The Problem with Magic Circles

 

At the start of the month, our Ambassador-At-Large, Professor Tommy Koh caused a bit of a stir among the chattering classes when he stated that he believed that Singaporeans were a snobbish lot who look down on the poor. More on Professor Koh’s remarks can be found at:

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/listen/heart-matter/singapore-snobbish-tommy-koh-says-confronting-societys-flaws-needed-new-social-compact-2875886

 

 On the face of things, it appears that Professor Koh is being a tad unfair to Singapore and Singaporeans. Snobbishness is not unique to Singapore and there may be a case for saying that if Singaporeans are snobbish, it is because we are a product of snobbish cultures (British, Chinese, and Indian). Then there was actually a valid point raised by the Artful Arse Kisser in his Facebook rebuke of Professor Koh, which is the fact that there are certain jobs in the world that are not and will never be well paid and overworked – waitering comes to mind.

However, while Snobbishness is not unique to Singapore, Professor Koh was right to raise the topic of snobbishness and if you look at the abundance of everyday examples, you might say that “snobbish” is too light a word to describe things and the issue here is not so much whether the rich look down on the poor but the fact that if you look at the main issues facing Singapore today, you will inevitably find that its not a case of there being winners and losers but a case of only a few being allowed to live.

As with most things in Singapore, it stems from something good taken to an extreme that it became not so good. From the moment we got booted out of the Malaysian Federation in 1965, our first Prime Minister became a man with a mission to show the world that Singapore with no size, resources, or anything else to speak off would be a “winner” in every sense of the word. It was drilled into every Singaporean kid that you had do whatever it took to climb the top at school, get into the best universities in the world and become a superstar for a multinational or in the government.

Nothing wrong with wanting to win. The people who want to win usually do. However, it has reached a point where the winners have now changed the game to prevent anyone from entering the game. While wanting to win is perfectly understandable, it is not a birth right or the reward for passing exams. A winner is only winner because he or she has withstood competition. In boxing, there is Mohammed Ali, who is called “The Greatest.” He didn’t get this because he had the best win-lose record. He got it because had had great battles against equally capable opponents like Joe Frazier and most notably George Foreman, who was younger, fitter and considerably stronger.

The mentality that winning is a birth right or for greater accuracy in the Singapore context “exam right” has created a host of magical circles, where money and respect from status comes easily. The formula is simple – pass the exam, get into a magic circle and stay there. You will meet and breed with your own kind and in a way, you get isolated from the laws of nature.

Think of our ruling party, which has been there from day one of Independent Singapore. The party has been there for so long that it doe not see itself from being different from the government. Nobody bats an eyelid when the ruling party talk about “Majulah PAP,” which is adapted from our national anthem of “Majulah Singapura.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UTeD0IlKEc

This obsession with the magic circle is not limited to the ruling party. Anyone who has dealt with Singapore’s media duopoly will realise that this mentality goes down the line. The ruling party talks about Singapore being “Too small to support a two-party system,” and its businesses (particularly the media ones) used to talk about the market being “too small for competition.”

Professional bodies have become gatekeepers of the “exam right” mentality and entrance into magic circles.  Professionalising means making people take more exams. Twenty years ago, property and insurance agents needed to take a single exam to get a license. These days its at least five or six exams for the right to earn a commission income. While there’s an argument that this was supposed to weed out the crooks, the reality is that it has limited entry into the profession and ensured that passing exams has become more important that serving customers. In law and accountancy, the regulatory bodies create ways to ensure that magic circle means magic in rewarding the circle rather than solving problems. “This can be seen in the perpetuation of that most glorious incentive for sloth – time costs and time sheets. Believe it or not, when I was once ticked off for saying I had no issue with receiving part payment based on success. Professionals are not people paid to solve a problem because they know more about a topic. They are encouraged to ensure those problems become more complicated (how else will they get paid).

Our system of magic circles needs a support system. However, the people in the magic circle are so obsessed with being in the magic circle and making entry into the magic circle difficult so that their egos are never bruised, that instead of seeing the support system as being a means of keeping the magic circle magical, it seen as an inconvenience to be acquired on the cheap.

Everyone wants to be in the magic circle. Nobody wants to be the support world, which explains why the people in the support system inevitably come from places where ill treatment and low pay in Singapore is considered a golden ticket to a better life – which makes the possibility of being in the support system that much scarier for people in magic circles.

I realised this when I dipped my toe into the support system when I joined the Bistrot. I needed money and the Bistort stabilised my income. However, I noticed people in Singapore’s magic circles, had a problem with me. They couldn’t understand how someone who was obviously from magic circle land would be seen in support system land.

To me, the logic of bad paying job better than no job was obvious. However, I know people who got booted out of magic circles and found more dignity in begging friend for a drink than in stepping a few toes into the support system. Never quite understood how this worked until someone explained that when you can no longer afford to be in a magic circle, your world collapses and everyone deserts you. So, not being seen in the support system means that you might have a chance of getting back into the magic circle.

Magic circles can be very comforting but there is something fundamentally wrong when our need to be in a magic circle prevents us seeing a world beyond that. Take the following story as an example:

https://mustsharenews.com/father-role-model/

 

Why do such stories make the news? Are we at the stage where the support system has become so frightening that we run away from it? That should not be the case. If you are an educated person with a functioning body, you should be able to survive beyond a magic circle. You should be proud of parents who worked in the support system to put you in the magic circle. If your kids feel ashamed that you don’t have the markings of someone in the magic circle, you should question the way you raised your kids.

Magic circles are comfortable, but they are bad for you. If we are to be a long lasting prosperous society, we will need to disrupt the world of magic circles.