survey.

People in Vietnam were in second place, at 64 per cent, while the Japanese were third, at 54 per cent. People in Taiwan were the least happy, with only some 30 per cent saying they were happy.

Happiness was measured according to respondents' perceptions of various areas such as standard of living, family life and their job.

76 per cent of Singaporeans were satisfied with their standard of living, up more than 20 percentage points compared to 10 years ago. On family life, about 92 per cent expressed satisfaction compared to just about 80 per cent in 1996.

On the jobs front, about 70 per cent said they were satisfied with their jobs - up about 10 percentage points from 1996.

But as more Singaporeans are enjoying material comfort, they now want to see greater satisfaction in other intangible areas. For example, Singaporeans rank the lowest when it comes to being satisfied with the right to criticise the government.

They are also at the bottom just before China, when it comes to being satisfied with the right to gather and demonstrate.

While Singaporeans are generally a happy lot, this survey was done in 2006, at a time when the world was very different. Today, there is the onslaught of the global financial crisis and there have been some significant changes in the political landscape in Singapore.

Dr Siok Kuan Tambyah, senior lecturer at the Department of Marketing, National University of Singapore Business School, said: "In terms of economic climate, we were definitely in a much better position in 2006.

"I think even in very good years, in the bumper crop years, Singaporeans were already concerned about unemployment, their livelihood and so on. These fears would of course be amplified in recent years."

But Dr Tambyah added the current economic climate is unlikely to result in Singapore's happiness index plummeting.

She said: "I think we would see a dampening of sentiments in terms of Singaporeans' optimism about the future and economic prospects. I don't think we will see a plummeting of this index, if you want to call it an index."

On the political front - rules on lawful public outdoor demonstration have been eased since 2008. The government has also freed up new media laws to allow for certain political films and wider engagement of citizens on the Internet.

Dr Tambyah said: "I think online petitions only took off fairly recently. So if we were to ask Singaporeans the same question, I think more of them would have signed an online petition. I think we would also see a higher number of people prepared to take part in a lawful demonstration, again because of relaxation of rules.

"So bearing in mind some of these questions were asked at a time when rules were a bit more stringent, I think we would see a more opening up of Singaporeans - they'll be more ready to take on some of these political actions."

Dr Tambyah added: "I think over time, policy makers and the government need to understand that younger Singaporeans who are more globally connected, who are more digitally connected, are really more aware of what's happening in Singapore and the rest of the world.

"I think the government is taking steps in the right direction. People are expecting the government to be more open, again to maybe engage more digital media.

"And Singaporeans in general would be very welcoming of such changes so that they will have more platforms to voice their views and maybe help people to understand that if you really care about the country then we should speak up and there are ways you can do it in a very organised, very positive fashion."

Despite many attempts to explain Singapore's foreign talent policy, some 70 per cent of respondents still felt the government should restrict the inflow of foreigners to protect domestic interests.

Besides unemployment, other top concerns of Singaporeans were terrorism and health issues.

The 2006 study, which also covered areas like digital life, global outlook and spirituality, was done under the ambit of the AsiaBarometer Survey, an initiative of Chuo University in Japan.

In Singapore, face-to-face interviews were conducted with more than 1,000 people aged between 20 and 69. The data was then passed to the researchers at the NUS Business School in 2007. The team - made up of Dr Tambyah, Dr Tan Soo Jiuan and Dr Kau Ah Keng - took about a year to analyse the data.

- CNA/ir