By Shivali Nayak, Multimedia Journalist
RUDE, 'rigorously controlled at the expense of humanitarian values' and 'state-waged campaigns' to regulate behaviour.
These are some of the criticisms levelled on Singaporeans by an Australian journalist, Tamara Thiessen, in an article 'Singaporeans asked to chew on their manners' for The Sydney Morning Herald.
Understandably, this put many Singaporeans on the defensive. Citizen journalists rallied on online portal STOMP, verifying Singaporeans as gracious and more than willing to extend help to their neighbours.
STOMPer aidiero1 had an interesting spin: 'Singaporeans are not rude, they're simply 'bochup', and just don't care enough what other people think. In other words, they do it unconsciously.'
STOMP Star Blogger Ju-Len also pointed out that a recent Reader's Digest survey ranked Singapore higher than a number of cosmopolitan cities for courtesy. These countries included Seoul, Kuala Lumpur, Bucharest and Mumbai.
