Why so racist, Singapore?

There's recently been a spate of racism online. While people are busy making police reports and making a big hoo-ha out of this and how we should all shut up and know our limits online, I'm just sitting and wondering.

Is censorship really the way to go?

I think censorship is making things worse, actually. The more people report, the more people would think that the reaction is unnecessary. They will feel that a certain group of people just can't be offended. Why? All the more this group will be scrutinised and be under attack either in private and in public.

Racist posts may reflect a lack of understanding on the ground. We should not just ignore this and let the police handle the individuals. We definitely need to do something to educate. I mean, there are racist jokes all around that just reflects stereotypes.

Do we really want another new stereotype? That a certain racial/religious group is untouchable? Or would you rather see what happens when you bother talking to these people and find out their concerns. Maybe some concerns that they have are genuine, you know. Are we just going to shut them up and leave these concerns unaddressed? It's not up to me, you know. It's up to everyone.

If it were up to me, though, I say the best way to go about this is to just.. be friends with everyone! It's only with being close to friends of a different culture that we truly understand what the culture is about :) Yes, it sounds very childish but think about your own experiences. Doesn't this ring true?

I suggest we stop hunting down every single person who says something offensive. It's a never-ending cycle. I know our country is tolerant of other religions/races/cultures. Let us not stop there. Tolerance will not hold up. The thing about tolerance is that it's a very fragile thing. People can only tolerate things to a certain point before they break. We need racial/religious/cultural understanding amongst us to ensure that we are able to live harmoniously. Understanding, at least, is more lasting.

The writer is a 19 year old Malay/Muslim undergraduate. She believes that Singapore needs to go beyond tolerance and move towards genuine understanding towards others of different races.

Who opened the floodgates?

I'm sure we've all seen this article. It's a pretty good article and I will not substantiate on the facts and whatnot that the article brings across.

What I can say, though, is that I have had the opportunity to talk to ESM about the influx of foreigners. I don't have any mindblowing nuggets from his speech about why exactly the floodgates have been opened. I did not even take down notes. All I could remember was him asking "what ratio would be comfortable, then?" when we brought up that the number of foreigners vs Singaporeans was getting uncomfortable and he asked us all individually how many kids we were planning to have when I highlighted a MAJOR long-term issue we'll be having.

What issue, you ask? I just highlighted the main concern of the growth rate. If we were really getting foreigners in solely because of the declining birthrate, we must be quite daft. You see, from what I know, the birthrate of FTs is not that high. Our overall birth rate is still atrociously low. Getting lower even. You see, with this decline in birth rate, we also have to keep in mind that the FTs that have been 'imported' will grow old too. As the entire population ages, what then? Get more FTs in? Isn't this a vicious cycle? What can we do about it?

After mentioning it and looking on hoping to get an answer from the ESM (I've asked this before to another MP and did not get a proper answer so, really, I was hoping for something) and he looked toward a younger MP beside him and basically told him it was his responsibility now. ESM has stepped down and now the onus is on the new generation to tackle any issues Singapore may face.

Now, my fellow Singaporeans, do not scoff (much, at least). He has a point. What we should be doing now is to figure out ways to address the situations right in front of us instead of pinpointing the blame to a single person. Yes, mistakes have been done so what now? A witch hunt will not make things better. What will make things better is to have people advocating for certain changes to be made. We need strong enough voices that will make change. My dear friends, you decide how we are going to do that. I have tried raising possibilities (I don't know if they have bee heard, though) such as temporary passes (concerning medical workers) until we have had enough time to train more people in a field where professionals are needed rather than just readily giving PR status to foreigners. I urge everyone to try to contribute to change. Do not be afraid to speak out.

*names of MPs omitted as they don not have anything to do with the matter at hand

The writer is a 19 year old social work undergrad who genuinely wants to strive for a better Singapore. She is non-partisan and bears no ill-intention towards members of parliament, including ESM Goh.

Never mess with our food.

Oh McDonald's... you just don't mess with Singaporeans and their food!

we are NOT xenophobic.

Xenophobia- the concern that will be discussed in the maiden post.

I've been thinking a lot about this lately. You see, I've always been involved in politics and I've a special interest in opposition politics and social concerns of Singaporeans. One issue that stands out, to me, is the huge inflow of foreign immigrants to our soil.

I know some people might have labelled us as xenophobic, simply because we had a reaction to the 'sudden' overcrowding of the tiny island. We see our trains and buses getting more crowded, more foreign slangs being spoken, even more foreign-sounding greetings when we shop. I beg of these people to please, please, NOT oversimplify things.

Being a first year student at a university, I do have a number of foreign friends and classmates. I see them getting along very well with our local students. I have great discussions with my friends from other countries too! The exchange of ideas is simply refreshing and I am really thankful that I have such experiences. I have pretty close friends who are not Singaporean too and we get along pretty well. I'm sure this applies to many out there, so, in what way are we xenophobic?

If you think our complaints of jobs being taken away on an unfair basis are illegitimate, I really think you should think again. I feel handicapped not being able to speak in Chinese sometimes. I can't even order a basic order of tauhuey mixed with soymilk without having a puzzled face look back at me wondering what I'm saying. Or even having to gesture when asking for one more plastic knife for my macchiato because the person does not understand it when i say "could i have one more knife?" Of course now i know i could just say "我要多一个可以吗？" with my limited Chinese knowledge but that's beside the point. The point is, I am sure we feel that such jobs could be filled by locals who are able to speak at least basic English to serve us. Why do we have people with such low qualifications there? Service industry jobs are NOT jobs that Singaporeans shun. I am VERY sure of it.

Building up on the examples above, I can understand why there have been slurs lately saying Singapore is becoming "Chinapore". Before taking up Chinese 1 i felt seriously handicapped to the max. I think the whole issue is not so much of shunning the Chinese nationality, it's about the non-integration of immigrants. Basic English is very important here. We are a multi-racial society and English is our lingua franca. It just cannot be compromised. Remember the whole curry incident? Before anyone labels it as xenophobic, they should understand why we reacted. How can anyone just DEMAND that something that is so culturally embedded be stopped just for them? If you choose to stay in Singapore, you better integrate into society. We will welcome you. The hostility towards curry sparked off a movement, which, btw, made me VERY proud to be Singaporean, and there have been criticism that it was a xenophobic move.

It could just be me, but, I feel that sometimes, it is difficult to express dissatisfaction because our woes are just being oversimplified. My plea is that we should identify exactly what we are unhappy with. The more we direct our anger towards foreigners in general, the more our concerns will be dismissed. Voice out how we feel foreign in our own land. How they should be integrating with us, not the other way around. How quality control has to be tightened up when it comes to issuing work permits or even PR status or citizenship. We are NOT daft, xenophobic, Singaporeans. We have genuine concerns and we should NOT be dismissed so easily.

The writer is a 19 year old Singaporean undergrad who genuinely wants the best for her country. She is pursuing a degree in social work and hopes to help as many as she can in the community.