QRM wrote:
How do you define native country? place of birth? passport? family line? Citizenship?
There is the biggest conundrum. I would surely like to hear the answer to that one. Have you ever listened to the majority here who claim "good" English and so forth. If, as a foreigner, ask the majority "what are you?" as in "I'm an American, what are you?" A surprising large number will normally answer you "I'm a singaporean Chinese. Or, "I'm and singaporean Indian." ect.
Rarely, in this country, will you get the answer "chinese Singaporean" or "malay Singaporean" with the emphasis on their country and not their race. This is the worry that the Government has always had to deal with and it's also one of the reasons that there are, till today as far as I'm aware of, no Flag Rank Officers of Malay descent in the Military here. It's also why immigration policies will always keep the racial percentages the same here regardless of what you can bring to the table. This country is not yet a country but a collection of different races working in a business. Check out the void decks of any HDB block at 5 am in the mornings. See how much they care for their country just by the trash from their mailboxes strewn all over the floor (left there to keep the foreign labour busy).
I'm being taken to task because I'm trying to help? Funny, the PA / Grassroots organizations are formed to try to help. They are funded by the government. If there wasn't help needed, they why does the government deem it necessary?
rattlesnake, I have nothing against you or your opinions. They are just that. But at the end of the day, even the government recognizes their problems that you refuse to see (or admit). Actually you see them, but you want to just say we're no different then other Countries (as you have pointed out several times). At least here, when enough people complain, the government starts to listen. Albeit, slowly, but listen they do. I've had quite a few discussions with both the Minister of Home Affairs & Minister of PMO. One of the reasons I am in the PA / Grassroots organization was that I was invited directly by visit from the chairman BECAUSE I am vocal and will see it through to get something done. Something the majority won't do, so nobody sticks up their hands or voices something because they think it might be unpleasant to deal with.
"Lets face it, most of us (foreigners) are here because we want to use this country to better ourselves in some way and this includes the workers on building sites that probably don't post on this forum. There might be a small percentage who want to retire here, but most are users (me included)."
As you are one who likes to do nothing more than split hairs ever since you've been on this board, your statement above is entirely correct. Unfortunately, unless you are of Malay descent, Every body on this island regardless of the colour of their NRIC or level of their EP is originally a foreigner or descendant of one. So each and every one of us is responsible for this country and making it as good as we can. In order to do that, one must be proactive and not just reactionary. Any place I've ever been to, I try to leave it better than when I came. Continue to split hairs for the sake of splitting hairs...... It's seems, so far, to be the thing you are best at - are you a lawyer perchance?
NB: using "most" or "majority" is not a sweeping generalization. "all" or "every" is. I know, I've been called for that before as I'm not an English major but just a ole farmboy without a degree to my name. Thanks for telling me I've go an ego. Here all along, I though I was doing this for the welfare of my community, now I've got to figure out why I spend so many hours doing volunteer work in my estate when I could be out on the piss or at the beach. I also need to go back now and rethink why I spent over three years in a refugee camp working for UNHCR as well. My whole life is now a shambles. Oh woe is me......
