With regard to that poor Chinese fella (second in a few months) who gets in trouble for speaking his mind, blowing off steam on his weibo – which honestly got me so scared I might delete my twitter account – let me just say the following:
I love Singapore. I love Singaporeans, too. Yes, they get obnoxious and they drive you nuts often. But I guess that impression is more owed to the fact that this little island is terribly overcrowded. (the government’s fault, not the people’s) If you meet Singaporeans, they are always very nice and friendly people. Highly educated, open-minded, with a western mindset. The obnoxiousness is just a phenomenon that occurs if you look at the masses from the distance, and one that occurs whenever too many people of whatever nationality are in too little space. This city is far more welcoming than many others, and, yes, even though I get furious when people ignore the “give way to alighting passengers before boarding” and literally shove me back into the train, I enjoy living among them. It could be far worse; there are cities in this world where a white man can’t even take a train without having to fear being robbed and murdered. Aunties and Uncles here are much more friendly towards young people than anywhere in Europe, where they don’t hide their feeling that they would rather see every young person dead. Singapore is very peaceful, and the people are generally open to foreigners – after all they need us to survive. Recently though, there is an open hostility towards Chinese nationals. So no wonder that the Chinese do not regard the Singaporeans very highly, right? If you want to be respected, show respect yourself. And don’t say “if they don’t like us they shouldn’t have come here.” They came here because they were told Singapore was very welcoming and friendly, with limitless opportunities for everyone; but the country doesn’t live up to its promises. The recent case seems to me like a classic overreaction by a kiasu bunch.
As an Ang Mo, I am widely exempted from this hidden xenophobia, but even I get a look every once in a while that says “get off my island!” It doesn’t feel good when you come to a country, inject a lot of foreign exchange into its economy (especially as a student in a private school) and are treated this way.
As for me, in terms of ‘offensive remarks,’ I like to blow off steam. Living and working in a big city is very stressful and tiresome, especially if it is as overcrowded as SG. Drivers almost run you over on a daily basis (but not half as much as in Bangkok or Beijing); the MRT is overcrowded, if it runs at all; every public space has lots of people and noise. A trip to the mall and back can get me very angry due to people just blocking the way for no reason (frankly, a typically Singaporean problem although also very common in Germany) or bumping into me because they are preoccupied with their smartphones rather than watching where they walk.
Life here is good. It could be much more crowded and even in the biggest crowd you can rest assured nobody will pickpocket you. This is a major strong point of this city, among hundreds of other strong points that made me choose Singapore as my place to live.
Yet, when I/we foreigners get enraged, the people should regard it as just blowing off steam, at best as criticism, and process it constructively. There is always room for improvement, and the government and people should welcome a foreigner’s perspective on how the city is perceived. After all, we see it with tourist’s eyes. And tourists are what this city wants to have more than anything in the world. Instead of bashing on everybody who opens his mouth about anything, locals and foreigners alike should reflect on their behavior:
Singaporeans, if you don’t want us to talk bad about you then find out what you can do to avoid upsetting foreigners. Two ideas are (1) creating a more welcoming atmosphere, especially to PRC nationals and (2) stick to the rules you yourself made, such as standing on the left of the escalator or letting passengers alight the MRT first before pushing in.
For us foreigners it would be (1) just accept that Singaporeans are kiasu and easily offended, so we must be careful of how we voice our criticism and concern, so that they will engage in dialogue with us instead of getting angry all over the media, and (2) always behave in a way so that they will want to welcome us. Stick to their rules, no matter if they do it or not. I always follow the arrows at the MRT doors and I always stand on the left of the escalator only. If we all did that, maybe this whole lingering feud would not exist. Maybe then I wouldn’t have to talk about ‘us’ and ‘them,’ which by the way feels repelling to me. We all live in the same city, we occupy the same space, we take the same buses, we eat at the same places and we depend on each other.
Singapore is a city where foreigners and locals blend very well, but I see how this harmony is in danger of becoming corrupted and destroyed – especially when a Chinese fella gets in big trouble for saying something that is wrong but really not that big a deal, while locals have whole websites like Stomp and Temasek Review used for nothing else but badmouthing foreigners without any punishment whatsoever. When you see the regulations for student pass and work permit holders, for anyone below a PR, then you already see that Singapore is actually a place of two classes of people: protectionist locals, and foreigners who are welcome to bring foreign exchange and cheap labor but are otherwise merely tolerated on the premises. I have a hunch that this crack between the people might carry on to split the whole nation. With the number of foreigners ranking somewhere in the millions, this split in society could get the country into extreme unrest and trouble.
So let’s all work together so that we can all live together. And stop messing up the sandbox with your fighting over a shovel!
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