FEBRUARY 22 — This year, Singaporeans are gleefully booking budget airline-fueled getaways as the long weekends are numerous. But it would seem many people would like to see even more long weekends. Most recently, there was a petition to make the annual Hindu procession, Thaipusam, a holiday — as it is across parts of Malaysia.
However, the Ministry of Manpower has responded that the current 11 holidays we enjoy is neither too high nor too low: it is enough.
Respectfully, I disagree with the powers that be. What is enough holidays? What is the rationale for not wanting to have more? After all, we are no longer a Third World, low wage economy that is pressured to compete on how many hours our people can offer up. In fact, with a high savings rate, a finance- and tech-based economy and limited leave compared to our European counterparts, I think we would benefit considerably from more public holidays — both personally and nationally.
A public holiday is a day to get out; stroll, shop and start spending. It stimulates the economy and should hopefully stimulate that other national priority: the low birth rate. This is something we need.
However, we seem to be steadily heading in the opposite direction: over the past three decades I have watched the extended calm that used to descend in my neighbourhood over Chinese New Year shorten. What used to be a week-long break is now effectively a non-thing. By the morning of day two, it’s business as usual and people are heading back to work sooner.
Meanwhile the news reports tell us that Singaporeans work some of the longest hours in the world. According to one report by Taiwan’s China Times newspaper we clocked an average of 2,402.4 hours a year, higher than Taiwan’s 2,140.8 hours and significantly higher than the 1,654 to 1,790 hours in the United States, Canada and Britain.
So people here could really use a few more breaks, because here’s the thing — in our quest for productivity at any cost we could actually be diminishing the energy and industry we are looking to encourage.
Back home, the National University of Singapore concluded “browsing the Internet serves an important restorative function — it’s like going for a coffee or snack break. Breaks of such nature are pleasurable, rejuvenating the Web surfer”, in a study by Don J.Q. Chen and Vivien K.G Lim.
The basic premise is the same — from summer vacation to cat videos on a Tuesday afternoon: “The impact that taking a break has on one’s mental health is profound. Most people have better life perspective and are more motivated to achieve their goals after a vacation, even if it is a 24-hour time-out,” explained a clinical psychologist in an American network ABC News report titled: Vacations Help Job and Health, But Americans Skip Them.
This is why we need more holidays like Thaipusam which is a part of the Singapore fabric — that visually stunning display of devotion has for years appealed to Singaporeans (regardless of religion) and to legions of tourists. This needn’t be something some Hindus quietly observe — that walk from Perumal Road to Tank Road can be a Uniquely Singapore experience. Or the meaningful and serene Qingming festival — which encourages all of us, never mind our ethnicity, to reflect on our personal heritage and enjoy the present — also known as the Pure Brightness Festival. Now, isn’t that something worth taking a day off for?
Finally how about another holiday to commemorate our nation? I vote for May 30.
