Singapore’s billed itself as a multi-cultural, multi-religion inclusive society. Is the country also xenophobic like a Redditor claims?
When I saw that, it got me thinking.
I’m a Singaporean, born and bred. I’d like to think myself as liberal and welcoming. I wonder though, that if the chips are down and times are really bad, would I turn into a xenophobe?
I spent quite a bit of time pondering this.
I’m an introvert by nature, so I don’t really like to be around people. Nothing personal to anybody. I just hate crowds. That’s not xenophobic.
I’m sure that’s a sentiment shared by many others.
I know for sure that I don’t mind if foreigners come and do the jobs that I (or others) can’t or don’t want to do.
That’s fine.
If nobody wants or can do a damn job, foist it on somebody who can and is willing.
What I (and the people I’ve talked to) can’t stand are those who take over jobs locals can and want to do and then act like they’re doing us a favor.
In the 90s/early 2000s, it was over the PRCs.
Now, it’s CECA.
CECA in particular isn’t sitting well with anybody in Singapore (except those who benefit from it).
The opinion is that it brings in Indians to do jobs that we can do.
There’s also a very stereotypical view that the educated Indians that do come in via CECA are assholes.
Unfortunately, there are times where this is the truth.
I’ve personally had multiple encounters with these foreign Indians who are arrogant, thinking they’re superior to locals. Ask any Private Hire or Taxi driver…they’ll share tons of horror stories of these types of people.
In my usage of Grab for work, I’ve heard tales of them from a ton of different drivers.
The general consensus is that these educated people think being able to work here makes them better than locals. No matter that some of their degrees are fake, these asses think that the fact they’re hired alone makes them superior.
I think it might be due to their upbringing; after all, India is still mired in the dark ages with their slavish dedication to their caste system.
Yeah, they claim it’s no more since the 1950s but we all know how India loves to lie.
If they’d outright lie about a song, don’t you think they’d lie about something like this? The fact of the matter is the caste system is still strong in most (if not all) aspects of Indian life despite being ‘abolished’.
It’s rather unfortunate but salacious stories of bad behavior is way more interesting than hearing somebody who does nothing but good deeds.
Everybody wants to get in on slamming bad foreigners, right?
However, I don’t think for a moment that makes us Singaporeans xenophobic.
Rather, I think we’re all pissed off at idiots who think they’re better than us.
Singaporeans don’t suffer fools, even more so when these fools are from overseas! These assholes thinking they can lord it up over us locals is what gets the goat of most people.
You want to work in Singapore?
Fine, do it well and contribute to our society. Respect us and we’ll respect you.
I (and many other Singaporeans) don’t mind sharing the country with reasonable foreign workers. In fact, Singapore is where it is today due to the massive contributions from overseas talent.
Anybody who says otherwise is an idiot because like it or not, foreign workers are needed in Singapore.
We don’t hate foreigners. We just hate foreign assholes.
That’s not xenophobic at all.