Singaporeans are said to be kiasu and kiasi-afraid to lose and afraid to die,respectively.The two KS words sum up the competitive yet risk-averse,self-seeking and scaredy-cat mentality that runs deep in the veins of many an Ugly Singaporean.

There's a third KS trait which is sometimes forgotten:kiamsiap,which is Hokkien for skinflint.The kiamsiap mentality basically says that one should pay the minimum to extract maximum benefits.it's a cold,calculating mindset that takes no prisoners.

You can see it in the debate over three ongoing issues: seat belts in school buses,ferrying foreign workers on the backs of lorries, and whether maids should get a mandatory day off a week.The issue of seat belts in school buses came to the fore after an eight-year-old boy died after being flung out of his school bus during a collision.As others have pointed out,there is a strange lacuna in the law which makes belting up in passenger cars mandatory but not in passenger vans and minibuses used to ferry children to school.

One would have thought a simple act of fiat would extent the same level of protection to minors.But it turns out money is a sticking point.One is the installation cost-a one-off cost which can be borne by the bus operator,or passed on to customers.More vexing is that seat belts would reduce seating capacity.Now,it's common to squeeze three kids into double seats meant for two adults.With compulsary belting-up laws,the number of kids per bus may fall,translating into higher bus fares per child.

Bus operators think parents will baulk at higher fares and are relunctant to incur the cost of putting in seat belts.I think they are right.There will be large numbers of kiam-siap parents who want a door-to-door pick-up and delivery service for their kids to school,but will grumble at every dollar increase in fares.This will be the same parents who complain if their kids get a scratch from being flung about in the bus.

Some Singaporeans find it hard to see the nexus between the cheapskate mentality of wanting to pay the minimum, and declinging the standards of safety and service.It's a no-brainer.Say a school bus has 5 rows of double-seats,which can take 10 adults.Let's say the sriver now squeezes in 15 kids to school at $100 a month per child.Having seat belts reduces the capacity to 10 seats.Then the cost per child will go up to $150.Will parents pay that $50 more a month?Few would want to.But if you put the choice starkly and say it's about paying $50 more for belting up, or risking your child's life every journey - chances are, parents may start to see the benefit of forking out more.

But I won't bet on it.The better chance is that they'll want the Government, or some other body, to pay the cost.Similarly,when it comes to contractors ferrying workers around on the back of lorries, the moot issue invovles cost. Contractors say it costs more to hire buses to take workers to work sites.When contracts invovle razor-then margins, contractors and sub-contractors find ways to cut costs - and corners.The people who bear the brunt of such cost-savings: the worker,especially the least, most powerless worker who is considered almost like a disaposable commodity.It is a sorry statement of our society's values, when safety is compromised and human lives are put at risk, in order that kiam-siap companies can save some dollars by awarding contracts to the lowest bidder.

My view is that the best way to change such practices is to put the pressure on the awarding companies,which are in a position to specify practices which are ethical and safe.Companies must surely know that ridiculously low bids are not tenable.It's like shopping for gold.If someone offers you gold at $1 an ounce, you will know there must be something fishy going on.Similarly, companies should not suspend their natural state of disbelief in the face of low bids.They should not let their kiam-iap side override ther natural decent side.But it isn't just companies which show this kiam-siap side. Singaporeans do too, when they become employers of domestic maids.They cavil at the idea of giving maids a day off a week.What about our own need to rest on weekends, they moan. Of the maid is off on Sunday, who's going to mind Junior and cook and clean, never mind Junior the other 6 days of the week.

(What's their idea of parenting,anyway?Outsource all care to the maid, and think that giving the maid a day off requires families to make changes to their Sunday routines.The parents may actually have to feed Baby and change Baby's diapers, for example.

But many Singaporeams view their maids as a commodity.Instead of thinking of themselves as an employer with responsibilites for the domestic maid, their mindset is one of a buyer: having "purchased" the services of a maid for the minimum amount they can get away to "maximum" the services squeezed out of the maid 24/7, in those 2 years the maid is contracted to work in their household.It stems from the same kiam-siap mentality, of wanting to squeeze the most output from the least possible input.

Far from being an endearing trait, this kind of thinking is a sure recipe for disaster, for it sacrifices safety and standards on the altar of parsimony.