Ungrateful Brats?

i think S'poreans must have been perceived by the foreigners (particularly those ethnic Chinese in M'sia, Indonesia, Thailand, China, Taiwan) as a bunch of ungrateful brats

we whine and complain with petty issues, or at every instance of imperfection, and make sarcastic/flippant comments on the "scholars"

... and perhaps sometimes, in the eyes of others, we're butt of the joke as our government plan to such detailed extent that we are literally spoonfed from cradle to death...

The foreigners however, are almost always in awe, at how efficient the country is managed on clockwork accuracy & meritocracy relative to their home countries. And most times, when they try to make us see why they are so impressed, we quickly dismiss the discussion/debate that we have set a higher benchmark for our government by virtue that the taxpayers' monies go to their "million dollar paychecks".

I've seen the enthusiasm of a new S'porean excitedly looking for opportunities to join the grassroots organizations to contribute to his newly adopted country, yet get lukewarm response from those born & bred S'poreans around him..

it really seem we are now in a state/condition as described by Alexis de Tocqueville more than a century ago on the danger of democracy - "Soft Despotism" Doesn't sound good for S'pore in the long term if we don't do anything to rectify this apathetic attitude...