In My Life

Hmm, why do I keep talking about social issues these few days? Must be on some kind of “social issues” streak.

Anyway, today’s headline on CNA that read “MND announces another 10 temporary dorm sites for foreign workers” reminded me about the big hoohah surrounding the proposed building of a large foreign workers’ dorm at Serangoon Gardens a few months ago (see here).

I think the basic Singaporean mentality can be summed up as such: “I have absolutely nothing against foreign workers…just as long as I don’t come into contact with any of them. And I’m totally fine with foreign worker dorms being built in Singapore…just as long as they are not built near to where I live.”

Y’know, it’s easy to just dismiss this Serangoon Gardens issue and say “Aiyah…why the fuss? It’s just a dorm only mah! What’s the big deal?”

But my question to you would then be: So what happens if they build one next to YOUR house?

I would call this a very tricky issue, because if you were to ask me whether I am totally OK with having a large foreign worker dorm being built next to my house, I would hesitate to give you a straight “yes”.

Now I’ve had small foreign worker quarters being built literally next to my house before, and for a number of years in fact…due to an ongoing project just next to my house a few years back. And I can say for sure that there were more cons than pros pertaining to the fact that these little quarters were next to where I lived.

Just to name a few things: Rampant littering, noise pollution, and the occassional fist-fight (internally). I’ve seen and heard them all.

Yes, I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t irritated by all these actions. But I felt that it was by no means a justification for me to harbour any discriminatory attitudes towards them because of their race or nationality.

I wouldn’t be so quick to label all the angry Serangoon Gardens residents as “racists”. Some of them certainly have valid concerns, e.g. security, social problems, overcrowding.

But on the other hand, I would say that one should not view foreign workers in a negative or discriminatory manner. They are still human beings - fellow members of the human race, and they are here in Singapore to work for their livelihood…and we should ultimately treat all people with respect regardless of race or religion.

From the tone and questions of the residents, I believe you can tell if the resident was being genuinely concerned or plain discriminatory.

Trust me, this won’t be an easy issue.

If one day a new foreign worker dorm would be built next to your house, let’s see how you would react!

Y’know, I usually lunch at what people might consider “lower-end” hawker centres and coffee shops nowadays because of my new job and where I work.

And sometimes when I’m lunching, a frail old lady might come up to me and sit next to me at my table and shove some tissue packets in my face and proceed to tell me a one-minute-long story about her unfortunate situation.

Part of my always pities whoever is trying to sell tissue packets to me, cos I’m not a heartless being…and I realise how cruel life can be at times.

So I’m always faced with this struggle: Am I morally obliged to buy the tissue packets from an old lady everytime I encounter one? Am I deemed as a heartless creature if I were to wave her off, or pretend to ignore her minute-long sad story?

What’s the stand on this?

I’ve always wanted to weigh in on this issue of Singaporeans using tissue packets to “chope” seats at foodcourts but never really got down to doing it.

But since there has been considerable coverage of this in the Sunday Times recently (here), I think I’ll just say my piece.

To me, the most appalling thing about our “tissue culture” is not that people are doing it…but rather that other people are actually honouring the system. That, to me, is the most appalling part.

I think that using tissue packets to chope seats at a foodcourt or hawker centre is downright embarrassing and disgraceful. It’s basically a way of saying “I’m not going to be physically here to chope this seat for my colleagues and myself, but I’ll use the cheapest (and most disposable) thing I have on me to signify my intention to chope this seat so that no one else can use it even if they happen to be here before I get my food…and besides, it (i.e. the tissue packet) is the cheapest thing I have on me at the moment, so even if I lose it it’s not such a big deal.”

I think it’s disgraceful. Others might disagree, but this is just my opinion.

Personally, I’ve never done the “tissue reservation” thing because I could never bring myself to do such a thing. I think if you’re in a group, then you should at least leave one or two people at the table to reserve. I think that’s fine. But leaving a tissue packet there is just ludicrous.

What happens if someone leaves a tissue packet on the table, then decides to leave the foodcourt to go somewhere else, and somehow forgets to retrieve the tissue packet? Does it mean the table becomes unwittingly “reserved” for nobody for the entire lunch hour?

I think that practices like these are evidence of our lack of social graces in Singapore. For all our advancements in trade, education, finance, transport and infrastructure…we are surprisingly backward in terms of humanity and basic social graces.

A few weeks back I was at the Esplanade to catch a musical.

On my way out of the theatre, as I walked through the Esplanade’s underground carpark to get to my car, I noticed two building security personnel in earnest discussion with a well-dressed and evidently well-heeled couple.

The four of them were huddled round the couple’s gleaming, high-powered coupe, constantly gesticulating to it…and there seemed to be an issue going on.

From the look of things, I kinda guessed what it was. Their highly-expensive sports car, which was parked across two parking lots as such (below), was probably wheel-clamped or something:  

(This graphic is not an exaggeration.)

Which made me really wonder: How can it be that a couple that drives such an expensive car not know how to park in a proper parking lot? Were they really in such a hurry to catch the musical that they didn’t have time to align their car properly?

How can anyone in the right mind have the conscience to leave their car in such a ridiculous position? Does it mean that just because it is a close-to-half-a-million-dollar coupe, it is entitled to take up two parking lots? 

I dunno, sometimes such things really baffle the mind.

Now, I’ve seen my fair share of cars which, for some reason or other, park into the adjacent parking lot. But most of these cars were at least still parallel to the general direction of parking…just that they kinda ate into one or two feet of the adjacent parking lot for whatever reasons unbeknownst to me.

But this one at Esplanade (as shown above) was by far the most extreme case I’ve seen yet. 

I guess it just goes to show that money doesn’t buy you class.