Saturday, July 28, 2007

Term 3 Week 5 Task 4

Embracing Otherhood - [ST 17122005]- What do you think are some of the challenges facing Singapore as the country plays host to more people from different backgrounds and cultures?

Being in a state of high living standard and social stability, Singapore has attracted many visitors who are speaking different tongues and have different beliefs here in the past few decades. This flock of people from all around the world coming to Singapore is on the increase. Some of us welcome them with warmth opening arms; others are mean-spirited towards their presence in our country. However, what exactly are the challenges faced by Singapore as we host to more people from different backgrounds and cultures?

First and the foremost, the local may be unwilling to accept our guests wholeheartedly. Many locals are grumbling for being substituted by foreigners who show greater ability in their work force. Some of them are reported as being hostile towards the foreign maids and construction workers here. For instance, as raised in the article, the death of the illegal Myanmar worker, Maung Soe Thein. Mr Chua, the local employer of Maung not only did not save him but also, rejected to provide him a proper burial. As mentioned in the article, this tragedy did not cause an outrage ripple from the public, it shows clearly that, Singaporeans at this stage are not giving our fellow foreign friends (or to be precise, guests) enough care and attention. In the past, continual cases of maids being tortured by their employers were surfaced. The number of maids being bullied and ill-treated is still a social problem in our society today. The question is: exactly how many of us did show our compassionate towards these lowbrow cases?

As the growth of our birth rate here is not promising, we need the talents to help boost our economic growth. As a result, we must learn to accept them and not think that they are here to compete with us with our resources and job opportunities.

In recruiting foreigners, including professionals and people who take the blue-collar jobs, many problems flow in. The most common example would be the stereotypical view about the Chinese "Study Mama" here. They are being labelled as “prostitutes” who aim to rupture couple’s relationship and prey on the men for their money. However, this is a sweeping statement as not all China women here are behaving in the same way as the black sheep of China are doing. We must be grateful for those who are contributing to our country’s development especially in the case of low paying blue-collar jobs. They are the ones building nice and cozy flats where we are sheltered from rain and shine. If we do not welcome their arrival, who will be there to build our homes, to take care of our household chores and to bring Singapore’s economic growth to a greater height?

To conclude, we must learn to be compassionate and less prejudiced; not judge these foreigners by their skin colours, their different language and their cultural practices. Only if both parties tolerant and do their part to understand and appreciate each other will we have a peaceful and harmonic society to reside in. Let’s start to help ourselves by accepting the immigrants to join our big family.

No comments: