Padmini Kesavapany pisses me off

Her and her sweeping indictment of foreigners working in Singapore. Sure, some will (I quote):

• Feel and consider themselves superior to the locals.
• Have a condescending attitude towards the locals.
• Think that they are here because the locals are unable to perform and deliver.
• Create a chasm between themselves and the locals. The disparity between immigrants and locals is beginning to show.
• Create social problems that tarnish the image of Singapore.

These are all a matter of a person’s character. I have certainly met my fair share of ‘fellow Singaporeans’ who have such low self-esteem they project such a level of extreme reverse racism that it makes me want to spew.

Foreigner won’t let you manhandle his girlfriend? What a racist!! Fight!!! (What male or female will be comfortable with a stranger, regardless of race, trying to touch your significant other inappropriately?)

The foreigners come here to do nothing and get paid a lot — this comes from one of my aunts, and plenty of others. (This doesn’t happen any more. Expat packages are pretty much a thing of the past. And the reason why some foreigners are hired is because the Singaporeans do not have the skills and experience to deliver. You may be unhappy with this, but the truth’s the truth.)

Racist and xenophobic Singaporeans are equally guilty of creating a ‘chasm’ — I’ve lived in Australia and China, and both times there have been ‘Singapore Clubs’. While not totally exclusionary (they organise events with other clubs), it tells me a lot, mainly that a majority of Singaporeans feel that they have to stick together. If there’s nothing wrong with that, why can’t foreigners here have their clubs / social groups too? Also, by projecting reverse racism on foreigners, Singaporeans exclude themselves.

And finally, these mysterious social problems. Like we don’t have our own Singaporeans creating ’social problems’. We have gangs, drug dealers, domestic help abusers, murderers… everyone is different, and it’s a matter of luck, so to speak. Sometimes we’ll get a foreigner who has come to Singapore because they’re running away from something (not necessarily legal problems), and have a colonial attitude. Sure. Sometimes we’ll get a foreigner who’s a dog and goes to the dodgy bars and picks up prostitutes. But most people aren’t like that. Surely we should look beyond what kind of passport everyone has and deal with each person on a one-to-one level.

We are going to get foreigners who do bad things, just as much as we get locals who do bad things. We can’t control everything, and we can’t expect the government to be psychic and know who’s got a decent character when processing their visa application. That’s life. Stop whining.

Update: another way of looking at the ‘foreign talent’ question — blaming the government as usual. Regarding NS, one of Neil’s friend’s wives got her PR status and was hoping to put her husband, currently on an Employment Pass, down as her dependent. The ICA told her he might have to do NS if that were the case. So there. While some foreigners might get special treatment, I reckon the majority would not.

• 31 Aug 2006

• Thinking