This Week is Kindness Week in Singapore

This Week is Kindness Week in Singapore

This week is designated Kindness Week and the Kindness Movement in Singapore has decided to extend the Kindness Week to 1 month....so it is going to be Kindness Month 2009 in Singapore. I tried very hard to find our PM's Kindness Week speech but it looks like he did not give a speech this year. All speeches by PM, MM and SMs are found here : [Link]. I was looking for a followup to the kind satay man story which he told in 2007.....but no luck. Just to recap:
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"Mr Lee shared how he and his wife were touched by the thoughtfulness of a satay man in Malacca. They had ordered 40 sticks of satay but the experienced hawker only served them 25 sticks, as he knew that would be enough." - Channel News Asia [Link] Kindness Week 2007
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It may be just a story to you but for public servants this story has an important moral and will followed as if it is govt policy. I was eager this year to find out what kindness means to our PM in this time of deep recession but he didn't give a speech so we are left guessing what is on his mind.
After some searching, I found out that this year's speech to launch Kindness Week was given by Lim Boon Heng. This former union leader, a representative of the common worker, should know what kindness is about. Given we are in a severe recession, I thought he would talk about how employers should treat employees with kindness and try not to retrench ....but he didn't. He spent most of his speech explaining why people should not say unkind things to executives who receive high bonuses. [Link] and that bonus is should not be a dirty word. Of course bonus is not a dirty word....we all know the dirty word in Singapore is welfare. Our former union leader feels that people should not mistake a bonus as "somebody getting something extra and undeserved and out of line with the current economic situation". Sure....I think Lim Boon Heng is only being fair - when a lowly worker gets retrenched, he deserves it....so it is only fair when a CEO gets $20M, he too is getting what he deserves. Basically, Lim Boon Heng is saying people get what they deserve - no more no less under the system the PAP govt has created and embraced. Let us not have our emotions get the better of us and think with a clear head. It is time for people to be kind and considerate towards those with high bonuses and not be resentful......
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I'm so glad this ex-union leader gave us his frank views on bonuses - be it 8 months or $20M...the system we have today allocate all these fairly and equitably....so the is no point getting angry and trying to change things. There is nothing to change and the system is fine.

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