Singapore Expats

earthfriendly wrote:

JR8 wrote:If this is such a successful country.... then why is everyone so apparently bloody angry about everything?

https://www.facebook.com/smrtsg/posts/926964310661115

"Our gahmen see this island as a corporation, not country. They only care about business & $$$. They don't care if we extinct coz they can always replace us with foreigners. Which they are already doing now. To them, we are not citizens, just employees of the nation." ~Jae Rossi Sadalli

Many Singaporeans share this sentiments. Justifiable or not, you be the judge.

Singaporean are just as guilty as any other country's citizens in that they only want to see what they want to see and damn the rest. The flip side is Singaporeans don't care if the extinct themselves either. If they did, they would produce babies instead of buying yorkies and other toy dogs that they can abandon at will. If they won't produce then the government had to somehow produce the manpower that the population is unwilling to produce. They want the mobile phones, colour TV and Fridges but they don't want to contribute. They are the ultimate guilty ones, as had they continued to replace themselves the foreigners wouldn't be needed in such large quantities. Hoist by their own petards?

sundaymorningstaple wrote: They want the mobile phones, colour TV and Fridges but they don't want to contribute. ................... Hoist by their own petards?

I don't know...... I want my MTV

At least, for an American, I'm pleased you can spell "colour" correctly

earthfriendly wrote:

JR8 wrote:If this is such a successful country.... then why is everyone so apparently bloody angry about everything?

https://www.facebook.com/smrtsg/posts/926964310661115

"Our gahmen see this island as a corporation, not country. They only care about business & $$$. They don't care if we extinct coz they can always replace us with foreigners. Which they are already doing now. To them, we are not citizens, just employees of the nation." ~Jae Rossi Sadalli

Many Singaporeans share this sentiments. Justifiable or not, you be the judge.

I happen to think a lot of the anger is justified, but this type of comment from the above link always puzzles me:

True blue sg here. Living with FTs is ok if they blend into our society and adapting our lifestyle. NOT us blending into theirs and definitely NOT us adapting their imported lifestyle!

I just don't see Singaporeans being expected to bend to "imported lifestyle", but yet this claim gets thrown around a lot in these discussions. What are they going on about?

triste wrote:
I just don't see Singaporeans being expected to bend to "imported lifestyle", but yet this claim gets thrown around a lot in these discussions. What are they going on about?

A good question , what lifestyles have been imported that have been forced upon the population?

Singapore is a typical city with a mix of cultures that have all had some influence on the "culture" of the place.

A place's "culture" is always in a state of flux, be it slow or fast.

Barnsley wrote:A good question , what lifestyles have been imported that have been forced upon the population?

Being courteous via the graciousness campaigns. Can't say it's been forced enough, though.

nakatago wrote:

Barnsley wrote:A good question , what lifestyles have been imported that have been forced upon the population?

Being courteous via the graciousness campaigns. Can't say it's been forced enough, though.

Cheeky!!

'SG as a corporation', that does strike a chord, particularly re: the banking industry. Making you work 80hrs a week then there being an annual campaign requiring you to also attend an after-hours seminar about getting a better 'Work/Life balance'; achievement of those goals, as contradictory as they are, being tied into your remuneration The micro-management even of the most superficial expenses was colossal, but all it took was one random black-swan type bad day on the markets and that alone might trigger 20% global company-wide lay-offs. A curious dichotomy, the eye on the wrong ball?

I think SG has a pretty clear issue with demographics. But lets not forget it was only a generation ago that they were paying people (often '''the wrong kind of people''') not to have children, or to at least severely limit their cultural expectations/norms as to family size. It went further, there were even (IIRC) sterilisation programmes. 'Relinquished ovaries bonus' > Baby Bonus? But an issue now is requiring the people who made modern SG what it is, who are enjoying the generous fruits of their labours, to take it down a couple of gears and be content with less. Who is going to blink first and head for the exit door at 5pm sharp, when the colleague over the desk has just bought the latest/better model of your Porsche?

On the one hand there'll be a minister who's remuneration is directly pegged to a rising national childbirth rate, and a million other people working all hours dreaming of the promised day when they might earn 10% of what he does. ...

Arrests made at Thaipusam ....

"Smelt strongly of Alcohol"

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/sin ... 36742.html

Barnsley wrote:Arrests made at Thaipusam ....

"Smelt strongly of Alcohol"

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/sin ... 36742.html

Middle of a week day. At least their drinking was legal.

From what I've read/watched it seems a lot of the grief was due to the fact they couldn't play their drums due to them causing a public disturbance , yet for other religious festivals/public holidays celebrated in SG musical instruments, fireworks etc are welcome. Is this a sign of religious intolerance in a multi-cultural society?

JR8 wrote:I will note that there are people I know (adults, locals) who seem to have a highly glamorised/romantisised view on smoking weed. They might have never tried it, but they seem to believe that they'd like to. That is curious as in the 'depraved west' anyone who dabbles in that also often closes the chapter on it when still a teenager. It isn't a thing some random adult is going to start doing past university/college

You're way behind the times on that one, among the upper income professionals I know in the States I would say a slight majority smoke weed although with varying degrees of frequency.

Well I never, I find that surprising. Perhaps they counter-balance it by avoiding the 'evils' of sugar and alcohol?

It is contrary to my own experiences there. I found society to have an element of a puritanical streak (versus Europe). Isn't a parallel seen in something like the Emeril Lagasse cooking show? Each time he adds wine or butter or cream to a dish, the audience erupt in a round of 'hollarin 'n a whoopin', such taboo breaking it is?

Compare that to Nigella who is expected to pack her food with that stuff, to the extent it's almost her motif. And the 'Two fat ladies' and Keith Floyd who were so permanently drinking (on screen) and drunk you wondered at times how they could stand up, never mind put a decent meal together. [One of the former, and the latter died largely at the hands of alcohol].

May be it's geography. Much of what is available in the UK is genetically modified ('Skunk' etc). You can't consume stuff like that and then expect to do anything else, esp since you're going to be tripping heavily. Back in the old days there was 'homegrown', and people could smoke that til the cows came home and function almost as normal, just feel pretty chilled out. Maybe the latter kind of stuff is what 'adults' in the US are getting... ?

'Homegrown' in USA now available in vending machines in legalised States!

CaptainBullus wrote:From what I've read/watched it seems a lot of the grief was due to the fact they couldn't play their drums due to them causing a public disturbance , yet for other religious festivals/public holidays celebrated in SG musical instruments, fireworks etc are welcome. Is this a sign of religious intolerance in a multi-cultural society?

This incident probably put the final nail in the coffin for Thaipusam to become a public holiday

3 folks arrested at an event such as this , shouldnt have even made the newspapers.

I dunno, the fact that folk can upload anything to Internet now , means every little incident appears to get blown up completely out of proportion.

CaptainBullus wrote:From what I've read/watched it seems a lot of the grief was due to the fact they couldn't play their drums due to them causing a public disturbance , yet for other religious festivals/public holidays celebrated in SG musical instruments, fireworks etc are welcome. Is this a sign of religious intolerance in a multi-cultural society?

The Chinese hit the drums for weeks around Chinese New Year, yet nobody complains. Although it can sometimes be very annoying. So I find that a bit disturbing that they make such a fuss about this.