https://lifecoaching.sg/LIFESCOOP/2020/11/15/are-you-hungry-enough/
Are You Hungry Enough?
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong reflected at one National Day Rally Speech that “Singaporeans are not as hungry as the Vietnamese”. He is probably right that our people today are less hungry, less disciplined, less hardworking as their predecessors i.e. immigrants who came to S’pore 50 to 60 years ago & turned S’pore from a 3rd World to a 1st World Country in a short span of 50 years through sheer grit, discipline & hard work.
Those who have interacted with the Chinese from mainland China will tell you the same story. E.g. there’re plenty of stories of China students coming to Singapore schools at secondary 3, not knowing English at all, & then beating all our local students (who have received a headstart of 8 to 10 years of education in English, not counting pre-school education) & scoring A1 for GCE ‘O’ Level English. Interviews with these China students showed that they’re extremely hungry for success & that they literally studied grammar & memorised the whole dictionary to improve their vocabulary.
When I hosted dinner for 2PS of Ministry of Sports & Tourism, Thailand 2yrs ago at Singapore Recreation Club (S’pore), he commented while looking at our padang, that Singapore has very
good facilities such as soccer fields, badminton courts all over the island, including our schools. I told him & I think he knows this, that “Facilities don’t make champions — It is the Hunger, Determination, Discipline, Hard Work, Blood, Sweat & Toil that builds Champions”.