Surveying

I am currently doing surveys for the Ministry of Manpower. It isn't an easy job and I am actually a replacement for soeone who quitted. The job involves calling people up or visiting them at home to do interviews on their economic status. The response rate is very low and there are a few instances when I have been scolded by irritated respondents. I've met friendly people as well as rude people. So far, I think the most rude people are the Caucasians and the educated high-income Singaporeans. On the other end are the Taiwanese and the Japanese as well as the retired Singaporeans. The retirees are a pleasure to interview as they are very friendly towards me. I have always been invited into their houses and they have always treated me very kindly, offering me drinks and such. Just yesterday, I visited an elderly cople and what was a routine 10 minute interview turned out to last over an hour. They were telling me stories of their past as well as complaining about the government. They were talking to me in Hokkien and I can catch most of what they are saying. Two decades of listening to my relatives conversing in Teochew definitely helps. Through the interviews, I realised that Singapore is not the utopia that we are led to believe. There are people living in dilipidated one room flats who are struggling to survive in a First World country with one of the highest per capita GDP in the world. Money is really a big issue for a significant proportion of the population. There are people who are earning only a few hundred a month and they have to support themselves as well as their family. I feel for these people but there is nothig much I can do about the situation. It is up to the government to help them out more than what they are currently doing. At a time when there are a record number of millionaires, the widening income gap is a really big issue we have to overcome. The neighbourhoods I covered have posh condominiums situated beside HDB flats that look neglected. I hope that as much as we try to move forward in the global economy, we do not leave the lowly-educated and the elderly behind. They are as much a part of Singapore as we are and we should not forget them.