Sunday, August 31, 2008

The article to be reviewed is from The Straits Times.
It can be found here:
http://www.straitstimes.com/Singapore/Story/STIStory_274600.html

The article is about the residents of Serangoon Gardens signed a petition against the converting of an old school building into living quarters for foreign workers. Quite a few issues about how Singaporeans see foreign workers were raised here in this article.

"The one-page petition said the move would 'create security and social problems and spoil the ambience of the estate'." The main problem that the residents brought up was that of the security of the area. The residents had concerns about how the foreign workers may affect the social security of the area. The usual stereotypes of foreign workers were brought out in the residents' arguments against the conversion of the school. Foreign workers are typically seen by Singaporeans as uneducated and low paid workers that are highly likely to commit crimes such as theft and robbery. The residents were worried that the workers may end up causing more troubles and crimes in the area if they moved in. Also, another worry is about relationships between maids and the workers. Many people worry that the maids may let these strangers into their homes while they are not around and have relationships or conspire with the workers. Homes may be robbed or maids may end up getting pregnant.

Looking at the bigger picture, Singaporeans in general have similar feelings to the residents in Serangoon Gardens. This would seem that Singaporeans are either ungrateful or selfish. Foreign workers provide a large percentage of Singapore's workforce in construction and other jobs that do not require a high education but mainly manpower. Singaporeans do not see themselves fit to do these kind of menial work, and thus foreign workers are needed. However, while we are reaping the rewards of their work, we still keep these negative stereotypes of them and do not even want to live near them, as can be seen by the above mentioned article. Even though it is true that some foreign workers have been in the spotlight for committing crimes, that is only a small minority of the vast number of foreign workers we have in Singapore. Many of these workers have worked hard and paid a lot to come to Singapore to work so that their families back in their homelands can have money to live a better life, and they would not want to damage this chance by committing crimes and ending up in jail. Singaporeans should at least accord them the respect they deserve and get rid of these stereotypes. We should not only say we are grateful but also show it in our actions. Rather than benefiting from their hard work and then not wanting to provide to their needs. That would be like buying a hamster to play with and then not feeding it.

Singapore is a rapidly developing nation and it needs these workers to develop even further. Singaporeans should then be grateful and at least provide them with basic needs in return for their contributions to our society and economy.
francys at 8:56 PM