Pampered Singaporeans

Tonight, the SMRT lines broke down yet again. Train services were not available at all stations along the North-South and East-West lines due to power fault and although free bus boarding services were provided by SMRT, complaints by Singaporeans flooded the internet.

Now, I’m not exactly against the complaints since the trains did stop, but some of the complaints were just too over-the-top. I read one which says Singapore doesn’t need terrorism, just the MRT breakdowns will kill off the country. I read this (and others) and could only think of one thing; we Singaporeans are a bunch of pampered fools.

Train breakdowns are an inconvenience, and people die during terrorist’s attacks. To compare the two, even jokingly (and I don’t think the guy was joking) is in bad taste. If the trains don’t work, Singaporeans can take taxis and buses. If you die in a terror attack, you are never going home.

America, Great Britain, Tunisia, France, Spain, almost every country in the Middle East, and many others had suffered through the pain of terrorism. To say that train breakdowns put Singapore in the same category as these countries is insulting beyond belief.

Complain all you want about SMRT and the train breakdowns, but Singaporeans should still take care. The breakdowns are hardly the end-all of the country. To some families, terrorism is.