Until, of course, he reads the local newspapers in which case he may get the distinct impression that an economic crisis of major proportion is in progress.

This gloomy scenario is stirred up among a people so used to the good life that anything short of it is disastrous.

At the moment, the history of leaping growth has slowed down to a predicted 1% this year (2004: 3%-5%), which most Westerners regard as a normal state of affairs.

Here, it is tearing up confidence.

Same, too, goes for the issue of graduates going abroad for better jobs, often portrayed here as a tragedy.

All these things that are troubling Singaporeans – especially unemployment and fighting for jobs – are actually normal matters to most developed cities.

To put things in perceptive, the jobless here have a harder time because, unlike in the West, there is no safety net.

Besides, because of its small size, public service costs are high. And the unemployed Singaporean can’t live off the hinterland; there is none.

While there are scattered reports of homeless families, the visitor will have a tough time finding one. There are no homeless armies in its parks or back streets or long soup kitchen queues like in Osaka or San Francisco.

In fact, he will see little evidence of Singapore’s intense struggle for recovery. Life appears normal.

Take last weekend. Some 75,000 shoppers flocked to the opening of a large French shopping outlet at lower Orchard Road in what was one of the biggest gatherings here.

At an HDB estate, staff at a McDonald's outlet turned the premises into a dance floor for teenagers for an hour. A few dancers spilled onto the counter, bringing newly approved bar-top dancing to the heartland.

It may not be legal since a police licence is needed but no one is really complaining. Life can do with a bit more merrymaking.

With the lid partly off, nightclubs and bars have begun operating all night, and bar-top dancing is slowly becoming a norm.

Mustafa Centre, a large outlet near Little India, introduced 24-hour shopping despite the retail slowdown. All-night eating has also proliferated.

Signs of economic recovery are appearing; the share market has firmed and some laughter is returning.

Despite a weak employment market, retrenchment is slowing and people are feeling a little better.

The improvements couldn’t have come at a better time. Many people, especially fresh graduates, are losing heart about their future.

One casualty is the concept of trade unionism in Singapore.

Rumblings among strike-free unions affiliated to the ruling People’s Action Party appear to be rising.

It stems from harsh measures to reduce business costs, especially workers’ pay and the mandatory employers’ contribution to Central Provident Funds.

They are members of the National Trade Unions Congress (NTUC), which is led by Lim Boon Heng, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office.

Early this month, several leaders criticised Singaporean employers for not doing their bit, questioning whether the tripartite system was working.

This formula – bringing together the government, the unions and employers to work for the collective good – has contributed to Singapore’s development all these years.

The unionists had earlier levelled their anger at Lim for not doing enough to fight for union members, especially against “pre-emptive retrenchments” by companies that are profitable.

“What are we paying union dues for?” some unionists had asked. Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew had to appear with Lim in a televised meeting to defend him.

One outcome is that workers are becoming angry and disenchanted, while support for the government’s “foreign workers” policy has sharply declined.

According to a Gallup poll, 17% of all employees in Singapore are fed up with their jobs and the way they are being treated at work.

Unemployment remains the biggest threat. Technically, the jobs are there if people are not picky and are willing to do work foreigners do, the government says.

About 100,000 locals are unemployed while there are some 700,000 foreign workers in Singapore.

“Just take any job until the market improves,” officials often advise the unemployed. But after three decades of full employment, few are listening.

At some job fairs, thousands of posts on offer are ignored and remain unfilled.

The current crisis has eroded some people’s confidence in the ruling People’s Action Party, which does not have to face a general election until 2007.

Led by Lee Hsien Loong, who is likely to take over as Prime Minister in either 2004 or 2005, the government is in the midst of restructuring the economy.

The new generation of Singaporeans, spoilt and over-reliant on the government, is watching to see whether it can pull the nation out of its economic malaise, the way it did 30 years ago.

It has first to revise the way it manages people’s expectations.

Recently, Ngiam Tong Dow, one of Singapore’s top civil servants who retired after 44 years of nation-building, said Singaporeans had become a victim of their own propaganda.

He is right.

A whole generation has been raised to believe in easy jobs and that Singapore is a super-machine able to generate the good life.

When circumstances change and things no longer work out, people blame the government. The first thing that needs restructuring is a new mindset that, no matter what anyone says, no government can guarantee jobs for all.

Singaporeans were recently shocked to see a photograph of an able-bodied, 24-year-old beggar sitting along the link way from Orchard Road to Shaw House.

He sat behind a signboard that read: “Family poor, brother and sister not working. Pease donate.”

He gave no details but merely said: “I'm not ashamed to beg. I need money to support myself.”

In New York, this would not have warranted a report in the tabloids. Here, it was mind-boggling.

o Seah Chiang Nee is a veteran journalist and editor of the information website littlespeck.com (e-mail: cnseah2000@ littlespeck.com )

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