Cordially – Brian

however, my views changed after a personal incident occurred to me yesterday. this is as i was at a supermaket for my usual grocery shopping with my grandmother. while i was choosing my goods to purchase, i saw at the corner of my eye a guy who seems to be a foreigner who was looking at me. i ignored him and continued but he persisted and follow me wherever i went. he even tried to talk to me though i didnt understand what he was saying twice. i tried to hide myself at the other corner of the supermarket but he went on finding me and when i couldnt take it anymore, i quickly told my grandma we should pay and go. when i saw him leaving the supermarket, i was relieved, only to find out that he was waiting at the other entrance where people usually exit and looking at me while i paid the goods bought.
luckily it was a distance away and i and my grandmother manage to sneak out by another side of the supermarket and we had to go one big round just to make sure he doesnt follow me. feeling afraid of all that had happened, we decided to flag a taxi home though we lived just a few blocks away.
i was glad that this whole ordeal was over but finally i realised the fear in which residence at Serangoon Gardens are feeling over their security and safety. hence, i understand how they are feeling and they got the right to feel that way. ever since the incident yesterday, i have not been wanting to go to the supermarket or the shops near my area anymore since ever since afew years ago, there has been an influx of foreign workers spending their time there. hence, just like the saying goes. Once bitten, twice shy..

Ask yourself whether you will choose to live in a good place or bad place? Then again what you consider good or bad?

Siva, will u prefer to stay beside foreign worker or Ang mo? u don’t kk lor

All human has preferences la,

the fact is foreign workers dormitory brings down its house value and have a higher risk of making the place riskier, dirtier & uncomfortable. Agree a not? Don’t believe u go kaki bukit dormitory walk 1 round. I confirm u steam.

If their house’s value goes down, Siva u going to pay them the balance izzit?

Why not u go move there stay beside them yourself? U k siao lor

U people so morally good, built the dormitory in sentosa la, orchard road also can, worker will be siong but tourist will come a not? Renter will drop a not? U people no brain lor!

The very reason places have different value is also partly due to discrimination lor, hv good school, ang mo place, hi class shopping etc so how? Siva u still so narrow mind call people “xenophobia” u yourself xeno lor

U go US and built dormitory in Beverly hills lor, see what those “civilize” ang mo react, they freaking shoot them lor

LKY also said this world is unfair, so people has to live with it lor

People will look down on other people ma

I read newspaper, got a lady said if u sent your children overseas, do u wish they being look down? My reply is of cuz not la, but can I help it? no choice ma, they juz need to bear with it until Asian are solid lor. That lady asks berry stupid question lor!

So I open to challenge lor, tell me I am wrong lor,

Siva if u don’t reply me is because u look down on me ah beng lor

It is also true that we have to look at this issue not through the lens of , stereotype, gender-bias, etc, which we are often guilty of.

However, I for one feel that the issue here is of ‘social integration’ and the ‘acceptance of the inevitable’.

Social integration of foreign workers into a local community is part and parcel of growth and development in any country, any city, any community. However, it is my personal opinion that a sudden influx of reportedly 1000 male workers into a neighourhood of 4000 people (mixed gendered, families) is not integration. No housing community, Serangoon Gardens, Boon Lay, D10 or otherwise would be able to handle this kind of change.

Even if 1600 new Singaporeans were to be injected into an existing community, new infrastructure have to be set up, one would have to consider the social, economic, relational effects on the local community. Overcrowding, traffic congestions, possible changes in crime rates, would all just be symptomatic of this issue. I am not sure if this decision to enforce this kind of integration would be sustainable in the long run. Perhaps a more careful gradual integration might be suggested or a protracted timeframe might be of greater benefit to all parties involved.

Social integration will not be an issue. Everyone will have to integrate, whether they like it or not. Successful social integration (on the part of the foreign worker into the local community, and the local community embracing the newcomers) would on the other hand be quite a different matter altogether.

The ‘acceptance of the inevitable’ is another issue which I think might not have been addressed fully. Perhaps you are right that security measures might have been put in place, presumably studies have been done on how infrastructurally the community might accommodate. However I would assume that again, it is the social component that the authorities might have to take into greater consideration.

Judging from the 1500+ members of the community who petitioned, it would be fairly safe to say that there is resistance from the locals community to this initiative.

With this in mind, coupled with the fact that government initiatives are usually fairly non-negotiable, I would like to appeal to the community not to just ‘accept the inevitable’.

It is afterall our home, our community. Accepting one new neighbour might not be too big an issue, 1600 new neighbours would be.

Again, perhaps a careful, gradual, distributed and protracted process may be of greater benefit to all involved.

It is my opinion that the community should not give up voicing their opinions, even more so the community should be honestly consulted by the authorities in a decision of this magnitude. I am unsure if attempts at taking into considering the opinions of the people involved have been genuine to date.

when i grow older i thought i would have a good retirement home in serangoon garden . but the latest news was shocking to us
that we have to stay and accepted the foreigner workers to be part of us .

bear in mind serangoon garden owners are all 100% singaporean
we will help to fight during war because they love the country and family . as their roots are here . unlike those foreigner workers

plse give us a breathing space for the true singapore citizen and dont destroy the beautiful neighbourhood which we have created

You should not take the easy way out by pretending to be righteous.

By doing that, you brush everything one side – avoidng all issues and sensitive discussion.

1. Who made the mistake first? So that “who” should think of the solution

2) Prove to me there is racism here. I do not care if it is 1000 Chinese, Blangadashi or Swedes or French – 1000 workers crammed together at 10m from the gate of somebody’s house is a bad idea.

3) It is all about urban planning. That is the key word. Go to Middle east, China and some western countries – dorm are all located in places away from residential of teh locals.

It is a pretty common practice

4) Help us to think of humane solutions which by the way, are WHAT we are also asking the government to do. There are empty army camp etc. BTW, of you drive pass many of our expressway and is observant – there are so many pockets of lands and unused land.

Get it?

Even the folks living in HDB flats can’t say they’d love to live next door.

If we should integrate them, why don’t we preach it to the rest of the world.
Beverly Hills should include ghetto townships right in the middle of their prime space. Why not put foreign workers quarters in Buckingham Palace as well. After all, no one has suggested the Istana.

Put your money down to back up your ideals. You could invite foreign workers to stay at your home as well. That would be proof that you mean what you say.

I brace myself and walk to the other side of the street, staying close to the opposite pavement.

As I draw nearer, I am half expecting to hear grunts of some South Asian tongue.

Another ring of broken glass shatters the midnight silence.

I draw even nearer and start to hear a cacophony of distinctly un-Singlish drawls.

Then one of the figures steps into the street light and I had a shock………..

A untidy mop of chestnut curls on top of a towering irreverent youngster……..

If you are aware, a portion of CTE near AngMoKio Ave 1 is currently being widened. A couple of days back while driving on the CTE, I realised that the Serangoon Gardens Technical School could be seen from the CTE. The removal of the trees and land which used to hide the school from the Highway motorists, has made the school more obvious and it will keep people asking what is this empty building for. I was just thinking…. if the trees were hiding the building(s) would there be a call to convert it to dormitories suddenly? I am wondering if this is a quick fix solution to utilise the buildings… as it was also mentioned that it was only for temporary dormitory. (Maybe a hard question to address). ONE SUGGESTION – Why not lease it to international schools which are really short of places, and there are many in the waiting list to register their children. The buses and cars can send the children to and fro… and still allow the residents there to have their peace and safety.

It is great to have foreign workers here, but not everyone is comfortable with them roaming the estate.

My solution or question is when is the Singapore Government or the MOM going to step in and have the developers start treating the foreign workers like humans! What needs to happen before they start pay them a decent wag, stop making them work at all hrs of the day/night, stop putting them up in containers and muddy work site.

To me this seems like basic human right! They should be required to start putting them in descent accommodation or paying them so they can afford accommodation.

A private condo starts at 700-800k at the moment.. so how is it that developers can get away with treating there labor with such disregard. No other industry seems to be able to get away with it

As a society, we need to hold on to certain humanitarian principles or it will simply be a downward slide from here. These foreign workers are deserving of basic human dignity and, like anyone else under the law, are free to be in any public place in Singapore and free to be in any private place where they have been given licence to enter and remain.

If this principle of human dignity is not strictly maintained and concessions are made in the name of policy, it will be impossible to protect any social group from discrimination. At the start, the obvious scape goats will be the infirm, alternative lifestyles, lowly-educated, poor etc. deteriorating to foreigners, age, religion and ethnicity.

Just because these people do not hold a pink or blue IC does not mean they are any less deserving of the rights, liberties and privileges accorded by law to residents here.

It is not true that the well-heeled are not affected by urban development. I still recall that no more than 10 years ago, Balmoral Road was a quiet stretch. Now, there are big condos on both sides of the narrow road which inevitably leads to traffic congestions in the morning and evenings. Has anyone tried driving down Stevens Road on a week day morning or evening, or a Saturday evening?

I honestly doubt anyone would be complaining if say the plan was to construct a mega-luxury condo like The Sail housing up to thousands of well-heeled residents at the Burghley Drive site.

It is also not the government’s job to guarantee residential property prices in any locale and everyone who makes an investment takes a risk.

It was not so long ago that our forefathers bore the brunt of “No Dogs and Chinese Allowed” and were the ones squatting by the roadside during their free time. The colonials who did that could still give the excuse of a less evolved 19th century social consciousness. What excuse do we have?