A Different Side of Singapore

Today while sitting on a bus on my way to school, I saw an old lady rummaging through a dustbin for discarded cans in a bus-stop. Because she wasn't shabbily dressed, I couldn't decide whether she had to do that for a living or simply did that out of habit. Nevertheless the scene left an impression on me: The poor do exist in Singapore.

Later while I was having lunch at hawker center, a disshevelled man in his 50s suddenly sat down on the same table as me and wolfed down the leftover noodles left among the uncollected bowls and plates. To say that I was astonished would be an understatement. I had to pretend that everything was normal and tried to avoid looking at the guy. After finishing the noodles, he went to the public toilet without paying ten cents. I deduced that the people in charge of the public toilet at that hawker center should be familiar with him and hence the free entry. After using the toilet he went around selling tissue papers to other people on other tables.

Before I finished my meal, there was another old lady walking around hawking tissue paper as well as a beggar with a missing left hand asking for alms. All these happened within the short 20 minutes I was at the hawker center. Is it restricted to my particular neighborhood or these sights are more common around Singapore nowadays? Beneath our prosperous veneer, many Singaporeans are actually struggling to make ends meet. And these people are also the least likely to know about any assistance available.

How can we help these people? I believe that there are some who prefer working to receiving any aid. Beside this, many Singaporeans have lost faith in charity organizations since the sagas concerning NKF and Ren Ci. The people who require most assistance are the worst afflicted from the reduced generosity of the public. Is the state doing enough then? Probably not enough in my opinion.