Singapore Expats

Singaporeans and Caucasians

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Guest

Post by Guest » Wed, 31 Dec 2003 5:30 pm

Sorry I forgot about the second point: Laughing and giggling reflects this gloating and sometimes 'cowardly way' of treating each other here in Singapore. People do not seem to confront each other in a straight manner with an open mind.

mimi

Post by mimi » Wed, 31 Dec 2003 8:03 pm

Verbal mobbying and back-stabbing to deal with problems and air frustration are more common here than in Europe.....If you dont have the guts to confront a person or an issue than this cowardly approach is an easy way out. At times I feel this phenomenon of insincerity. People talk nicely to you and smile and then you hear from someone else that it was all fake.

X

Post by X » Thu, 01 Jan 2004 8:42 pm

I am a Portuguese expat from the south west of Europe and fluent in mandarin.
First of all you wouldn’t believe how many Chinese gossip in Mandarin when a caucasians around. But I dont blame them as they don’t expect me to know their language. Fortunately most of westeners cant speak mandarin hehe.its better this way.

Interestingly I noticed that in rare cases they enrich their mandarin chat with english words: E.g. they talk mandarin, look at you and then soon after you might hear words like funny or something irritating.Childish isn’t?

The laughter,whispering or giggling which you come across in the developing world at times (China, Thailand, India) reflects sympathy, curiosity and goodwill. Here in Singapore it often appears rather malicous.
In fact its childish and useless to discuss this issue. most important thing is that Portugal :P will gain the european championship crown in 2004.

NBB

Post by NBB » Thu, 01 Jan 2004 9:12 pm

I beg to differ. European Champions this year? Without a doubt the Orange Lions, i.e. Holland! Total-football will reign supreme once again, just like in 1988.

Oh well, never mind X; we thank you for the use of your stadiums, though ;-)

Back on-topic. I realized find myself jabbering away in Dutch sometimes about locals abroad - anywhere. It's just something you do, I guess, with all the new visual impulses around you. And, yes, we sometimes share an in-joke about an individual, just like some locals do about us. The fact that you don't need to whisper makes it that more fun. (Perhaps the off-chance that the subject may understand you (after all, you never know), makes it that little bit more exciting.)

Childish? Sure! Cheap trick? Of course! But who says we have to behave like a boring old sage 24/7. It's nothing malicious, like you said. We're certainly not actively trying to provoke an angry reaction. No harm done, I reckon. Free country right?

NBB

X

Post by X » Fri, 02 Jan 2004 12:32 am

Hi NBB,
You have got a point,I agree as I am guilty of it as well.

However you need to distinguish between sneering laughter against expats in Singapore and sympathetic laughter reflecting curiosity and goodwill which you find in other Asian countries. Anyway In fact I wanted to advise the Dutch team:

Please remember spitting is prohibited by law in Portugal, I guess the french remember Frank Rykard all too well hehe...lets look forward for a rematch between Holland and France. The winner can take on Portugal in the Finals.
See you there.

Guest

Post by Guest » Fri, 02 Jan 2004 2:40 am

Haha, poor Rijkaard, they still call him "The Lama". He sure could play football, though.

Yeah, you're making sense there; I feel the same way. It's just that all in all I spent about 6 years in Singapore, but never even once felt like the butt of a local's sniggering or joke or what-have-you. I guess I'm still getting used to the idea that there is any animosity going on at all in the country where I spent my (fantastic) teens.

I'm coming over in February, I wonder what it'll be like.

BTW, how come you speak Mandarin? I sure would love to see their faces after firing back a retort in their own language. Wow, the looks on their faces must be worth a million bucks, hahaa!! All in good-natured fun, though. I get on well with Singaporeans, learned to speak Malay from hanging out with kampong-kids in our neighborhood. Mostly I don't get along with snooty tourists and expats that assume that every country is backwards just because it's in the tropics.

Incidentally, I actually will be in Portugal during the finals, in Faro to be exact. Looking forward to some pokey matches, eh?

Good luck!

NBB

surprised

singaporeans giggling :-)

Post by surprised » Mon, 19 Jan 2004 8:59 am

hi,
where in the world does that r^&*()^ not exist ..moreso in caucasian countries, look at the rules of employment for foreigners in europe and singapore and see which one is more liberal..
someone pointed out about western investment ..btw a lot of that investment does not come out of your own goldmines but the plunder of the colonies and the destruction of indigenous industry ..
take the case of oil for example ... of course it is western wealth building it all but if that is the case saudi arabia should not be 800 billion dollars in debt ... a litre of petrol that can take a heavy machine for 8 km sells cheaper then water .. now tell me about supllies blah blah..fact is rape, plunder and pillage of resources has been a western prerogative ... and still remains ... i never heard of any asian country going out to loot and plunder the west except may be mongoloids but from dutch to french to spaniards to englishmen the history is pretty chequered ...
as for civility the chopping of over 10000 hands of nigerians as a gift to leopold of belgium id not speaking very highly of the "great" cultural precinct yu claim to have ....
stop this bullshit..if culture ever lay deep it was in the east .. and that is what keeps them from retaliating against caucasians... yu know what is happening in middle east very well.. just that science and maths even when well developed in india , china was never used to put to use for destruction , people stood for and died by their words ..unlike your honourable culture afficianados..
this is a pestering stupid argument i see sometimes ..
go educate yourself ..times are not evry far when all of you shall have to reconcile that your villacious plunder will not hold anymore
cheers
surprised

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jpatokal
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Post by jpatokal » Mon, 19 Jan 2004 2:48 pm

At the risk of feeding the troll, but as (presumably) a Chinese guy,
i never heard of any asian country going out to loot and plunder the west except may be mongoloids but from dutch to french to spaniards to englishmen the history is pretty chequered ...
so what was the Japanese Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere during WW2 then? Maybe you should sit down to reunion dinner this CNY and ask your grandparents how they felt about this flavor of enlightened Asian culture.

Also, re: rules of employment, I agree with you fully about the difficulty of moving into the EU or US from outside... but migrating within EU countries is a hell of a lot easier than migrating within ASEAN countries.
[/quote]

Guest

Post by Guest » Mon, 19 Jan 2004 4:16 pm

Hear-hear Jpatokal. That post by Surprised is a shoe-in for the Biggest-hole-in-argument-award.

But, was it indeed a mere convenient oversight, I wonder. Perhaps, as in the great tradition of the Japanese educationial book press industry, Surprised has managed to erase all Japanese WWII atrocities from his squeeky clean mind?

NBB

rainbow zebra

evil looks and gossip on the mrt

Post by rainbow zebra » Sat, 14 Feb 2004 12:31 pm

Hi all, im wondering if its just me or if any other caucasian girls experience the same problem. It seems that whenever I go to work on the MRT I am the victim of REALLY nasty looks and snide comments from some Asian ladies. I have lived in Singapore for 7 months now and the situation only seems to get worse. I would have thought that it would have been men that would have given me this kind of unwanted attention, but it almost always comes from females. I have many s'porean friends and they didnt believe me until they saw it for themselves. It made me want to cry. Can anyone enlighten me why this happens and what I should do to stop it. I always dress conservatively, so I just dont understand why I keep getting such cold hateful stares. Help...its putting me off your beautiful country!! :cry:

Guest

Post by Guest » Thu, 19 Feb 2004 2:41 pm

Hi rainbow zebra.

I am a singaporean and I get the same treatment from local skanks.They'd give me the head to shoe perusal and whisper whisper whisper among themselves.It's iritating but I'd learned to ignore those dumb chits.This kind of attitude does not only happen to caucasian. :wink:

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PhantomX
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Both Sides

Post by PhantomX » Sat, 21 Feb 2004 12:20 am

There are always rabble rousing elements on both sides of the divide. We are just sorry that this has happened to you in our 'beautiful country' Sometimes it does appear that we have more than our fair share of juvenile elements in one place. Please forgve
:oops:

NBB

Post by NBB » Sat, 21 Feb 2004 10:30 am

I arrived just over a week ago, was a little apprehensive about this anti-Angmoh movement. But, I've yet to be on the receiving end of the whispering, sniggering and other infantile stuff. Even on the MRT, traditionally a great place to do a number on an unsuspecting tourist, I've been left at peace. Maybe I'm too freaking boring ;-)

I did get a "Phoqueue", enveloped within some Hokien, hurled my way by a Sim Lim Towers shop owner, presumably for not buying that camera he showed me (trying to rip me big-time). I guess this doesn't really count, as these guys are notoriously bad-tempered.

I have 3 more weeks left. We'll see...

NBB

chomp2 ang moh

huh??

Post by chomp2 ang moh » Sun, 25 Apr 2004 9:58 pm

I've lived in Singapore ten years and have worn everything from yellow rubber boots and coveralls to black ties, worked and hung out in just about every neighbourhood, dated locals as well as foreigners, used all forms of transport, gone to churches, come home drunk, not shaved for 10 days or gone out looking all geeky. But never, in these various guises of "me", have I experienced the unpleasant things people have been talking about here!

Though, after reading this thread, if I had have known of the ridiculous notions of cultural superiority going through some foreigners' minds earlier, I might just make a sport of it to go up to the next group of local lads and suggest they have a good laugh at a few snooty caucasians!

singa's_asskicker

Post by singa's_asskicker » Tue, 27 Apr 2004 10:37 pm

What the xxxx Singapore's law doesn't prohibit you asking your mom to give xxxxxxxxxx? Why don't you be the xxxxxxxx for this deal? How much for the xxxxxxxxx? You should go and ask your xxxxxxxxxx


singa wrote:Singapore Law does not prohibit to laugh about caucasians, so whats this fuss all about. Again the former colonial powers try to dictate us what to do and how to behave. It does not work this way these days.

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