Why am I a typical Singaporean?
Maybe it’s upbringing, or maybe we all just pick it up naturally. Yes, the household word in Singapore: ‘Kia Su’.
Kia Su translates directly to ‘scared lose’. We are scared to lose. We are scared to be at the losing end of anything.
When we go on holidays, we want to see the best places in the shortest time possible. Our itineraries are packed chock full, from 7am to 10pm, if not beginning earlier and ending later.
When I shop, I also exhibit that fear of losing. Take photography equipment as an example. The area around Singapore’s Peninsula Plaza is infested with photography equipment shops. I spend close to an hour walking around the whole area, checking out the prices of one piece of equipment from up to eight shops, before making my purchase.
While this may sound like something sensible, I urge you to look a little closer at the picture. What are the savings like? The savings I make from this ‘price scouting’ sometimes amount to ten dollars. Mind you, this is on a piece of equipment worth about $130. On cheaper accessories that cost about $10-$12, the savings become more minimal, dipping as low as a dollar or two. Yes, this is a healthy practice of saving money, but sometimes we, or should I say, I myself, get so caught up with doing this that we spend excessive time looking for the deal that betters another by only a dollar.
I guess for me, this makes me a typical Singaporean. It’s rampant, this fear of losing. Go online, to local photography forums, and you can see many other locals, so similar to me, asking fellow photographers where the best deals (that incidentally better the others by a marginal amount) can be found. I know I am not alone. That is how I know I am a typical Singaporean; a typical Singaporean photographer, a typical Singaporean shopper, and a typical kia su Singaporean.
