Libertarian or Utilitarian?

 

picture: telegraph.co.uk

“Eh, I hungry lah,” mumbled the mak cik as she rubbed her knee. “And just now stand so long, knee sakit, sakit lah!”

I chuckled as I downed a bottle of ice cold, mineral water. It was already past 11pm and the crowd that was seated above our lounge earlier in the day has presumably, headed for the Katy Perry concert.  

“Hey! They are giving out free food!” yelled one of the younger chaps.

Soon, groups came back with their spoils of war – freshly prepared food that had to be otherwise thrown, had now found a new lease of life with these young men.

“Oi! I also want!” shrieked mak cik as she struggled to stand to her feet.

“Mak cik, you duduk, jangan pergi,” I literally boomed in her face. “Let adik go get them.”

Turning to a strapping young man beside me, I gestured at her, then at him. “Mak cik wants some free food, tolong lah, boleh?”

“Boleh!”

In a flash, he returned with a see through bag full of goodies cleared from the shelves of 7-eleven and Starbucks. Made out of sandwiches and muffins mainly, mak cik gleefully kept them aside while she thanked the young man. Demonstrations of filial piety and respect for elders is still highly prevalent and regarded within the local Malay community.

“Ah, all these for my children.”

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a plastic bag.

“What is this for?” I inquired.

“Must come prepared! Hee hee hee!”

With one swipe of the hand, she reached across the table and grabbed whatever packets of cream buns and Nature’s Valley granola bars she could get a hold of, unceremoniously dunking them into the plastic bag.

“And that is how my children get fat!” she beamed.

Leaving the lounge, mak cik hobbled as she carried her 2 bags of booty. Like one of the forty thieves in the tale of Ali Baba, she would not think of leaving behind her goodies, no matter how heavy they were.

“Mak cik! I tolong lah!” grabbing her items without allowing her to even put up any resistance.

“Aiyah, thank you you lah. Sakit lah, stand too long in sun and rain. I must go back and urut.”

“Mak cik, jangan! Only massage when after 2 days. Now you pulang, make sure you use ice pack and wrap around your knee. Remember, Rest, Ice, Compress, Elevate – RICE.”

“Hah? Jangan urut?”

“Yah, trust me. I first aid trained one,” I replied in what I hoped was the most assuring and comforting voice.

With a pout on her face, she retorted, “You sure ah?”

“Definitely,” I replied with a wink.

Returning her bag of goodies, I bade her farewell and perhaps, we might see each other again. Mak cik then hobbled a few steps to the taxi stand and found her cab home.

Taking a taxi after midnight is not common practice among mak cik and her colleagues. The surcharge is too expensive and a ride home could easily wipe out what they had earned in the past few hours. After such events, they would usually take the Night Rider late night bus home. But the Night Rider bus does not operate today, Sunday.

There is a whole segment of society that many Singaporeans are not aware of. They are the unseen, unsung and uneducated. Take for instance, the adik who helped mak cik get the goodies – he is a part-time lasher, tying bulky equipment to containers at the ports. He works 12 hours straight for $10 and hour – neither additional benefits nor CPF employer contribution included. If he gets work, he gets work. If not, he moonlights at events such as the one we participated in. Mak cik specializes in relief duty, when those who are scheduled to work, do not turn up. She then turns up on short notice, often pocketing $50 to $70 for a night of work.

The elderly and the young; the retrenched educated and the able bodied uneducated. All have a story to tell, and none are above each other. Nature’s elements and the long hours of duty do not discriminate whether you have good knees or great stamina. If you endure, you get paid in full. If not, you get partial payment, on a good day with a good agency.

Before we actually take pity on these folks, let us take a step back and get off our high horse.

Do they want a better life?

Definitely.

At some of their ages, no one should be subject to such hard work. But they question is – do they want help?

The answer might surprise you.

In your pursuit to soothe your conscience, in your rush to help others, you see only what you think you see and you provide what you think needs to be provided. And in doing so, you end up denying mak cik the joys of finding, and then taking the leftover goodies home.

Fundamental Attribution Error says that we over value the disposition of a person much more than considering the potential situational factors. In simple English, what it means is that when you see an able bodied beggar on the street, you attribute his inability to find work to his lazy nature, rather than consider that life may have dealt him a poor hand.  

In the case of mak cik, the opposite is true – we over assign the situational factors to her and undervalue her disposition.

Repulsive?

I think not, because first, you have to be with them, be one of them, before you can even begin to comprehend. Even then, it still can be very difficult removing the beam that is already in your eye.