The Tales of Two Neighbours.

We are living in an environment at least for 80 percent of us in Singapore, where my floor is another person's ceiling, that my ceiling is another person's floor and we all share a common wall. That is the wonder of living in a boxed up apartment blocks.

It is an unpleasant reality that though we have had almost more than 40 years of communal livings where your neighbours consists of families of different races and religion, sadly many Singaporeans are still unable to live with their immediate neighbours in common decency and respect.

We read on the newspaper on more than one occassions of neigbours dispute turned ugly. It just brings me to wonder why after so many years and many campaigns after, we still are not able to respect our neighbours and treat them with the utmost respect. At the end of the day, aren't they someone that we can turn to in times of needs or to get help from.

I have been living in a boxed-up apartment block for as long as I could remember and frankly I would never dream of ever wanting to give up that way of living for the comfort of isolation or a property all by itself on a piece of land. Evertime on my way to work or the journey back, I would travel down a piece of road where there are landed properties on both sides. Singaporeans are famously known of building fences around their property and those fences tends to outdo each other more than the house itself. If not for a government regulation that limits the height of a paremeter fencing I am most certain that we will not just stop at a 2.1 meteres parameter fencing but the fences would have met new heights never been achieved before.

I observed as I drove past how isolated their lives are, all within the confine of their fences. Not knowing who their neighbours are. But living in an apartment block gives you a new whole dimension of communal living. My parents know our neighbours two floors up and two floors down across the span of 12 units. That is how far an outreach our knowledge is. My mum being a housewive herself on many occassions cared for my neighbours children whenever their parents are away for the day, we shared our cookings and visits each other during the festive seasons. Why then are we unable to respect our neighbours?

Take the Everitt Road neighbourhood dispute for an example. It is a rather unusual community dispute, prolonged and convoluted, so much so it generated much media attention. As many as seven families in the Joo Chiat street were involved, with the police, lawyers, the courts and even an MP being drawn into the dispute. The whole dispute had turned into a media frenzy that draws public attention for the wrong reasons. There are reports that visitors from across the straits had even pay the once quiet street a visit all in the hope of catching a glimpse of the families in action, taunting each other.

How could a supposedly affluent Singaporeans behave like a lowly street punks and hooligans, resorting to mocking and act of mischief. And if we were to analyse the root of the problem one would be amazed that the cause of all the ruckus is becuase of a stupid acts of placing items along the road to reserve the parking spots. How incredibly stupid can one be?

And if you think that such behaviour is only restricted to those living in a house, you will be surprised that such juvenile acts are also seen in those living in apartments blocks and in an alarmingly increasing numers. Neighbours installed CCTV cameras to monitor every movement of their neighbours. Throwing of faeces and defacing onces property are just some of the common acts that some ugly Singaporeans are resorting to.

I am just so glad that none of my neighbours are as stupidly juvenile as some Singaporeans can be. But here again, their stupidity are a source of enjoyment for us to read and see i supposed. Let the circus continue.