Entry #7
PLANS for a dormitory to house foreign workers in Serangoon Gardens will go ahead, despite unhappiness expressed earlier by some residents there.
(This is not taken by me. This is not my family, and neither did I stalk them. It is taken from the link above.)
Unless you have been living under a lovely rock, or is not a local, you must have heard about the Serangoon Gardens controversy. A disused school near the area will be converted into a dormitory to house foreign workers, and unhappy residents, fearing that the foreign workers will defile the area, wrote a petition to protest against the plan.
Why did the residents protest against such a plan? Here are a few reasons why.
#1: The foreign workers will dirty the place
#2: The foreign workers will rape our women silly, because foreign workers enjoy staring at women
#3: The foreign workers will chat with their maids and distract them from what they are supposed to do
#4: The foreign workers will host great parties, drink lots of alcohol, and will make the area too chaotic to live in
#5: The foreign workers will commit great crimes such as rape, rape, rape and robbery.
We pride ourselves as a multi-racial community who can live together harmoniously, and yet such issues still persist. Yes, this is called racism, but somehow our media refuses to call a horse a horse and avoids the term "racism" as much as possible. It is such a farce. Obviously, the years spent in educating our young minds into thinking that everyone, no matter the race, is born equal and should not be treated any differently, has gone down the drain.
This is, not surprisngly, a case of prejudice. Many of us holds very negative feelings for our foreign workers. We discount them. We look down to them. In time, we exaggerate the crimes they commit. It is sad, but it is true. I remembered someone (I shall not reveal who, lest I get attacked by that someone) telling me when I was young, "Don't go near those people! They are dirty!"
The reasons given by the residents of Serangoon Gardens for not wanting the foreign workers near them, are how most of us see foreign workers. Although I would not say that such stereotypes are unfounded, I feel that they are blown out of proportion. For one thing, it does not take a foreign worker to commit such atrocities as stated above. I have seen local males do their fair share of staring and leering, although never at me. Of course, logic will also tell you that not everyone is like that. However, sometimes logic escapes people's brains and do not come back even after a long time later. Such prejudices and stereotypes are attitudinal barriers to intercultural communication, so we should always consider checking our perception to see if it makes sense.
Some people have defended themselves by asking, "Why don't you submit your addresses to the government so that they will relocate those foreign workers close to enlightened individuals such as yourself?" This reeks of xenophobia. I admit that I would not welcome foreign workers with open arms and invite them to my house for tea parties, but unlike those residents, I would not have signed the petition.
The government has taken steps to answer those concerns raised by the residents, and the majority of the residents agreed that the measures did help with their concerns. I am looking forward to more drama that might ensue in the following year.
posted by kyun at
11:14 AM
5 Comments:
It is indeed disturbing to see fellow Singaporeans outrightly discriminating against these foreign workers; but yet, aren't we all the same? Like what Kyun had said, "I admit that I would not welcome foreign workers with open arms and invite them to my house for tea parties, but unlike those residents, I would not have signed the petition." Likewise, I would do the same. Such 'self discrimation' could also be attributed to the flaw of the education system. Although sensitive topics like racism are taboo, but it is also because the lack of open discussions and the upbringing of our parents like i.e. foreign workers are filthy etc resulted in such strong negative outbursts from Singaporeans whenever it concerns foreign workers. Hopefully, in time to come, the situation at Serangoon Gardens will improve for the better.
Terrific. I enjoyed reading this entry, and some parts made me grin (=
In any case, you were right to say that some concerns may have been blown out of proportion. To believe that these foreign workers will bring nothing but trouble, and for society to treat them as such, entails the risk of the self-fulfilling prophecy to a certain extent. Given, there will be the black sheep among the workers who are tempted by criminal acts, but if these groups of people are more prone to crime than the rest of the (presumably) more educated and well-behaved population, this social problem where economic and educational disparity prognosticates crime and disorder is hardly going to go away anytime soon.
As our fellow classmate has pointed out during lecture a couple of weeks ago, it isn't really a fear of an unknown culture thing, and she went as far as to say that some of the residents' fears are not unfounded. I was enlightened to hear her say so, because it made me rethink if i was too quick to call these protesting residents "racist".
Right now, our society (and of course economy) needs these foreign workers. Thanks to our choosy working population. We have to learn to try our best to integrate people from other cultures/countries into our society. If we can learn to do so with expats, who no doubt are better educated and presumably less inclined for socially diruptive behaviour, we really need to start thinking about being more gracious to guests of other skill levels as well.
I love how you were honest with your opinion that while you may not be exhilarated with the idea of these foreign workers popping by your home for a visit, you will not take the extra step to sign the petition. Right now, i feel the same way too.
Thankfully, by having these residents voice out their concerns (and at what a volume too!), the government is able to devote more effort to ensure that these risks are not overlooked. In a way, perhaps, the opposition to such a plan may have yielded some good results, even if they may not be what the residents had desired in the first place. I guess to have a say, was better than having no say at all (=
I think it is hideous that the foreign workers are treated in that fashion. I've seen cases of such xenophobia when a friendly foreign worker smiled and said good morning to some residents, while they just mumbled something, or hurried away without replying at all. Heck, some of these foreign workers have an awesome attitude as compared to some of our local service staff. I've spoken to some of them before, and they were always kind and willing to help.
On the other hand, you can't say that all this racism has absolutely no basis in fact. My friend was molested by a foreign worker, I was molested by a foreign worker, and at annual public parties, the reports of people being molested by foreign workers aren't exactly negligible. I'm not saying that this means that discriminating against foreign workers is right, I'm just pointing out that maybe such fears fuelled the residents' decision to petition against it.
However, I don't think these stereotypes hold true for each and every foreign worker, as you said, they're mostly blown out of proportion.
omg that was how i exactly felt when i read abt the hoo-hah on the serangoon gardens foreign workers dorm. typical singaporeans to be so close-minded. im just annoyed at how some singaporeans are just so self-centered and plain racist simply by thinking foreign workers will all commit rape crimes. i didnt really follow up the whole petition process but... idk. it just seems tt singaporeans need to learn to be more accepting and open to others. if not for these foreign workers, who would do the dirty work?
I think some people can be really horrible. I mean, I can understand some of the residents' concerns about the rising crime rate and etc, but they make it sound like ONLY foreign workers do horrible things. I'm quite sure majority of the foreign workers are decent and most of them are probably too busy working their ass off to be committing petty crimes and whatnot.
Anyway, the main point is, as a human being, we deserve the right to have proper housing. It's one of our basic rights. I thought it was really ironic how one article in the Straits Times talks about a group of residents welcoming the white expats in their estate with open arms and then the next article was on the Serangoon Gardens drama. Racism perhaps? I don't know. But if we can be nice to the white expats, why not the rest of the foreign workers who are doing jobs that none of us would want to do.
But yeah, like what you said, we don't have have to invite them for tea parties, but we should at least allow them proper housing. Singapore is SO small. We'll have to get used to foreign workers living among us anyway.
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