Foreign Attitudes
Emotions usually run high when Singaporeans discuss foreigners, but irrationality has reared its silly head in the ongoing debate involving the Serangoon Gardens housing estate.
Many residents are against a plan to house foreign workers at a disused school, which will be converted into a dormitory, in the estate. Given that I live nearby and have been going to the estate regularly for several years, the issue is close to my heart. Unfortunately, it has also resulted in some worrying views being aired during morning talk radio, television news programmes, and the residents’ feedback sessions.
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Dark clouds over Serangoon Gardens (Picture used under licence)
Hold your breath! The foreign workers will litter and dirty the place, say some. Here is a reality check. The Keep Singapore Clean campaign has failed, and this country appears spick and span only because cleaners – many of them foreigners – are at work much earlier than most people to pick up after us.
Lock the women in! The local ladies will be stared at and harm could befall them when they come home late at night, say others. Most men I know, regardless of nationality, look at women, even leer at them. Women could be harmed anywhere, and not necessarily because there are foreign workers in the vicinity. Do not let your guard down, but do not be paranoid either. This is Singapore, for god’s sake.
Keep it original! Serangoon Gardens’ unique identity will change due to these foreign workers, several mutter. Unfortunately, the arrival of many “outsiders” has already transformed the estate over the years, and the ridiculous plans to redevelop it in the coming years will do a lot more harm to the ambience than foreign workers will.
Drunken louts! The workers will hold loud parties, consume copious amounts of alcohol, and invite strange women to their rooms. Just how is this very different from what their ostensibly more respectable counterparts – or even Singaporeans – are doing at, say Clarke Quay or Orchard Towers, or in their houses or condominium units? Expecting better behaviour from them just because they are in a workers’ dormitory sounds a tad bit hypocritical.
Anyone but them! The building is better utilised as, say, an international school than a dormitory, say a few. So it really boils down to status and asset values in this country, does it not?
Stereotypes are well and truly alive in this modern multi-ethnic metropolis. We want our own space and are selective about which foreigners will be allowed into it, making a serious dent in the attempts to evolve into a tolerant multi-cultural society.
Amid the racially tinted din, the one thing that actually makes this proposal an extremely bad idea has not had a proper hearing. The traffic in Serangoon Gardens is terrible enough as it is, and it would simply be ridiculous to increase the estate’s population without doing something about that first. The doofus who first thought up the idea has probably not been to Serangoon Gardens during peak periods.
Unfortunately, a rational reason I would have expected this pragmatic country to come up with has not had a proper hearing amid the xenophobia that engulfs the discussion.
And the bigger tragedy is that this attitude is possibly a truer reflection of what Singapore is becoming.
Sep 8th, 2008 at 12:40 am
My views posted on my blog, thinkhappiness.blogspot.com
Sep 11th, 2008 at 2:48 am
Locals slag off foreign workers a lot I notice. However I recently bought a new apartment and the standard of workman ship and finishings (by foreign workers, mostly Indians and some Chinese nationals) was excellent. By contrast, when I get a local Singaporean contractor in to “renovate” the finishings were too shoddy to believe and half the time the guy was off the job, leaving my place looking like a bomb had hit it for weeks. How I wish I had some of the dilligent foreign workers doing up my place instead of local Sporeans!!
Sep 11th, 2008 at 5:48 am
Danny,
Did you know your Singaporean contractor uses foreign workers as well?
Sep 12th, 2008 at 2:01 am
I would say the solution is never to put a mass of under privileged individuals together. Look at the housing projects anywhere in the world and you will see higher crime, alcohol/drug abuse…and so on.
My solution or question is when is the Singapore Government or the MOM going to step in and have the developers start treating the foreign workers like humans! What needs to happen before they start pay them a decent wag, stop making them work at all hrs of the day/night, stop putting them up in containers and muddy work site.
To me this seems like basic human right! They should be required to start putting them in descent accommodation or paying them so they can afford accommodation.
A private condo starts at 700-800k at the moment.. so how is it that developers can get away with treating there labor with such disregard. No other industry seems to be able to get away with it
Sep 12th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
nope they aint foreigners. they’re singaporeans and (forgive me) bloody useless. I’ve great respect for the hard work of those foreign workers. Two of them came up to me in NTUC Fairprice today & wanted help finding them a nice sweet white wine. So I sent them away with a very fine, crisp dry unwooded Chardonnay.
Sep 17th, 2008 at 2:45 am
Hello,
I’m one of the producers working on Blog TV on Channel News Asia and chanced upon your blog. In case you aren’t familiar with the programme, its essentially a talk show targeting youths to debate on current issues. You can check out http://www.blogtv.sg for more info.
For our upcoming episode, we are looking at debating the current issue of the Serangoon Gardens dormitory fiasco and the underlying issues behind it. We would like to invite you as a guest onto the show to discuss and debate the issue.
Please let me know if you’re keen? The recording will take place at Serangoon Gardens on 20th Sept morning.
If you could drop me a mail with your number I’ll ring you and give you more information.
Thanks so much, and looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Gerard
Sep 17th, 2008 at 10:45 pm
Hi Siva,
I’m a producer with BlogTV and I was reading your article and I find your opinions interesting. I would love to chat with you on your viewpoints over the phone.
Will it be possible to give you a call?
Cheers,
Tiffany
Dec 30th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
Hi Siva,
I’m a student with a private institution here and i’m doing a documentary for my Graduation Project. My topic is related to your article and i find that many of your views echo my own sentiments. I would like to interview you for my documentary if possible. Please do contact me when you can regarding this.
Thanks,
Ram