It is interesting to note that the writer of the article acknowledged the fact that in multicultural Singapore, the Malays have become a minority in their own motherland and the government of the day distrust them.
Doesn't this smell of 'apartheid' when the native of the land becomes a minority and the non-native becomes the majority who forms a government that practices policies which discriminate against the minority?
In 1987, the Second Minister for Defense explained the absence of Malays in the higher echelons and combat unit of Singapore armed forces:-
"If there is a conflict, if the SAF is called to defend the homeland, we do not want to put any of our soldiers in a difficult position where his emotions for the nation may be in conflict with his religion".
In 1999, in referring to the Malays in Singapore Armed Forces, former MM LKY said:-
"If, for instance, you put in a Malay officer who's very religious and who has family ties in Malaysia in charge of a machine gun unit, that's a very tricky business. We've got to know his background ... I and my family could have a tragedy."
In January this year, in his book "Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going", LKY caused an uproar when he said,
"I would say today, we could integrate all religions and races except Islam."
He added, "we were progressing nicely until the surge of Islam came" and he called on the community to "be less strict on Islam observances".
With such public statements by their senior leader is it really of any surprise then, to have among the majority race a mindset that is so full of suspicion towards the minority race?
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| pic from here |
This photo put up on one young PAP member's fb wall caused an uproar that the Singaporean was reported to have quit the party [read here]
Someone wrote on Yahoo News [here] wondering just how multicultural Singaporeans really are.
He argued that Singaporeans need to move beyond tolerance, the first attribute which their former MM LKY said is a must have for them to be a SUCCESSFUL multicultural cosmopolitan society.
A National University of Singapore professor Syed Farid Alatas opined that beneath the word tolerance is "irritation, lack of interest, certainly not admiration".
There are fears of the increasing xenophobic and racist stuffs heard about mainland Chinese or Indian who were recruited as foreign talents and given citizenship or PR status in Singapore.
Consequently, there seems to be a great need to take a bold step of facing up to the differences and not be apprehensive to debate about it. After all, that's what being a modern, intellectual state is all about, said the writer
Hmm ... the phrase sounds familiar over this side of the tambak ... circa Pak Lah and the 4th floor boys' era. You know them young Oxford educated guns!
Read the comments to the article copied here.
One issue I noticed that's eating up the Singaporeans is their foreign talents who are mainly from mainland China and India having different values and attitudes and not having a care about the country.
When WE feel the same ... Malaysian Indian and Malaysian Chinese screamed racist at us.
When we want to foster integration through ONE school, they screamed racist at us and yet they keep their vernacular schools.
HINDRAF even went as far as accusing the government of genocide.
They dangle their votes, blackmailing the lutut hogeh telur kecut hantu loncat hancing to give in to their every demands.
Multiculturalism is DEAD in German [read here].
Multiculturalism is dying in Malaysia. Instead we have 1Malaysia.
Will multiculturalism live a healthy life in Singapore?
Will multiculturalism live a healthy life in Singapore?
Alex
I do not think Singaporeans are racist. I actually always felt people are Singaporean 1st irrespective of whether they are Chinese, Malays or Indians. They all think like Singaporeans, they all have the same accents and the same values.6 Replies
On the other hand when you see a wave of "Not-so-FTs" come in because the hiring manager is their same nationality... and these people honestly do not give a crap about Singapore, they are just here to take and act like in their own countries.... how do you expect local Singaporeans to show interest/sympathy in them.
These people are simply breaking the rules and the local values.
As a FT I can tell you Singapore is a much better place than what everyone thinks....
Nimal
Sadly no Alex.... I'm singaporean... travelled much.... Singapore is Racist.... most chinese people obviously don't realize it.... but if you're not chinese you will see it blatantly in your face. Its harder to secure jobs if you're not fair skined or chinese here... Thats one very blatant sign of racism.
I've even heard of it practiced in saf when mindef in gombak needed clerks, they actually told the admin in my unit "I don't want indian black black". I'm sure there are chinese people now itself that might find this funny.... and that is why we are racist.- Zorro007
If it's in the army, navy or air force the reason is simple, internal security. We have to accept this.
- Holy Roller
"when you see a wave of "Not-so-FTs" come in because the hiring manager is their same nationality...." from where these Fake Talents come from, they're a dime-a-dozen and mediocre in their own country of origin.
- VantagePoint
So even when they are so mediocre and so blatantly in-capable,, why do they still get the likes? You have to agree that SGporeans lack unity...this is sth we as nation needs to work on...local managers should try to hire locals as much as possible...it has to start from there.. even for MNC where the big bosses are Foreigners .. they need the support of local managers and staff .. make them understand that.
2 comments:
Multiculturalism is dying in Malaysia. Instead we have 1Malaysia.
Yeah rite.. 1Malaysia yang pelbagai... pelbagai bahasa, pelbagai sekolah, tetapi satu.. satu hanya di mulut... dan satu apekebenda pun tak tahulah..
1Malaysia tu contohnya seperti yang berlaku di P Pinang lah kot... kerajaan negeri ambik seme tanah orang kampung lepas tu bina rumah cantik cantik pastu jual lah. sapa ada duit belilah. tak de lah sibuk sibuk nak kena buat rumah kos rendah atau kena bagi special diskaun untuk bumiputera.
1Malaysia tu maknanya duit pembayar cukai tak leh le guna untuk bina masjid jer. kena lah beri peruntukan yang sama untuk bina gereja, kuil, tokong dan lain lain.
Kemudian kenalah pastikan kalu ada 60% Bumiputera kat Malaysia ni, kenalah juga ada 60% Cina dan 60% India.
Tak ada kuota tak de sebarang 'affirmative action'. 1Malaysia untuk semua. Pat pat siku lipat, sapa kuat dan cepat dia dapat.
tak gitu?
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