Before Indian spy thriller movies became a thing, themes like filial piety, extended family dynamics and friendship dominated Indian cinema and TV dramas for many decades.
Whatever the plot or the twist, the morale of the story was usually the same – collectivism triumphs individualism, sacrifice for others was more important than living for oneself and relationships were worth more than material pursuits.
These ideas sat at the heart of Indian values across generations – amplified by Indian cinema, mass media and folklore.
The Budget 2026 speech by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong thus brought back some flashbacks. The one theme that stood out strongly for me: The renewed emphasis on family, ageing, and caring for one another. A nudge towards a “We First” society that PM Wong had first called out for in his National Day Rally speech last year.
These are broader Asian values as well, which many other ethnic groups in Singapore would find familiar.
Our parents and grandparents advocated for and embodied this ethos to help them collectively overcome the challenges of their time – economic survival, societal cohesion and building a nation. Their focus on the collective is worth reflecting upon and revisiting if we are to be serious about addressing the challenges of our generations.
A Serving of Yoghurt with your Paratha
We face different challenges, but somewhere along the way we have deviated from these values.
For one, the shape of Indian families in Singapore is changing. Not everyone lives in multi-generational homes anymore. The traditionalists among us would see this as a dilution of filial piety even if it may not be so. These same eyebrows would also be raised at declining marriage and birth rates.
Further, without discussing the merits of such trends, it should be safe to assume that without economies of scale accrued from larger families living under one roof – especially since we lose our Indian parents’ superpower of finding a good bargain – already increasing cost pressures are intensified.
Whether we live together or separately, many of us are what policymakers politely call the “sandwiched generation”. In Indian households, the sandwich is usually thicker: Ageing parents, growing children, and rising costs - layered with a healthy dose of guilt and expectations - all at once. We are more like parathas – desirably delectable, stuffed with more than meets the eye and, hence, biting off more than we can chew.
Challenges such as rising costs and juggling multiple roles, along with higher expectations at work, are real and pulling us apart. Family relationships have now got to contend with job security, and that too in an uncertain employment market.
Parents age faster than our diaries free up. Cost pressures make it harder to hire help or cut back on work.
You know you need to take your mother for her medical appointment – but how do you tell your boss you can’t make that important client meeting? After all, you just took leave last week to attend your child’s parent-teacher meeting.
Budget 2026 recognises these pressures. Among the measures announced are enhanced Silver Support payouts to help low-income seniors with daily expenses, additional adult disability support grants, easing the financial burden on families caring for differently-abled parents or grandparents, continuing MediSave top-ups and healthcare subsidies to keep long-term medical bills manageable, and expanded cost-of-living support for middle-income households through utilities rebates, public transport concessions and targeted GST voucher enhancements.
These may not remove every squeeze on the middle-class couple, but they acknowledge the reality they live in – trying to raise children, care for parents, and stay afloat in an uncertain job market. A little bit of yoghurt with that paratha alleviates that eventual heartburn.
A Community Focus
But it is precisely because of these long-term structural issues that our sandwich generation needs to step up to foster a collective society rather than retreat into our own individual cocoons we have laid the foundations for.
This is more than just about returning to our traditional Indian values. In a world where global uncertainty, ageing parents, rising costs and job instability now define middle-class life, a “We First” society is not just a lofty aspirational goal – it is a necessary strategic thrust to help us sustainably manage these pressures.
On a community level, Indian community organisations can certainly lead the way to strengthen inter-generational bonds and dependence.
If they can help galvanise our seniors as caregivers to our young, it provides them with a renewed purpose and dignity, addresses the cost pressures for the sandwich generation, and cultivates important values such as respect for the elders and filial piety in our future generations.
The second is to build economic resilience together, especially for middle-class and vulnerable families. The pioneering generations of the Indian community in Singapore had a tradition of helping one another through job searches, educational pursuits or entrepreneurship. In today’s economy – shaped by AI disruption, mid-career instability and global uncertainty – this becomes even more important.
A “We First” approach could involve creating informal job-matching or mentoring circles within our personal networks or community organisations, supporting SMEs and entrepreneurs through collaborations, referrals and skills-sharing, and providing seed capital to that mid-career PMET who has lost his job and may need to turn to entrepreneurship to safeguard his family’s future.
We need to foster a culture of giving back to the community, to neighbourhoods and even to family networks. Budget 2026 emphasises active citizenship and community partnerships as essential to social cohesion. This aligns beautifully with traditional Indian values of seva (service), compassion and community-mindedness.
From food support programmes, youth mentorship and to multi-racial initiatives, we must encourage Indian Singaporeans to see community service as a norm, not an exception.
A Compact We Can Strengthen Together
Budget 2026 gives financial support where it can, but it also offers an invitation – to build a Singapore where families are supported, seniors are respected, and communities take responsibility for one another.
The Indian community already has the cultural DNA for this. Now the moment calls for scaling it up.
Journeying on a middle-class grind can sometimes feel lonely and isolated. But, if we transition “We First” from a national slogan to a way of life, then we build support systems to help us cope and navigate it better. Like our forefathers did.
Malminderjit Singh is the Founder and Director of Terra Corporate Affairs, a former journalist, and host of the On the Flipside podcast.
