I read "The White Tiger" quite some time ago, and it introduced the concept of the "Rooster's Coop". The setting of the book is based in India, where they have millions of servants working for masters faithfully, where the rich & poor gap is so big that it makes people wonder what can be done to minimise it..

The original concept of the "Rooster's Coop" is this:

Hundreds of pale hens and brightly coloured roosters, stuffed in wire-mesh cages, packed as tightly as worms in a belly, josting for breathing space. On the wooden desk above ths coop sits a grinning young butcher, showing off the flesh and organs of a recently chooped-up chicken. The roosters see the oragns of their brothers lying around them. They know they're next. Yet they do not rebel. They do not try to get out of the coop.

The author applied this concept to human beings(largely refering to servants) in India.

Imagine this. In Delhi, some chauffeur drives an empty car with a black suicase sitting on the backseat with a million, two million rupees; more money than he will see in his lifetime. He can take the money and go to America, Australia, anywhere, and start a new life. He could take his fmaily to Goa, to England. Yet he takes the black suitcase where his master wants. He puts it down where he is meant to, and never touches a rupee. Why? Why does the "Rooster's Coop" work?

The author gave reasons. It is because the lower class has the desire to be a servant bred into them. Hammered into their skulls, and poured into their blood. And if anyone actually dares to go against this "Rooster's Coop", i.e. rebel and refuse to serve their masters, then the family of the rebel will be hunted, beaten and burned alive by the masters. Another reason is because servants will keep other servants from breaking out of the coop, stopping them from becoming innovators or entrepreneurs. A viscious cycle.

Scary huh.

That got me thinking, that a "coop" such as this may actually exist in Singapore. A "coop" that traps people from breaking out of a certain social norm. I'll call this coop the "Mouse Maze".

People here grow up in this culture. You study, you strive to achieve the best results, you don't do well, you try again. If you are smart enough, you go to the gifted stream. If you are dumb, you stay behind, in the "ah bui" classes. Each batch of students go through the same cycle, there by causing the smart/dumb divide. People who do well, do well. People who don't do so well, don't do so well. I am not sure about this, but I have a feeling that by and large, you stay where you are, esp for those who don't do so well.

The society operates in a way where the smart ones will keep striving, bringing the need to compete to their work place. They strive for position/fame/money/power. It's never ending. The constant strive for something that they think is better is what traps them in a maze. We are slaves to our very own nature.

Scary huh.

Why are they trap?
Human nature to gain fame, human pride; and the culture here.

Can they break out of the trap?
Yea, when real reality hits them. People here have a free choice. We can slow down, ponder, and think of what actually is reality, and what is most important to us (family, friends, passion, God...).