Daniel Teo is upset with Singaporeans

[metanoia]

Forum: Singapore, we can do better​

Published Jan 01, 2026, 05:00 AM
Updated Jan 01, 2026, 05:00 AM

We built a nation on the premise that we could achieve more together than apart. Shared sacrifice and mutual consideration weren’t just nice ideals, but survival necessities in our small, dense island home.

Somewhere along the way, something shifted.

I notice it in my estate: raised voices, heavy footsteps and thundering subwoofers blaring through walls at all hours. Doors and gates slamming as if no one else lives here. Food dumped directly into communal chutes. Recycling bins filled with everything but recyclables. Litter left in corridors and void decks.

I notice it at bus stops where smokers light up beside the shelters they are meant to stand 5m from and casually dropping spent butts all around the bin, not in it. On footpaths where personal mobility device riders barrel past pedestrians, music blaring, swerving rather than slowing.

I notice it in the burning of incense and paper offerings in large bins at the centre of crowded estates, smoke and ash drifting into open windows, unburnt offerings strewn on the streets. We have traditions worth honouring, but, surely, after decades of high-rise living, we can find smarter, more considerate ways to observe them.

I notice it in something subtler too: the sea of bowed heads and plugged ears, each of us sealed in our private bubbles, navigating shared spaces as if no one else exists.

This is not about employing more cleaners to pick up after us. Civic responsibility should not be someone else’s job. This is not about pointing fingers at newcomers. This is about us, Singaporeans, remembering who we said we wanted to be.

The nation that punched above its weight did not get there through individual excellence alone. It got there because we understood that shared spaces require shared responsibility.

What if we decided, collectively, that we wanted better? Cleaner spaces. Peaceful environments. Kinder communities. Not just demanding higher standards, but living them, by example, as well.

Perhaps it’s time to remember that exceptional is not just about gross domestic product rankings or airport awards. It’s about how we treat the person in the next flat, on the next seat, or walking the same path.

Daniel Teo

 

[bobby]

I wonder who Daniel Teo voted for?

 

[jw5]

I wonder who Daniel Teo voted for?

Couple Of Points:

1. Noticed that Daniel Teo notices a lot, wonder whether he has got the balls to do anything about these things that he notices.

2. If not, then I guess the answer to your question is PAP.

 

[Willamshakespear]

Mr Daniel Teo is probably just another hardworking citizen, trying his best to put food on the table for himself and loved ones, and have concerns about our COLLECTIVENESS spirit, inherited from our hardworking and courageous forefathers whom built up Singapore to what it is today - a modern cosmopolitan city which is an envy to many other Nations - just like many, many of us fellow citizens....and took time off in a moment of contemplation to write his heart out....

1.) The insignificant nobody me DO share many of his concerns, BUT he did not realize one SINGLE AND CRITICAL trait and value that make us, or rather our forefathers, who they are - COMPROMISES AND TOLERANCES to each other.

Thru the hardships faced under callousness Brit colonial rule, many of our forefathers had to resort to kampung living, in hacked out miserable forests to build shelters, water supplies from rivers and wells, etc. It was never easy for the many other ethnic groups that lived and worked in Singapore - the Polynesian Malays, the Han Chinese, the Bharat Indians, with many cultural, beliefs and traditions, but our forefathers realized that the only way we all can survive is to work together, thru COMPROMISES and TOLERANCE to each other, and such values HELPED to springboard Singapore to what it is today.....


2.) No mortal is perfect. No two Humans think alike. Each Human has his/her flaws. One Human's meat is another's poison.

Thus, it will need positive engagement, rather than confrontation, placing clouded emotions such as hate, rage, etc, to resolve issues, thru DIPLOMATIC discussions, peaceful debates to find solutions TOGETHER to resolve matters, either in a neighborly manner, or thru collective discussions with Town Councils, HDB management or Strata Title boards, Community centers discussion hall participation to resolve sound pollution, etc, etc.

For example:-
a) Noise pollution:- Rather than go all gangster out, perhaps, just a smile and relay one's concern to another, may solve issues, followed up by SOLUTIONS - such as how to find even cheap resources to SOUNDPROOF even a simple one room flat. Such are not expensive. It is just sound acoustic foam padding on walls and windows.

b) Littering:- It may take a longer time for collective effort, but it will be thru discipline, the Rule of Law and education to reach out to citizens, as well to the many foreigners living in our land, and such begins with us. If the highly disciplined Japanese People can do it, so too can we.

In the past, litter bins were everywhere, with even a dish on the top to collect cigarette butts, but such are rare to find nowadays, perhaps due to security reasons......


Ultimately, there is no need for one to bear another's inconsideration in silence. Speak up, thru the right channels and FIND SOLUTIONS instead. Only thru honest and diplomatic discussions peacefully can we as Humans evolve - it's either we change others or be changed by others thru finding better peaceful solutions that all can share, agree and honorably follow....such were how Civilization was built upon since thousands of years ago....

.

 

[sbfuncle]

Couple Of Points:

1. Noticed that Daniel Teo notices a lot, wonder whether he has got the balls to do anything about these things that he notices.

2. If not, then I guess the answer to your question is PAP.

Daniel teo notices many things, but he didn't noticed Pap and LW conning sinkies in their speeches.

 

[nabeifuckpap]

Sinkie chinks only good at backstabbing fellow sinkies at work and voting PAP, fuck them all xia suay

 

[A Singaporean]

What the fuck he expects of coolie gene Sinkies from hdb? Just woke up from a 20year coma ?