~ By: Ng Yi Shu ~
We see it all around us. On the Internet, where nationalistic netizens insult invading immigrants to go back to where they came from; more subtly in real life where petitions are signed by residents protesting foreign worker dormitories near their homes. These xenophobic sentiments have heated up lately, with an apparent insult made by a PRC scholar, Sun Xu.
Many will be familiar with this image, the story and its’ reactions, namely by Baey Yam Keng, Tay Ping Hui and others.
Sun Xu wrote (direct translation): “The most irritating thing in Singapore is the gangster Singapore uncles who stare at you when you bump into them. There are more dogs than humans here in Singapore.”
Reactions varied, from PAP MP Baey Yam Keng’s apparent standing up for Sun Xu:
"I think first of all, these are behaviours that this gentleman has picked up (seen). We need to reflect upon ourselves, are we the way they (the PRCs) described? We should take this opportunity to reflect upon ourselves, but we should (also) be confident of ourselves. Even though some of us are like that, majority of Singaporeans are gracious, there are good people in Singapore."
to Tay Ping Hui’s ‘impertinent ingrate’ remark.
And there is also this:
A local version of the recent HK anti-PRC locust advertisement, it says:
“Do you want Singapore to spend $36,000,000 yearly to sponsor at least two thousand foreign scholars?
Singaporeans have also had enough!
The locust plague has spread from Hong Kong to Singapore.
We strongly request the PAP government to tighten the overly lax immigration policy!
Stop immigrants from ‘invading’ Singapore unrestricted!
Protect the rights of Singaporeans and defend local culture.
We strongly request NUS disciplinary committee to mete out the most severe punishment to ingrate MOE scholar Sun Xu!”
All of us hold certain beliefs – prejudices – about our environment – people, places, things, events. These eventually manifest into our attitudes towards them and how we interact with people, places and events. We hold certain beliefs of foreigners and foreign workers in general – and these beliefs have been amplified by the recent influx of foreigners into our land.
(data from: http://www.singstat.gov.sg/stats/themes/people/hist/popn.html. Note: population numbers in thousands.)
Our reactions speak volumes about what we believe. How differently we could have reacted to a hot-headed young foreigner hurling insults at us Singaporeans though reflects on our sensibility.
Mr Baey’s remark (his entire quote) called on us to reflect on whether our behaviours were like the one Sun Xu described – and he defended Singaporeans by saying that “majority of Singaporeans are gracious, there are good people in Singapore”.
The advertisement branded PRC citizens as locusts and called for the rights and culture of Singapore to be defended.
The difference in reaction is stark – one chose to see the insult as hot-headed feedback while another chose to see this as an opportunity to amplify agitated xenophobic Singaporeans’ anger. Both are equally justified: Mr Baey may have saw Sun Xu as a hot-headed young foreigner whose insult was deserving of both reflection (“are we the way they (the PRCs) described?”) and rebuttal (“majority of Singaporeans are gracious, there are good people in Singapore”) while the people who made the advertisement may have seen Sun Xu as a manifestation of their fears – that these foreigners will destroy our carefully built heritage and suck our taxpayer coffers dry in their quest to use us as a springboard to other nations.
Prejudice is not wrong – neither is our choice to discriminate. However, we have to be aware; aware of the choices we have when we have prejudices; aware of the prices the foreigners pay as a result of our discrimination and aware of the differences we can make towards these foreigners who, like our forefathers, left their country in search of a dream.
Yes, we may be getting increasingly crowded. Yes, our culture and heritage may be at risk. But is it fair to generalise every single foreigner just because a young, hot-tempered person made a single comment branding all of us as dogs? Is it fair to be xenophobic just because of our prejudices against foreigners, which may have been (or may not have been) created by them?
Is it fair?
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