Culture to avoid responsibility

A Malaysian lady, who migrated to UK, told me. Her son worked in Singapore for one year after graduation. He told her that his colleagues in Singapore do not want to take responsibility, and prefer to find ways to let somebody else deal with the problem. He asked, "why do Singaporeans behave like that?".

I said that this is due to our environment and culture. Even our ministers behave in this manner. They like to define what is their responsibility and what is not. It seemed that for many grey areas, or what is defined as "falling through the cracks", many people want to avoid the responsibility - if they can get away with it.

I have observed this behaviour for some time. It seemed that an outsider could also see it, if they are perceptive. Many Singaporeans would take this behaviour as natural.

If we want to make progress, we have to start taking responsibility. If there are grey areas, we have to take responsibility collectively. This may not fit into our key performance indicator measurements, but what is more important, is to get the right things done!