By Choo Zheng Xi, Editor-at-Large
Why are Singaporeans unhappy, the PAP wonders.
It is said that Singaporeans are a migrant stock. Coming and going, it’s in our blood. My own mother was born and raised in Hong Kong. She met my Singaporean father while he was helping out at my paternal grandmother’s restaurant in Kowloon in the early 80s. And then I was born.
My parents brought me to Singapore in 1988, when I was three years old.
Back then, there were only about 300,000 non-citizen residents in Singapore, out of 3 million people.
All my mother’s blood relatives are still in Hong Kong, but we are Singaporean citizens now. We will always call Singapore our first home.
I still speak only Cantonese with my mother. She came here speaking very little English, but she now speaks decent English and Mandarin (though with a strong Cantonese accent), and some pasar Hokkien that she picked up along the way.
My mother recently retired from her sales position at a 3-for-$10 stall near Raffles City where she happily worked for more than five years. She was tired of competing with the Mainlander that her boss had hired last year, who was willing to work longer for less money.
Mum was hoping to quit after receiving the annual one-month Chinese New Year bonus. The bonus, which her boss usually pays along with her January wages, never came this year. Over the phone, she told me how relieved she was that I’d be starting work at a law firm later this year.
Singapore now has more than 1.7 million foreigners out of 4.99 million people.
My mother grew to love Singapore at a time when Singapore had more space to grow to love her.
It scares me how little space Singaporeans have been left to integrate foreigners, and how visceral the xenophobic reactions are.
Why are Singaporeans angry, the PAP wonders.
Then there is my paternal granduncle. He was a bookish bachelor, and spoke a crisp Victorian English common among the English-educated of his time. He used to trundle down every weekend to the old National Library at Stamford Road, where he enjoyed reading everything from American thriller novels to Singaporean history books. He was such a loyal library member that the library used to send him commemorative coffee table books on their more significant anniversaries.
He died a few years before they turned the Stamford Library into a tunnel. I guess in a way it was better he never found out, he would never have forgiven them.
Why are Singaporeans angry, the PAP wonders.
If our Ministers took crowded MRTs and buses, ate at neighborhood coffee shops, or worked as front line service staff, they might better understand Singaporeans’ anger.
If they lived like us, ate like us — if they looked at us — they might know.
Singaporeans aren’t inherently xenophobic or hateful, my family will be the first to attest. I trust that Singaporeans can remember a common humanity even as we condemn dehumanizing policies.
But our country is changing so quickly that we now feel overwhelmed and displaced, angry, in a country which is becoming harder and harder to recognize.
It is hard to believe the PAP doesn’t know why Singaporeans are angry, but what does our anger mean to them?
Singapore is increasingly losing our physical and emotional space for love, and soon the only thing we will be able to call ours will be our Anger.
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Hi sispecho,
with the high influx of foreigners especially from PRC, I have always wondered how do the Malay Singaporeans feel and what are their views on this foreign “talents” issues. These days, I meet more PRCs than Malays everywhere I go be it in mrt, shopping centres or hawker centres.
what puzzle me more is it seems that majority of the Malay Singaporeans are still strong supporter of miw.
Retaining Chineseness is basically a daft idea when we should be promoting an overarching Singaporean culture and identity.
VOTE 7 MINISTERS OUT.
THEN THERE WILL BE CHECK N BALANCE.
“Why are Singaporeans unhappy”.
PAP has lost touch on the ground. They are busy counting their obsence salaries
in their Ivory Tower and thinking of how to fix the opposition.
They do not care about the welfare of Singaporeans, except for themselves!
66% of voters who gave PAP the mandate to rule Singapore, have been deceived
and cheated. Hence, we are all, all chained and shackled and our freedom to think,
move, talk, et cetra, et cetra have been restricted.
This dictator, LEE KUAN YEW , must be stopped from causing more sufferings. Less, Singapore becomes another Burma!! ………..
.VOTE OUT PAP………FOR A BETTER FUTURE!!!
I really have no words to describe the irony I see here. For lack of a better word:
LOL!
I’m surprised at how forummers (both online and offline) can complain about “restrictions” on their freedom to say the very things that they are saying. I mean, hello? If we were the police-state that you’re describing, then why are we here discussing about it?
If there were such heavy restrictions on freedom of speech, then why are there so many public forums online and in real life? Perhaps the most ironic bit is how many of these public discussion forums are organized by the PAP themselves. So many people have spoken out during these forums, and not mildly either, and none have disappeared as some have predicted.
Granted: that Singapore does not have the demonstrations, the street protests, the rioting and all the other fun stuff that other countries have.
But is that the direction that you want to move into? Do you want Singapore to be “normal”, just like other countries?
Granted: By all descriptions, Singapore is a freak of nature.
By all the calculations of Western experts and their economic, social and political models, Singapore should not have survived the 1960s. We should have fallen into chaos, given that we had no army, no natural resources, and a Chinese majority of 70% which was heavily influenced by China’s communism. (Today, if your passport of origin is from the Middle East, airport security all over the world will give you an extra patting down. Back then, if you were Chinese, you would be similarly suspected of being communist.)
The West took 600 years to advance from the Dark Ages into the Enlightenment. The British saw themselves as “bringing civilization to the barbarians”. They were telling us what to do, how to do it, all according to their ways. Stamford Raffles landed in 1819, so if Singapore had followed the “European model” of progression, we would be expected to be civilized by the year 2419!
And mind you, these aren’t a bunch of deluded Western-elitists or imperialists. These were respected men of their time, the greatest minds that were an authority on the subject matter.
Granted: We’re not a perfect society, there’s still room for improvement.
But at least, for the love of our country, THINK before you decide to throw away a vote in protest!
XiiAoGeNgEnX:
What on God’s Earth are your blabbering about? How do you compare the SIZE of the Western Society to that of ours? To begin with, they ALERADY had Human Rights at the beginning, and people’s livelihoods came first.
Here, the PAP protects their own Rice Bowl but breaks ours into millions of pieces by allowing our job market and Small Business Industries to be obliterated by their FT Policy.
Just WHAT in hades are you blabbering about, huh???
@ XiiAoGeNgEnX
“By all the calculations of Western experts and their economic, social and political models, Singapore should not have survived the 1960s. ”
Please please don’t talk crap here. Show us the calculations
Singapore is NOT a Freak of Nature. The government IS.
XiiAoGeNgEnX you think there’s Freedom of Speech here? I bet right now, their agents are screening through looking for a good reason to haul people to court.
Yes they are an effective administration, but just only so because they are protecting their rice bowl – we are basically much like a gigantic chicken coop where they collect eggs everyday so they need to weed out the wolves.
Come on, if they REALLY cared, Singaporeans’ livelihoods will not have been affected by their SELFISH POLICIES.
What’s happening . . .
http://themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/malaysia/52610-malaysia-veering-towards-instability-says-perc
We should have fallen into chaos, given that we had no army, no natural resources, and a Chinese majority of 70% which was heavily influenced by China’s communism. (Today, if your passport of origin is from the Middle East, airport security all over the world will give you an extra patting down. Back then, if you were Chinese, you would be similarly suspected of being communist.) XiiAoGeNgEnX Feb 11, 2010 17:53
what utter rubbish, why is our government now import load trucks of communists from China into Singapore? Very soon true bred singaporeans will be suspected of being communist than you thought. Stop muddling your wrap logic here.
XiiAoGeNgEnX
Everyone has a weakness. The PAPs weakness is international ranking. If they ban online forum or arrest forumers (and there are many, lots more online), it will be sensational headline for world news.
Next, how do you know if nobody had been troubled by the ISD? Do they annouce it if they silence anybody esp in the name of political suppression? and esp their international reputation will be at stake? Will you get to know about it if anybody has been troubled?
Besides, I guess there are many posting from overseas. Hundreds of thousands of Sporeans are either living overseas or left our shore with connections still in Spore. How do you know if many of these posters are not part of these groups? How can the Spore Govt stop them? Maybe arrest them at the airport when they enter Spore? How will anyone know if any of these people get carted away? We do not even have reporters that will dare report such incident.
So, XiiAoGeNgEnX, is this still laughable to you?
@XiiAoGeNgEnX
You are either one of the “new arrivals”, brought into Singapore by this
ungrateful PAP regime, or you are daft!
Please read the history of Singapore and how we are being oppressed by this
corrupted government.
singapoe mummy
What a laugh sia..
“XiiAoGeNgEnX
Granted: that Singapore does not have the demonstrations, the street protests, the rioting and all the other fun stuff that other countries have.”
You have gotten it. Ding ding !!! And the mainstream media.
“so if Singapore had followed the “European model” of progression, we would be expected to be civilized by the year 2419!”
2419 ?????? such Ah-Q spirit & intelligence you have !!!! no wonder your big brother said that we needed foreign talents, perhaps to bring the date 2419 much closer to a more hopeful level.
Thanks Zheng Xi, for articulating many of the feelings of discontent felt by numerous citizens.
I note that you’ll soon be working in a law firm. Congrats. However, I’m not sure if in 2 years time, you may identify more with the establishment. After all, it is the current system which has in some way allowed you to maximise your potential. After a few years of the “good life” and operating in the “system” it is quite easy to support the status quo, with perhaps an occasional opinion piece or commentary. I’m sure quite a few of the Pappy old guards truly placed the welfare of the people first in the early days, but got sidetracked along the way, and finally warped beyond repair.
“If there were such heavy restrictions on freedom of speech, then why are there so many public forums online and in real life? Perhaps the most ironic bit is how many of these public discussion forums are organized by the xxxxxx themselves.”
The real acid test is whether we are given a freer channel of alternative views in the mainstream media and the freedom to designate our own space / place to discuss (not HLG) such views without the possibility of running foul with the ( ( ( ( LAW ) ) ) ).
[i]preston loon wrote:
Free Trades are not just about free movement of goods and world economies.It is also about free movement of people around the world.[/i]
wah! when did you assumed the position of home affair minister?
if home affair minister liked you aroun..80% of our condemned batchelors would had married foreign spouses includin our owned unique brand of sarong party girls who would had europeans leonardo de caprisi as their hubbies…
you think singapoor government ministers what? EEC ministers? (european economic countries) suka suka come suka suka goes?
~zhee~ preston ole boy..did you graduated from havard or cambridge?
knowin you most probadly from the same neigbourhood of the 8 white elephants…woodbridge
@ SingaporeMummy
//Next, how do you know if nobody had been troubled by the ISD? Do they annouce it if they silence anybody esp in the name of political suppression?//
Aiyo, why you still have the “cannot talk bad abt the govt or the police will come” mentality? I think both Singaporeans and the govt have moved passed that stage. There are so many critical comments of the govt out there (in fact i dare say most of them are critical) and nothing happens. The same people still come back every other day to comment.
RW
Can you guarantee I will be safe? Can you guarantee? You said you think but you did not say you guarantee with your identity. Its easy for you to say you think isn’t it? I don’t want to get thrown into IMH. Go watch ‘Changeling’.
Its exactly that there are so many critical comments that nothing happens. There are so many how can they single out anyone. Again go watch ‘Changeling’ when the masses went to the court to support the victim.
Same here, my grandparents were here for a long time even before WWII.
There was so much of fusion between races. My father speaks several Chinese dialects, Malay and of course Tamil. Even, I speak a little Hokkien and fluent Malay .
There was a spirit to know one’s culture and lifestyles. Now with so much of economic progress, it seems the govt needs to feed us with such programmes.
Why did this displacement occur. How did it happen. Overnight we get more foriegners with their culture colliding with our space. Did this happen on purpose, because the pace was too quick for most of us to accept.
Was the sole purpose economic numbers showing progress. That question can only be answered by PAP, because their talk was initially about F. Talent. Now everyone is wondering where is the Talent.
“If there were such heavy restrictions on freedom of speech, then why are there so many public forums online and in real life? Perhaps the most ironic bit is how many of these public discussion forums are organized by the xxxxxx themselves.”
The point is not whether these forums exist, the point is whether people fear being on it. How many of us use our real names? why do you think that is?
The truth is we write, conscious that we are taking a serious risk. That this forum may be shut down at any time because someone doesn’t like it. Or that if we can be identified, that will affect our ability to find work (Kenneth Jeyaretnam couldn’t get a job until Goh Chok Tong said OK) or our ability to be recognised for the work we do. Or that if we ever make a mistake, woe betide us. Or that woe may betide us even if we don’t make a mistake!
So please don’t refer to these forums are demonstrations of free speech in Singapore. When Singaporeans feel that they can safely use their names, in the mass circulation print media and on TV, then we can speak of free speech. Until then, people who speak of free speech in Singapore are either ignorant or not being honest.
This is interesting. Widely circulated in the web. I count myself to have relocated here a few years ago.
http://english.cctv.com/20100210/101301.shtml
James Quek, there is nothing wrong with importing talented foreigners. But it us ridiculous to do that without first requiring that it be established that there are no available locals who are sufficiently talented for the job.
There is nothing wrong with importing foreigners who work for a little less. But we must recognise that a local has to buy his flat, in Singapore, and has to raise his family here. He must be paid enough so he can do that. To allow a foreigner to work for a lower wage than what would allow a Singaporean to do this will necessarily displace the Singaporean. So it is ridiculous to import low cost foreigners without setting a minimum wage or at least establishing a half decent benefit to catch Singaporeans who will necessarily be displaced.
As other posters have rightly said: we have no problems with the foreigners in our midst. Our problem is with the policies that have left Singaporeans up the creek, without a paddle.
if importing foreigners is a sure win, and you want an answer, start a referendum.
then see your results.
My Ah Yee is a first generation Singaporean. Came way back to Sg and earned very little. She now complains the maids are paid too well. Anyone wants to be a maid?
I don’t understand the big huh hah about some buildings get destroyed. If they are in the way and there is no way to say the supposedly icon, so be it. Another 10000 years, the building will be gone anyway. So what if it is earlier.
I eat at coffee shop. What’s the issue here. Cheap and good food. Imported cleaners are generally hardworking. You want their jobs?
@rubbish
Your Ah Yee complains about the maids’ pay, so you should ask her if she wants to be a maid.
Yeah, imported cleaners are generally hardworking, but “native Singaporeans are falling behind because the spurs are not stuck into the hide”.
once the ruling elites are displaced (voted out), S’pore’s soul will thrive once more. ;)
reality is that brains alone will not bring success. just look at the number of people who are more educated today than a decade ago, is S’pore really a better place on the whole? people who complain are people who still feel (emotionally) that its still worth a shot at complaining, in hope that what they say makes a positive difference.
maybe the ruling elites, really need to be displaced for once (this coming election?) to get a feel of competition, fair & square. they did say competition is good wad! =D
We are left with no choice but to vote for change.
XiiAoGeNgEnX and the PAP Brigade,
We see the PAP brigade here on a containment exercise? Your views are like those of a broken vinyl LP that has been overplayed. Vinyl has long died. Anyway, for the benefit of those still preferring to cling on to a sinking ship, for I believe it is not XiiAoGeNgEnX who is speaking for himself but XiiAoGeNgEnX tasked to speak up for the government, I shall attempt to discuss the points you have brought up.
1. “…why are we here discussing about it?…”
Some have already answered this question. The government, if given a choice, and as its track records would suggest, would not have tolerated us, not for one second. The simple answer to the question is therefore: because they do not have a choice. And this is because we are living in an age where media control is as impossible as a Chinese going without rice, or an Indian going without onions and a Malay without his chili.
So please don’t ever think there is any element of magnanimity in allowing such freedom of expression by this government.
2. “…normal”, just like other countries?…”
Someone once replied to one of my quotes by stating that for every quote I gave, there are countless other quotes he could give to counter mine. Similarly, the presumption that asking for a freer society equates with a riotous society is completely, for lack of a better word … LOL! We can show the world how to have ‘fun’ our own way can’t we? In case you are still wondering how we can have fun, let’s just say that when we can rope this government in, that’s where fun for the citizens will begin. At the moment, the PAP is the only one having all the fun – selfish, don’t you think?
3. “…Singapore should not have survived the 1960s….”
Oh, this is the best part of it. Pray tell me how did Singapore survived the 60s? Yes, we the people pulled ourselves together to support the government of the day to see Singapore through those dark days. We were happy lending support to such a vision and drive.
You ought to have considered your comments in a longer term context, that is, to allow it to cover a longer time frame. For a good part of 20 years, no one could have any case against the PAP’s management of Singapore and its people. Policies were people-fronted and all considerations were toward the welfare of the people.
Things changed when the vision and focus for Singapore changed. Changed came about when the old guards handed over control to new guards. The focus was now on acquiring wealth for the nation, believing that money could buy all things good, and ignoring wisdom that money is the root of all evil. Wealth-acquisition became the drive that pushed the people to the brink, as seen in today’s Singapore society.
4. “…The West took 600 years…”
Let’s not even go there on this. We want to look back at history in a hundred, two hundred years time and for the generations of that day to say that their ancestors were brave enough to bring about a third wave of change that drove the country to its prosperous and respected standing. I cannot imagine generations after us blaming us for being balls-less Singaporeans, given in to timidity and fear.
For anyone still able to think, we are now living on the threshold of history. We are positioned to bring about a new chapter for our beloved country and our future generations. The best part is, we do not even have to vote ‘wisely’ as the PAP would always threaten. A protest vote would do just fine.
Just a musing.. Singapore isn’t 44 years old. That is just merely one phase of our existence.
Singapore as a cosmopolitan city, as far as our collective memories (present and our ancestors’ generation) is 191 years old. We were founded merely 43 years after the independence of the United States. Therefore, we expect those who wish to settle here, to adapt to our culture, our way of life.. and whoever argues that oh we’re all immigrants.. well, think about it, if you look at things from that point of view, then you ignore the fact that all our ancestors were willing to come here and forge a better lives for themselves, to dream and to be in a better place to raise a family in a land where they did not have to rely on their previous social identities.
Singaporean culture has come a long way, we are definitely not a 44 year old engineered product. We are the heartfelt product of 191 years of dreams and hardship, forged by many cultures who looked forward to their new home (here) as opposed to looking back to where they came from.
The immigrants we need, are those who are willing to believe in this very same notion of a new space and place for themselves and share with us, not take away from us what they can offer.
do you still remember what singapore was like before the PAP-assisted invasion of foreigners?
see how spacious our living areas are now, when foreign talents return home for cny?
see how uncongested our roads are, how you can get seats on mrt more easily now?
send home 80% of these so-called talents, and our productivity will shoot up, sama sama for standard of living
Love your country, Love Singapore.
(The above statement NOT= ’Love PAP’.)
Love your country, Love Singapore…
(In case you detest PAP, do not detest Singapore)
Love your country, Love Singapore…
(In case you vote for Opposition, you can still love Singapore)
Love your country, Love Singapore…
XiiAoGeNgEnX Feb 11, 2010
yor pitch that we cud have been a fishing village, belongs to the evening talkshows where airheads entertain; why must it be so? Without the likes of the PAP, Taiwan, HK, SKorea, now Vietnam, Cambodia didnt become fishing villages or slumps either, so why jump to the conclusions we could have gone to the dogs when you cant prove your thesis? It is even probable we may have done better without them, without proof we are just speculating like those uncles in the coffee shops about the could have beens.
Ethnocracy… is it a dirty word or just not in the vocabulary in Singapore. Try typing it out in the comment box and see if you need to do a spell check.
from wikipedia – Ethnocracy is a form of government where representatives of a particular ethnic group hold a number of government posts disproportionately large to the percentage of the total population that the particular ethnic group(s) represents and use them to advance the position of their particular ethnic group(s) to the detriment of others.
Since when has Singapore ever been a meritocracy? Every aspect of the racial composition/balance in this country has been micromanaged by the CEO. From the housing estates to the army, it has been carefully planned to the minutest detail. Even the introduction and encouragement of Mandarin has been an exercise in marginalizing and control. NOt only of the other races but of each individual ethnic Chinese community. Eugenics and Social Engineering! Same shit across the border….
p.
There is no such thing as a true meritocracy…not even here in Singapore. I’m not a Malaysian but for those here who can’t resist sniping at our neighbour, please bear that in mind. It just pisses me off whenever i see comments/stories from our MIW regarding the ‘meritocratic’ society that Singapore is thanks to them.
@55 cents
Meritocracy in SIN government, as always sounded by our MIW? Now, finally admitted (aka officially) that our Productivity is low, that it takes 5 FWs to dig a hole (4 watches + 1 digs). Our productivity has been allowed to decrease for the at least PAST 10+ years! Who is the clown(s) in charge of this, allowing it to take root? LSS? GKY? What about our TFR – now at an all-time low of 1.23? Considering many countries reported better TFR in recent years despite everyone facing global competition, increasing cost of living, etc.? Again which Minister is in charge of this? Meritocracy is something to show with, not just talk thru’ the AH.
So forget comparing with Malaysia or other countries. There is just a smokescreen tactic to show “how fortunate we are” mentality. We want accountability, not excuses.
Honestly, what has LHL & his bunch of MIW passionately fight for Singaporeans since 2006 save raising their salaries to world’s highest? In fact, that was the only topic which he was shown constantly on air-time for weeks. Look at Obama — almost everytime, he is fighting for the reform in their healthcare system, or hammering Wallstreet fat cats. What are our MPs doing most recently/visibly? Fighting for foreigners!