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The Ugly Singaporean

Discuss about the latest news & interesting topics, real life experience or other out of topic discussions with locals & expatriates in Singapore.
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ksl
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Post by ksl » Sat, 26 Jul 2008 12:02 am

Gilly wrote:Really? I thought there were more like 1M expats in Singapore.
Yes I was also under the impression, there was around 1 million, although i am quoting what's in the paper, of which we can take with a pinch of salt! We all know what's in the papers may not be true.

HSBC"S head may have quoted the figures based on bank accounts, which may limit the field quite a lot, I've no idea if there are limitations on opening bank accounts, for those on low wages.

I suspect the bank will only be interested in targeted income levels of 30.000$ a year and above, which may have an influence but I don't really know!


There is also an article on the reserving tables with tissue paper, which is amusing, my only rant about tissue, is that I may throw it in the bin :lol: actually thinking its waste.

I can see the point with reserving a table, if one is alone at lunch break, how to do it, maybe a commercial venture for someone enterprising and creative enough!

There is nothing worse than purchasing your food, and having no place to sit, which quite often happens in the fast food places, although I don't hesitate in complaining, if it's school children, taking the seats. Otherwise I try to avoid the busy places, it's a nightmare sometimes in the shopping malls on Orchard Rd...and I don't have the patience, when the food is nothing special anyway.

So personally i don't mind the reserving of tables, if they are buying food, I would be quite angered if they hadn't even arrived, but I suspect most are in the queue, so that's fine.

I mean even when me and my wife go to eat, one reserves a place, while one buy's food first, then the other one goes up and buys food, a little inconvienant, but, that is the layout of the food stalls, more than anything, if you are not eating the same food. I can live with it! Although I also know many bigots, that couldn't! Although it is a choice after all, isn't it!

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sundaymorningstaple
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Post by sundaymorningstaple » Sat, 26 Jul 2008 1:34 am

Petales Soufflez! wrote:But what is 1st world culture, behaviour etc?

In Italy they had a great civilisation, have wonderful art and culture not to mention food and music. But when you live here with the Italians, you see that they are not less kiasu than the Singaporeans, scream louder and complain more, most have not seen the trappings of more modern living and litter just a little less than the Spaniards from Andalusia. The Parisians let their dog shit everywhere, the French in general always crowd the entrance when boarding planes, the Southern Germans do not give up their seats to the elderly but when their neighbour abused some road regulation you can be sure they'll be there to report. Many Americans have not left their hometowns and think that all Chinese come from China. 3 days in Australia and the boys in my class were starting to use vulgar language that they didn't before know. The Brits I know are usually polite to your face and the real bitching takes place behind your back.
Nice post. The only thing I have to add after 26 years here is that that's the beauty of Singapore. You don't have to travel to all those countries to experience each of those bad traits. Just come to Singapore where you can experience all of them in one little red dot! :P

Just taking the pi$$, so don't gettin' your knickers in a bunch! :wink: It's 1:30 in the morning and I just got back from Bar None. :wink:
SOME PEOPLE TRY TO TURN BACK THEIR ODOMETERS. NOT ME. I WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW WHY I LOOK THIS WAY. I'VE TRAVELED A LONG WAY, AND SOME OF THE ROADS WEREN'T PAVED. ~ Will Rogers

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Post by sundaymorningstaple » Sat, 26 Jul 2008 1:38 am

Gilly wrote:Really? I thought there were more like 1M expats in Singapore.
You are right. The problem is as I've said before, what is the perception of an Expat and what is the reality of what is an expat. There are more 880,000 foreigners here on various employment schemes provided by the government. Therefore, they are all expatriates from their own countries. Unfortunately 500,000 are labourers so aren't given any face even though they are really more expatriate than we are as they are usually here for 24 months before they can go home (and their familys are still in the home countries).
SOME PEOPLE TRY TO TURN BACK THEIR ODOMETERS. NOT ME. I WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW WHY I LOOK THIS WAY. I'VE TRAVELED A LONG WAY, AND SOME OF THE ROADS WEREN'T PAVED. ~ Will Rogers

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Post by cutiebutie » Sat, 26 Jul 2008 7:36 pm

hiking out wrote:I thought you were referring to "people coming in for visa applications" ?

so the Malaysians were rude to Singaporeans, not too surprising, but wait,weren't they employed by the Singapore High Commission. How can?
:mad:
I missed the thread a bit - been very busy.

Simle: Malaysian counter staff employed by the Singapore High Comm. Most clerical staff in any embassy/consulate/High Comm are locals anywhere.

They were not rude to Singaporeans - they were rude to people applying for visas - I doubt very much that Singaporeans need visas to go home. :roll:
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Post by Wind In My Hair » Sat, 26 Jul 2008 10:50 pm

cutiebutie wrote:They were not rude to Singaporeans - they were rude to people applying for visas - I doubt very much that Singaporeans need visas to go home. :roll:
I just found out that a non-resident Taiwanese holding a Taiwanese passport requires a visa to enter Taiwan. So yes, while it does sound silly, I guess we can't take it for granted that a citizen always enters his own country without a visa. Of course you're right that Singaporeans don't need visas to come home.

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Ugly Singaporean

Post by leeg » Sat, 26 Jul 2008 11:50 pm

I CANNOT DENY that there are indeed 'UGLY SINGAPOREANS' behavior in Singapore itself. Let's ACCEPT the fact that these behaviors happened everywhere around the world, not only in Singapore. There are no such thing as a PERFECT COUNTRY. It really depends on each individual lifestyle, views, tolerance and acceptance of that particular country. If one detest the ugly side of singapore so much, wouldn't it be better for one just to move out of the country? Wouldn't one look like a typical singaporean himself or herself who does nothing but whine and complain about Singapore?

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Re: Ugly Singaporean

Post by Currymeister » Mon, 28 Jul 2008 9:07 pm

leeg wrote:I CANNOT DENY that there are indeed 'UGLY SINGAPOREANS' behavior in Singapore itself. Let's ACCEPT the fact that these behaviors happened everywhere around the world, not only in Singapore. There are no such thing as a PERFECT COUNTRY. It really depends on each individual lifestyle, views, tolerance and acceptance of that particular country. If one detest the ugly side of singapore so much, wouldn't it be better for one just to move out of the country? Wouldn't one look like a typical singaporean himself or herself who does nothing but whine and complain about Singapore?
And..If one detest the ugly side of Singaporeexpats views so much, wouldn't it be better for one just to move out of the forum?

Now I don't want to say that you look like a typical Singaporean..... :wink:

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Post by sundaymorningstaple » Mon, 28 Jul 2008 11:48 pm

Definitely a Singaporean. Usually easy to spot. When the going gets tough, they start diverting attention to other countries. Just like today's papers quote how high parking is in other cities of the world. Course what they didn't say was the fact that the salaries are commensurate with the parking fees normally as well (more or less). :roll:
SOME PEOPLE TRY TO TURN BACK THEIR ODOMETERS. NOT ME. I WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW WHY I LOOK THIS WAY. I'VE TRAVELED A LONG WAY, AND SOME OF THE ROADS WEREN'T PAVED. ~ Will Rogers

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Post by andy21 » Tue, 29 Jul 2008 10:47 am

sundaymorningstaple wrote:Definitely a Singaporean. Usually easy to spot. When the going gets tough, they start diverting attention to other countries. Just like today's papers quote how high parking is in other cities of the world. Course what they didn't say was the fact that the salaries are commensurate with the parking fees normally as well (more or less). :roll:
That's a major problem with the powers that be in this country.

We compare ourselves favourably or un favourably viz-a-viz any otehr country as and when it suits us without any measure of objectivity (deliberate yet unconsciously, amazingly enough).

And the good people of this country by and large lap it up, lock stock and barrel.

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Post by cutiebutie » Tue, 29 Jul 2008 10:54 am

I saw on the news here that rising prices and pressure on low income families is being countered by the media in Singapore with reports on where to still find hawker stall meals for SGD2.50 :roll:

The negative aspect of million-dollar salaries for the people in power may be that they have little idea what life is like for the needy or even the middle class.
- Thank God for Darwin -

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Post by andy21 » Tue, 29 Jul 2008 11:55 am

cutiebutie wrote:The negative aspect of million-dollar salaries for the people in power may be that they have little idea what life is like for the needy or even the middle class.
Sad but true and it shows, when a highly ranked political figure, when questioned in a manner he does not quite appreciate retorts that he should just go back to the private sector where he can make loads more dosh.

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Re: Ugly Singaporean

Post by Saint » Tue, 29 Jul 2008 3:40 pm

Currymeister wrote:
Now I don't want to say that you look like a typical Singaporean..... :wink:
I would say definitely a Singaporean but not a typical one

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cutiebutie
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Post by cutiebutie » Tue, 29 Jul 2008 5:06 pm

andy21 wrote:
cutiebutie wrote:The negative aspect of million-dollar salaries for the people in power may be that they have little idea what life is like for the needy or even the middle class.
Sad but true and it shows, when a highly ranked political figure, when questioned in a manner he does not quite appreciate retorts that he should just go back to the private sector where he can make loads more dosh.
. . . true, many 80-year olds can make millions returning to work :)
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Post by sierra2469alpha » Tue, 29 Jul 2008 8:10 pm

cutiebutie wrote:Most clerical staff in any embassy/consulate/High Comm are locals anywhere.
MY HIGHLIGHTING

We're not ones to argue here, as most of you know, but we're both getting a little annoyed with your all-and-sundry responses, Cutie.

You obviously don't go into any EMB/CONS/HC's anywhere apart from Malaysia. Last time I checked, most EMB/CONS/HC's employ home-nation staff where they can, then host-nation staff. Mainly, due to security issues and domestic home-nation requirements.

Oh, when did I check? Oh, 7 countries in-region over the last 8 weeks.

You are a valuable contributor, Cutie, just - you know, talk about what you KNOW and stop the speculation/editorials. It doesn't help anyone - it just confuses all our newcomers.

MANAGERS: Sorry to post in the forum - we just felt this needed to be said. Delete the post if you feel it's not appropriate.

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Post by Petales Soufflez! » Wed, 30 Jul 2008 3:19 am

cutiebutie wrote:I saw on the news here that rising prices and pressure on low income families is being countered by the media in Singapore with reports on where to still find hawker stall meals for SGD2.50 :roll:

The negative aspect of million-dollar salaries for the people in power may be that they have little idea what life is like for the needy or even the middle class.
I've often made the reflection that one mark of democracy should be the availability of less-than-5-bucks meals in a country. That no matter how poor you are you may still have a chance to eat out. Why not rub shoulders with the richer folks while you're at it because they do eat out in hawker centres or in the streets.

Because here in France, Spain, Germany or Italy, the average salary is not fabulous and the cheapest thing you can buy outside is a 4-euro cold sandwich or a 6-euro pizza and you eat it standing up. OK, a cheeseburger is 1,50 and you can eat in. But the point is that if you don't have a decent income, you don't eat out - at all.

I'm also surprised that people think that Singapore does not get criticised enough. Because for the decade that I've been living in Europe, I can assure you that all the bad things about us have been quite widely publicised so much so that at the beginning I would actually get ready to be on the defensive the minute I introduced myself to others as a Singaporean. You do get bashed and/or patronised and nobody cares about what you have to say about your own country. They somehow know it better than you do.

After all the bad press that we get elsewhere, we could occasionally console ourselves with "it-could-be-worse" scenarios. Some self-esteem has to figure in nation-building.
Je pense donc je suis. Le reste du temps, je ne suis qu'une fleur.

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