Editor’s Note: This article was originally a facebook note written by Stephanie Chok. It was published here at TOC’s request.
Stephanie Chok
Looking at it makes me sick. Sick with rage, disbelief, and sadness.
I arrived in Geylang yesterday afternoon for a mooncake get-together with some migrant worker friends and volunteers.
Upon arrival, I was shown this receipt, issued by a phone shop just across the road. Song (not his real name), a construction worker from China, had walked across the road to buy a top-up Singtel card. He asked for a receipt and was issued with one that says on the top, ‘F**k U’. At the bottom, it says ‘F**k your Mother’.
Song, who did not understand what it meant, brought it back and showed it to a friend, Eric. ‘What does it say?’ Song asked, ‘I don’t understand.’ Eric was shocked, and returned to the store. The store clerk denied issuing it, and denied that Song had stepped into his store.
So there we were, a team of local volunteers and a group of Chinese nationals, grappling with the spillover of this hate message that I now held in my hand, and which Eric just had the unpleasant task of explaining. I felt polluted just holding on to it.
It was an awkward moment, a moment that made me so furious I took the receipt and promptly marched across the street, back to the store. ‘What are you going to say?’ asked my companion. Say? To be honest, I hardly felt like saying anything. I felt like hammering my fist into something (or someone).
I went into the store, took out the receipt and asked the man whom Song identified as the perpetrator, ‘Was this receipt issued by you?’. He looked at me defiantly and said, ‘No.’ He denied that the store issued the receipt, and refused to acknowledge that he had such a customer. The other man in the store, stony-faced, refused to even look me in the eye, and also denied the receipt was issued from the store.
COWARD.
He had the bile to spew such hateful language, yet lacked the guts to own up to it when confronted.
And the cunning! The store clerk used a ‘generic’ receipt, which wouldn’t identify their store, despite the fact that they also had a receipt book with the shop name printed on it.
So he thought that Song, this ‘hapless’ worker from China, would not understand the message and would not have friends who would alert him to what it meant. Or, at least, not so soon – and certainly not from just across the street. Friends who would return to confront him. The store clerk probably thought that Song would leave with this nasty message in his pocket and give it to someone else to read, oblivious. So, this is funny?
What mirth does one derive in insulting others without provocation? And in such a vile and disgusting manner?
And how does one deal with hatefulness such as this? After the rage has subsided, what is left?
A gaping emptiness, because our soul is momentarily depleted and confused.
A quiet desperation, from not knowing how to comfort someone whose dignity has been trampled on. And for no apparent reason beyond the fact that he is, well, visibly ‘different’.
A bitter aftertaste lines the pit of my stomach.
Dealing with HATE is tough.
—-
AhPek Who Was There
post #144 on October 8th, 2009 12.16 am
////The reason why the worker asked for a receipt is because he was given money by a volunteer to buy the phone card. He gave the change to the volunteer and the receipt.////
1stly, how do posters like me know what you say is true or not?
… & still the authenticity of the receipt remains questionable.
this article is under the Main Stories header, how can it not be 1 of TOC’s article? i hope there is not attempt to “saving face” on TOC’s behalf…
“10) Secret! on October 5th, 2009 10.19 am It seems that some people are missing the point.
Don’t blame the foreign workers for coming. Who wouldn’t take the chance at a higher paying job? The blame lies elsewhere, and as such the aggression shouldn’t be taken out on the foreigners. It’s like slapping your cat because the milk went bad. Doesn’t make any sense. ”
Thank you! I appreciate most people here who actually give a toss to Singapore’s largly ignored political and social problems but the number of ignorant people spewing their misplaced nationalistic retoric here really gets to me sometimes.
Face it people, the average Singaporean *YOU* included will have ZERO qualms taking a job ANYWHERE if it pays you a huge amount more than what you can possibly earn under normal circumstances. You would consider yourself a civilised blessing to any foreign country you live in (although many would be suprised to find out otherwise..I would pay entry tickets to see the average singaporean ‘english’ speaker mocked for their inability to speak ‘proper’ english in another country). The only difference is that you pampered lot would never be able to tough it out in the conditions many of these migrant workers live and work in. I have a bone to pick with the government just like most of you do but please do not forget..who the f**k employs these workers then? Singaporeans need them to look after their kids, build their homes, hell, when the I.Rs open the bloody well need them to manage their gaming pits (only because no existing singaporean can) even so what the hell are you complaining about? I can understand if you are a displaced executive put out by a strutting overpaid angmo (wonder how often that really happens) but if you are an average singaporean what is your problem with low wage foreign workers then?
The bottom line is, (and this goes out to all those parents who whine about their kids getting cheated out of gold medals in sports or JC places) if you ain’t cut out for the competition, get better or get out of the damn race.
Quoted from: 132) Not surprised on October 6th, 2009 4.11 pm
“I would like to add, in a country where campaigns are required to make its citizens behave in what we in Europe would call “human” (romance, smiling, laughing, courteous and general human civility).
I am also not surprised. People here are not human because they need to be socialized to be human. ”
I will have you know that I take offense to your sweeping statement. We may seem to require social engineering from time to time (at least in the warped universe that is the mind of the ruling party) but at the very least I don’t recall any part of our collective history as a people indicating that our forefathers actively took part in anything even close to the holocaust. Neither did we attempt a crusade, start a world war, conduct a religious inquisition or massacre indigenous people while colonizing their country and at the same time introducing new diseases to whole continents. Maybe its their fault, after all they did refuse to smile at you didn’t they? So in view of that perhaps our little european friend here would like to enlighten us a little more on the art of humanity?
Even without this receipt, i have long heard my friends lamenting about their abundant presence here. The chinese have a nickname called Ah Tiongs.
The receipt is a sign of the times.
148) Sumiko Hum
The receipt is a receipt .
On the first read on this article, I feel disgusted at what was done.
But on second thoughts, I ask… is there any story behind which was not told?
Could it be due to certain behaviour or attitude exhibited by the chinese national that had provoked the other party to do such things?
There are always 2 sides to a coin.
I believe something must have happened at the shop to warrant such action. I do not want to be biased but I have seen certain uncouth, irritating behaviours by some of these foreigners.
So we should not jump to conclusions when we do not know the whole truth.
The writer Stephanie Chok seems to be very concerned on issues with regards to the foreign workers here.
If I am not wrong, she had written a report on the living conditions of the foreign workers in the article.. ‘Is Singapore really slum free?’
Much as I sympathised with their plight when I saw the report, I feel there are other issues here much worth caring for.
Maybe she should do a report on how the poor are living in poverty here, coping with their daily life. These poor people, our own citizens deserves more help and care than the foreign workers.
The foreign workers have a job here, they are earning a keep.
The poor in Singapore are the ones who may be unemployed, elderly folks who are not able to work, people struggling with the rising costs, etc.
Look around, there are many many such cases worthy to be reported on so that they are not forgotten by the more fortunate lot.
i think sg is a better place without so many foreigners…
This is sick…..
May that ah beng from that hp shop be treated the same way when it’s his turn..
It used to be that when we travelled to someone’s else’s country, we consider ourselves as guests and behave as such. But do you think the foreign workers in Singapore behave in such a way. When you look at statistics, though the government never releases this officially, at any one time, one-third of the work force in Singapore are foreigners. So when you have these groups in large numbers, some of them tend to forget that they are in a foreign country, and behave rather badly, thinking they have power in numbers. When dealing with rude people, you have to be rude. If he shouts his requests at you, you shout back your response. That’s the only correct way to respond, I believe. What made Ms Chok think that the Chinese national did not spew vulgarities at the shop assistant. Being only 19, he may have fought back with something “cowardly” like writing foul language on a piece of paper… which is, if you think of it, hardly uncouth compared to the shock and disgust Ms Chok would have felt if she were to hear those very words spoken aloud in the language the Chinese worker speaks. It is wrong to put an incident like writing foul language on a piece of paper — and really, the language was not racist — it was plainly just foul language — as illustrating a systemic disregard for the rights of the foreign worker. I think Ms Chok should be a little street savvy. Her marching up to the shop and demanding who wrote the receipt points to her incompetence and immaturity at dealing with such “discriminatory” situations. Even worse, she posted the note on her Facebook. Are there no standards in the organisation with which she volunteers that she could put online artefacts collected in the course of her “work”. If I was a beneficiary of the non-governmental organisation — I would be worried as to what else she would be discussing online about my predicament or problems. Ms Chok, you putting the incident up online is a “tsk tsk”. Of course, its not like a social worker who discussed her case files in public… but Ms Chok is somewhat treading a very thin line between social commentary and her integrity as a volunteer.
Nora,
//It used to be that when we travelled to someone’s else’s country, we consider ourselves as guests and behave as such.//
If by that statement above the ‘we’ you are refering to are Singaporean?
How interesting, that our bad habit ‘Kiasuism and also Cheapskatism’ is so widely known.
Perhaps ‘we’ might be behaving like guest to our own eye, but its an eyesore to others. So until we are perfect, lets not point finger on others, yes?
//When dealing with rude people, you have to be rude//
I am having hard time agreeing to that, its like saying to deal with them we have to stood to their level? (is this the hallmark of courteous society we are trying to achieve?)
The article above sums up two issues at hand.
One is the prejudice to the foreign workers. Another is condoning bad behaviour within ourselves to justify the action.
If this is the kind of mentality ‘local’ singaporean accepted as a norm, you can really blame the real foreign talent of leaving? We refuse to better ourselves yet demand better behaviour from others.
This is the real ‘Tsk, Tsk, Tsk’
Hi Kenzu. Yes, I agree with you that being rude is not socially acceptable behaviour. Incidentally I am someone with a very high tolerance for rude behaviour — in that people can be extremely nasty to me, but I will not lose my temper; and I am very bad at giving clever retorts to nasty remarks too — what’s the word people use to describe people like me–yes I am what you may call “a complete pushover”.
One of my points in writing my commentary (and especially that “tsk tsk” remark) is to highlight a very important matter that seems to have gotten lost amidst all the emotions put forth about discrimination, rude people, etc. My point is this: Ms Chok, as a volunteer at an NGO, should not have acted the way she did — first by confronting the shop (she could have caused an explosive situation to erupt –instead of doing good, might escalate it into a very unpleasant, or even worse violent situation); and secondly, by displaying an “artefact” collected in the course of her volunteer work on the internet, she had crossed the line between her work as a volunteer with an organization and her right to social commentary as a citizen. As a person/citizen, she may rightfully feel that the foreign worker had been badly treated. But as a volunteer, she should have reigned in her emotions and acted according to the guidelines given to her. These are the reasons for the “tsk tsk” that I have given her.
154) Nora on October 9th, 2009 2.46 pm
Ms Nora,
Your argument has so many holes in it that a swiss cheese might mistake it for a relative.
“So when you have these groups in large numbers, some of them tend to forget that they are in a foreign country, and behave rather badly, thinking they have power in numbers”
You assume that a significant number of FWs here behave badly due to some strange phenomena that inflicts mass amnesia on them causing them to suddenly become unaware of where they are geographically while at the same time giving them a sense of overwhelming confidence in some kind of united foreign workers party (should I add ‘Bent on Taking Over Ze World! ‘ with a german accent?). Now is my turn to assume that you should be capable of reading something so I would be pleased to recommend you a book by Neil Humphreys called ‘Notes from an even smaller island’. Pay special attention to the chapter where he describes the behaviour of Singaporeans on holiday overseas.
“When dealing with rude people, you have to be rude. If he shouts his requests at you, you shout back your response. That’s the only correct way to respond, I believe. What made Ms Chok think that the Chinese national did not spew vulgarities at the shop assistant. Being only 19, he may have fought back with something “cowardly” like writing foul language on a piece of paper… which is, if you think of it, hardly uncouth compared to the shock and disgust Ms Chok would have felt if she were to hear those very words spoken aloud in the language the Chinese worker speaks. ”
Your statement is based on the assumtion that the worker did in fact draw first blood. Ok, so lets assume he did, So I suppose your idea of ideal customer service would be to retaliate in kind when offended by a customer in the line of work. In that case perhaps I should draw a middle finger or perhaps provide a detailed description of copulation on my next tax invoice when a customer screams at me or my fellow staff. In fact why bother? Maybe I should chase them off my premises with a broom! How dare they talk to me like that, damn paying customers!
to be continued….
….continued from 157)
Quoted from 154) Nora
“It is wrong to put an incident like writing foul language on a piece of paper — and really, the language was not racist — it was plainly just foul language — as illustrating a systemic disregard for the rights of the foreign worker. I think Ms Chok should be a little street savvy.”
Yeah it is wrong to suggest In Writing to a customer that he go F*** his mom but whew, lucky for us and humanity in general he did not make it racist! Now that would be REALLY Wrong as opposed to just plain old simple wrong. By the way, how exactly do you become street savvy? Did you by any chance grow up in south central L.A? Or did you do the Singaporean thing and took a Diploma in Curb Management?
“Are there no standards in the organisation with which she volunteers that she could put online artefacts collected in the course of her “work”. If I was a beneficiary of the non-governmental organisation — I would be worried as to what else she would be discussing online about my predicament or problems. Ms Chok, you putting the incident up online is a “tsk tsk”. Of course, its not like a social worker who discussed her case files in public… but Ms Chok is somewhat treading a very thin line between social commentary and her integrity as a volunteer.”
I suppose you don’t consider Ms Chok efforts as work but rather “work”, the kind that is followed by a snigger. I belive that making these things public is the MOST important part of Ms Chok’s Work. If she does not raise public awarness to the problems faced by the people she helps than she will be no better than the many wayang government groups out there! What the hell is a ‘tsk tsk’ anyway? To me it is the irritating sound made by people who bang into you during rush hour in lieu of an apology, not a mentally sound respons to someone who is doing her level best to improve the lives of her fellow human beings.
All in all I would say that you should examine your own (painfully obvious) ignorant, self centered and extremely arrogant attitude towards migrant workers before offering up anymore self obsessed right-wing retoric.
Just to add:
Nora, in 154) you mentioned : “When dealing with rude people, you have to be rude. If he shouts his requests at you, you shout back your response. That’s the only correct way to respond, I believe. ”
But in 156) (after basically having had your *** handed to you by Kenzu in 155))
You went on to say : “people can be extremely nasty to me, but I will not lose my temper; and I am very bad at giving clever retorts to nasty remarks too — what’s the word people use to describe people like me–yes I am what you may call “a complete pushover”.”
So are you saying that you belive in it but being a coward when push comes to shove you don’t walk the talk? Typical if you ask me. Looks like we all know where you are coming from now, because you can CLEARLY relate to the cowardly boy who wrote that filth on the paper but had no guts to admit it when confronted. Can’t blame you for defending your own kind I suppose.
Nora, 155
Actually nothing else i can say / or say better in comparison to what (True Patriot Down South) had replied to your post above.
//My point is this: Ms Chok, as a volunteer at an NGO, should not have acted the way she did — first by confronting the shop (she could have caused an explosive situation to erupt –instead of doing good, might escalate it into a very unpleasant, or even worse violent situation); and secondly, by displaying an “artefact” collected in the course of her volunteer work on the internet, she had crossed the line between her work as a volunteer with an organization and her right to social commentary as a citizen//
To be honest, if we as responsible citizen were put in that position, i believe its our civic duty to get to the bottom of the situation and react accordingly. Confronting the alleged source is definitely the right thing to do. If I were ms Stephanie, i would confront and follow up with police report. And do you want to know why?
What if the recipient of the receipt is one of our personal friends, family members or our children? (even with the Foreign worker prejudice asides, writing F*** your mother is not the kind of behaviour i want the next generation emulate!)
And please, putting on Facebook is nothing. I would write to newspaper, blogs and any means i can circulate this info.
I am truly glad Steph bring this to light.
For your information to all singaporean who ever buy a top up card or a pre paid number from any handphone shop or roadshow , i dun think they have a receipt to give to it customer. So how does this receipt come about?…..i ever been to a roadshow done by singtel and i purchased a prepaid number and a top up card and i ask for a official receipt so that i can claim from my company…..their
answer is sorry sir we dun issued receipt for that.So i got no choice but just sratch the top card and submit the used card to claim from my company.So could this be a pranked did by this foreign worker? Or maybe he is bored staying in singapore?
I just bought a top up card from 7-11 for my domestic worker and they gave me a receipt. I can scan it for you if you guys need proof.
162) Simpangcell… stop going to fly-by-night phone card vendors lah. How do I know you’re telling the truth about SingTel roadshows? You could be lying. Where’s the PROOF?