Sunday, November 18, 2007

Clashes between Singaporeans and Foreigners

There has been quite a few cases of outburst between Singaporeans and foreigners recently. Singaporean Michelle Quek was attacked by a foreigner after his girlfriend was accidentally hit by Michelle’s school bag. Another example involved three British tourists, one of them named Bo Davis, and Singaporean trishaw man Mr Lee.

The number of new citizens and permanent residents (PR) is increasing year after year as a result of Singapore’s emphasis on its foreign talent policy. When people of different backgrounds, culture, beliefs and social behaviours come together, conflicts occur naturally. As what SM Goh mentioned in the Today newspaper yesterday, cracks in society are showing. No doubt, it has got to do with our foreign talent policy. The influx of foreigners into our society is often viewed as a threat to many Singaporeans’ livelihoods.

We certainly need to address the problem by reviewing our foreign talent policy. The movement of people is different from the movement of goods. Although you might argue foreigners will eventually assimilate into our society but how long would they need and to what extent are they prepared to do so? As time goes by, more Michelle Quek's incidents may happen especially when local-born Singaporeans become minorities in our society.

Michelle's blog carries the Youtube Part 1 and Part 2 .

4 comments:

Pkchukiss said...

That lady in the video was quite rude, but I don't believe that this is on the same level as foreigners acting with a sense of superiority.

Anonymous said...

I gather that Michelle Quek is still a school student. I think she needs to pay more attention to her English classes. Most people would give up trying to understand what she's writing about.

Anonymous said...

The question to ask is: Are FT's and NRI's made to think they have a superior footing here in Singapore? We must examine what is being done to make them want to come here in the first place? What is offered to them that is not offered to Citizens. Oh perhaps we should throw PR's into the debate to 'not leave anyone behind'.
I sense FTs, NRIs and perhaps to a lesser extent PRs have been 'made' to think they can lord over us without any disadvantages of being a citizen. And not Forgetting, NS should be discussed, it's relevance and fairness. Can we suggest a 'Defence Surcharge' which has long been ignored (not thought of?). Afterall the garmen always uses monetary incentives/disincentives to manage all and sundry?

Anonymous said...

So true. Every foreigner is called a "talent", so they come here thinking we are idiots. It has come to a point when citizens feel bullied - they get heard and citizens do not.