9:37:00 PM
English Portfolio - Colour Blindness is Not A Bad Thing
In response to controversial issues in the article Govt confident migrant population growth won't affect social harmony on ChannelNewsAsia.com
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Over the years, Singapore's migrant community has been increasing drastically, and the article highlights this. One word pops out. Racism.
Just think of Singapore as a plate, and the different races as the food from a Eat-All-You-Can Salad Bar at Sizzlers. You can take lots. You can take more. You can take even more. However, tastes of foods can and will clash. Potato salad and Pineapple Tidbits taste terrible. Chicken Soup doesn't go with Romaine Lettuce. Worse still, the food can fall right off your plate and give you one heck of a mess.
Not trying to make a meal of things, I feel that the racism is totally ludicrous. Whatever happened to Racial Harmony? I mean; A Singaporean in a Lexus is a businessman. A "Chinaman" in a Lexus? These innocent jokes done in the name of fun are merely the tip of the iceberg. It’s no different from the Blacks and the Whites in America in the time past. The increase in immigrants is nothing for us to invent jokes about. Who is going to do all the dirty work for us? If we don't get the bunch of Bangladeshi workers into Singapore, our Circle Line would merely be a fantasy. What happened to Singaporeans and our favourite D&T?
Darn I can't. I broke a nail.
Mr Mah was asked how population growth through migration will affect Singapore's ethnic mix. The migrants are here for our good. To preserve racial harmony, everyone just needs to understand that. I don't mean they should think they are lower than us just because they are building the underground MRT Line, or anything. I feel that we need to understand that there is no shame in doing these "lower-down" jobs. I think we should eradicate this mindset that there is a spectrum of job "ratings" with some being marginally lower.
Why is this mindset even there? I find it quite immature, really. There is a Circle Line construction site right next to my house at Marymount Road, and despite rain, cold or even hot sun, the resilient workers there keep doing their thing, not giving in to "a few droplets of rain".
Migrants are not just construction workers. Maids: many of us have them in our homes; their function? A machine which does housework. Based on my calculations,
maids = machines
aeroplanes = machines
So, based on our logic, Maids are as good as Aeroplanes. Let's all get us a A380 for our houses shan't we? It can have a private hangar in the puny space-room/bomb-shelter next to the kitchen!
The ironic thing is, these people whom we look down on do not complain at all. They have resilience, perseverance and courage to leave home and come to an alien country, so they all can become like aeroplanes. Well, go fly kites. The golden rule is so true here. We may shun them now, but wait till we go abroad.
An American at Harvard is smart. A Singaporean at Harvard is?
Suffering.
word count: 500.
Labels: ep
