A possible reason why the ST Forums are flooded with personal complaint letters

If the Straits Times Forums are a reflection of the inner churning of the Singaporean collective consciousness, it would appear that petty and often inane complaints fill our psyche. While many of the articles in our national sheet are generally decent, the forum pages are filled with letters airing personal grievances. I mean, how much do we really need to know or care about someone's poor experience with telemarketers as a nation?

A frustrating discussion with a govt housing agency officer regarding my appeal for a housing loan has yielded a possible reason as to why the ST forums are flooded with personal complaint letters. In a nutshell, I had a lousy experience with a bureaucrat who constantly gave guarded, evasive answers to my questions. The housing officer has ignored my repeated emails and calls. Several of her colleagues spoke in the same, non-committal way, and it seemed like everyone was trying to avoid taking responsibility for anything they said and was unwilling to refer me to anyone who might be able to make decisions. As such, I'm inclined to believe that any complaints I make directly to the agency will NOT get addressed and the only way to get them answered properly might be through a letter to the Straits Times, where the case would receive "national coverage".

I'm now inclined to believe that many Singaporeans believe that no good channels exist for their complaints/questions to be answered. As such, they resort to writing an open, national letter, where the relevant bureaucracies are compelled to give answers because of the profile of the complaint. Some people probably now think of this as a default channel for their queries/complaints, since it is the fastest way to get answers.

While I view this practice as degrading to the ST forum as a national soapbox and lowering the quality of our national discourse, I now understand a little better why people might be compelled to do it. For my case, I will try my best to avoid writing such a letter but further negative experiences may just push me over the edge. In the meantime, I blog...