Singapore Expats

Why all the 'hatred' towards us 'foreigners'?

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sundaymorningstaple
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Post by sundaymorningstaple » Tue, 13 Dec 2011 9:00 pm

I'm no longer sure. Son's currently in the Singapore Navy. Daughter's on a Drilling Rig off the Ivory Coast of Africa. Me? I just like being a thorn in your side! :mrgreen:
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 Splatted » Tue, 13 Dec 2011 10:25 pm

ecureilx wrote:
that reminds me an episode with an aunt of mine, who migrated to Australia like ages ago .. and when she was visiting me in Singapore, pre "reserved seats" days, she got into the train, walked straight to the seat next to the door (where the current reserved stickers are) and asked a malay kid to get up - mind you, the whole train was empty .. and he did get confused but got up and moved .. and when I asked my aunt why she did it she was like "the seats near the door is for old folks like us, okay ? Somebody has to teach these kids that ..
In Australia (victoria), it's a condition of the ticket that students hold, that if an adult needs a seat and asks for it, they have to vacate theirs.

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Post by Splatted » Tue, 13 Dec 2011 10:29 pm

sundaymorningstaple wrote:I'm no longer sure. Son's currently in the Singapore Navy. Daughter's on a Drilling Rig off the Ivory Coast of Africa. Me? I just like being a thorn in your side! :mrgreen:
Oh wow, (not trying to be funny, but) Singapore has a navy?

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Post by JR8 » Tue, 13 Dec 2011 10:30 pm

Splatted wrote: In Australia (victoria), it's a condition of the ticket that students hold, that if an adult needs a seat and asks for it, they have to vacate theirs.

I like that rule! Try and enforce it in the UK though and I expect you'd get stabbed :roll:

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Post by mummy mantras » Tue, 13 Dec 2011 11:26 pm

Splatted wrote:
sundaymorningstaple wrote:
I'm no longer sure. Son's currently in the Singapore Navy. Daughter's on a Drilling Rig off the Ivory Coast of Africa. Me? I just like being a thorn in your side! :mrgreen:
Oh wow, (not trying to be funny, but) Singapore has a navy?
Yes. They prevent the occasional clumsy, drunk ang mo from falling into the Marina Bay after one too many beers on a Saturday night. I know... they fished me out of the water once! :D

But seriously, Singapore is an island, so duh! :lol:

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sundaymorningstaple
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Post by sundaymorningstaple » Tue, 13 Dec 2011 11:40 pm

They even have a submarine now with a couple more on the way. :o
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 durain » Wed, 14 Dec 2011 12:27 am

sundaymorningstaple wrote:They even have a submarine now with a couple more on the way. :o
thanks to 'foreigners'. :D

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Post by ksl » Wed, 14 Dec 2011 2:27 am

ankle wrote:
sundaymorningstaple wrote:
ankle wrote:for the public toilet issue, I'm not saying singaporean are without fault. I'm just saying it's unfair to push it all to the locals. with a ratio of 2:3, how could you justify these mess are created mainly by the locals? or are you saying foreigners doesn't visit the public toilets at all?

I'm not sure about guy's toilet, but generally, gal's toilet is still quite clean in most of the public places imo.

Anyway, I'm only here to provide some explainations on why locals hate FT/FW. I'm not here to declare war on FT/FW or anything like that. Like i've said before, you're entitled to your opinion. If you disagree to what i've explained, it's fine by me as well. :)
IMO? If in your opinion the women's toilets are "quite clean", that doesn't say too much for your idea of cleanliness.

The ratio here is 1:3 e.g., 1 foreigner to 3 locals. The toilets have been this way since I came here and that was 30 years ago the ratio was only 1:4.5 then. My wife would not use one then and still won't because the women's toilets are even worse than the men's. At least you don't have men leaving used tampons & kotex along with the rest of the crap & pee. Oh, I've been told they don't bother to flush either. Why do you think most places now have auto flush mechanisms. Of course, it helps if you manage to keep it in the bowl. For that matter, if they are so clean, why is it that they keep having toilet cleanliness campaigns. Hmmmm?

My suggestion. Accept that not all locals are clean individuals and well as not all FT/FW are. There is probably equal guilt on both sides, but with you in a state of denial, that is where the problem starts. Singapore is only clean because of street cleaners and estate cleaners (FT's all of them) and fines. Go look at the main Clementi Bus stop opposite the MRT station early on a Saturday morning around 6 am before the FW's clean it up. It's local papers and garbage from fast food restaurants. It's not FW types of newspapers or hawker centers containers. And it's not an Expat type of area either. It's pure Singaporean Heartlands. And it's a pigsty.
seems like you've chosen to skip-read part of my post and decided that i'm accusing all foreigners are responsible for dirty toilets. pls re-read my earlier post (especially first 2 lines) before accusing me of anything else. thanks. :)

we are having different views in this probably because we have different standard on hygiene. you could call me dirty singaporean or whatever, doesn't really matters. At least I could said I'm more accomodating in terms of toilets wherever I've travelled. :cool:

btw, this has gone ot already. I've never mentioned in my first post that locals are blaming FT/FW for "dirty" public toilets. :???:

anyway, seems like the vibes here is not really that friendly especially the mod. Therefore, this will be my last post in this forum. Peace out. :wink:
Ankle ignore the biased opinion of the mod, he's probably on the pop again! In fact he should really apologise for his wild outbursts. Tell him to go back to his own country if he feels so bad about the locals after 25 years. Singapore is no different to the USA or UK toilets, it's only when they have someone employed to look after the toilets every 20 minutes that you find a clean toilet anywhere!

Even the women's toilets are disgusting in many European places so I've been told while there. So its 6 of one and half a dozen of the other, everyone is to blame but SMS :P :wink: Don't let them chase you off until they can back up their opinions with facts, instead of high blood pressure verbal diarrhea! :lol: I'd love to see the guardian angels, in UK tell them to pick up litter or flush the toilet.

This place is paradise in comparison and most locals are pretty okay with manners apart from the trouble makers and the wannabe gangsters. Even UK doesn't stand for this kind of abuse, she's spending christmas in Jail
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pONVYjAd1wc

So you can find all types of people in every Country clean and dirty pigs too! Problem with expats is that they come over here without any knowledge of customs and traditions of local immigrants that have settled in Singapore, most Chinese, Malay, Indian, Arab, American, European have their own bad habits and traditions too and obviously find others worse than themselves. When in fact the opposite is more likely to be true.

The woman on the video is going on about foreigners taking her Britain. Mind you she looks well out of it on drugs probably, but many English people are still taking baths once or twice a week, I find that absolutely disgusting, as I shower twice a day ever since i had the opportunity of a shower. Singapore is a damn sight cleaner than it was in 1970 that's for sure and some cultures may have bad habits, and traditions which do improve their parents through their childrens' awareness of hygiene too.

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Post by ksl » Wed, 14 Dec 2011 3:15 am

mummy mantras wrote:
Splatted wrote:
sundaymorningstaple wrote:
I'm no longer sure. Son's currently in the Singapore Navy. Daughter's on a Drilling Rig off the Ivory Coast of Africa. Me? I just like being a thorn in your side! :mrgreen:
Oh wow, (not trying to be funny, but) Singapore has a navy?
Yes. They prevent the occasional clumsy, drunk ang mo from falling into the Marina Bay after one too many beers on a Saturday night. I know... they fished me out of the water once! :D

But seriously, Singapore is an island, so duh! :lol:
The government probably have more money than the USA & Europe put together now. so why shouldn't they have toys too :P It also keeps the young kids disciplined to a certain extent and employed.

I was looking at the falkland war video's on youtube and couldn't help feeling so sad, while the British were cheering their troops into battle, while the dead never returned. The marines were also in tears when they helped the dyeing Argentineans, as they picked up wallets of the dyeing men, only to be faced by pictures of children and wives, I also lost some good friends there too and ever since I have tried to be a better person towards others no matter what race or colour, tolerance and neutrality is best for me. Some people use the word commonsense forgetting that commonsense as also come a long way, though I still notice some restaurants use a fork and a spoon to eat with! What happened to commonsense i think and wonder if the USA has any influence. :???:

I've not been to the USA but maybe someone can enlighten me, as i have been informed that many in the USA eat with just a fork and spoon, so my question is what happened to the knife and why was it dropped, after cutting, only to pass the fork to the right hand then repeat the process of passing the fork back to the left hand and only picking the knife up to cut! The next disgusting habit must be the spittoon http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Spittoon which is more favorable than the floor :roll: Life and culture does evolve slowly.

So it must be really weired for people from the countryside in mainland China to even see a modern toilet. In 1992 the local toilets in Beijing outskirts were just saloon type cubicles, you sat over a big hole and chatted with the neighbors on each side, very little privacy, and never any paper :roll: I could imagine some mistaking a modern toilet as a wash basin and peeing on the floor :roll: My worst embarrassment was in a restaurant in Taiwan back in 2002, when I flushed the toilet after a bout of diarehha and I suddenly watched as the bowl filled up and thinking OMG it's blocked I raced out as if a tsunami was on the way and it was, under the doors and into the restaurant.....I kept pulling on my wife's arm and said I expected that as crowds of people vacated :-| The drainage is too narrow and all paper must go into the bins, which I knew, but others did not! What i didn't know at the time was Chinese, and the signs outside the toilets said out of order :oops:

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Post by Superglide » Wed, 14 Dec 2011 5:43 am

sundaymorningstaple wrote:I'm no longer sure. Son's currently in the Singapore Navy. Daughter's on a Drilling Rig off the Ivory Coast of Africa. Me? I just like being a thorn in your side! :mrgreen:
Well, you're not a thorn in my side, sms. :wink:

Bet you're dreaming of that crayfish on the hook of your fishing rod, at the lake behond your farm back home... :twisted: :wink:
If only we could pull out our brain and use only our eyes.
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Post by BnJoe » Wed, 14 Dec 2011 6:44 am

Wow, I must have followed this conversation for half an hour now when I should be getting some sleep instead.

I haven't had such a bad experience in Singapore, but then I was there only for a short time and my Chinese is probably not fluent enough on really bad language, so I miss out something. Not to mention some Singlish words. I have noticed, though, that on a facebook discussion after I got back with a Singaporean, he was putting on a report talking negatively about shark fins and I dared to comment on it.

I didn't know what I got started. There was someone else getting into this lengthy discussion of how Ang Mohs dare to say anything about it at all when they're having foie gras (a French speciality which I'm not trying to defend, and who comes to think that all whites are the same when Europe alone is quite diverse?). I have to say I did feel offended by putting me into such a box when I was merely saying I didn't especially like the consumption of a product that is probably overpriced and kills endangered animals. I'm saying the same thing in my own country when I dislike the eating culture.

I had the feeling that you can't really openly discuss because your opinions are always related to your race.

My wife is Chinese, but I got lucky with her family which might not be perfectly open (or at least I can't fully judge it), but has welcomed me ever since. There might really still be a difference between the relatively low ratio of foreigners in China and the heavily populated Singapore. I wonder when such things start in China?

As for the openess to foreigners in other countries, with my wife I have experienced quite some negative comments in Germany as well, ranging from someone commenting on a "catalogue woman" (who really does contribute a lot more to society than most locals) to the people who simply fail to understand how a foreigner is capable of speaking their own language, always replying in English as surely the foreigner wouldn't be able to speak German.

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Post by JR8 » Wed, 14 Dec 2011 7:09 am

ksl wrote:verbal diarrhea!

Been hitting the Ol' Exterminator again KSL? :P

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Post by ecureilx » Wed, 14 Dec 2011 7:31 am

You were going ok, till you said this ..
BnJoe wrote:... .. they're having foie gras (a French speciality ... and kills endangered animals.
Since When are ducks endangered ? :D :D
sundaymorningstaple wrote:They even have a submarine now with a couple more on the way. :o
Actually, Singapore has been the only country in the region, with 4 fully operational submarines before the newest (well, rebuilt) ones joined ... unlike the some neighbours ones, who's submarines sank while moored ..

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Post by the lynx » Wed, 14 Dec 2011 8:36 am

ecureilx wrote:You were going ok, till you said this ..
BnJoe wrote:... .. they're having foie gras (a French speciality ... and kills endangered animals.
Since When are ducks endangered ? :D :D

Obviously he was just referring to shark fin alone when he said that. Nevertheless, in both, animal cruelty is in the commonplace.
sundaymorningstaple wrote:They even have a submarine now with a couple more on the way. :o
Actually, Singapore has been the only country in the region, with 4 fully operational submarines before the newest (well, rebuilt) ones joined ... unlike the some neighbours ones, who's submarines sank while moored ..

*face palm* Yeah and wasted the taxpayers' hard-earned money. But then again, that is just a tip of a huge iceberg that got submerged over there (if you know what I mean)
So early already post in forum ah? :P

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Post by JR8 » Wed, 14 Dec 2011 8:40 am

the lynx wrote:
ecureilx wrote:You were going ok, till you said this ..
BnJoe wrote:... .. they're having foie gras (a French speciality ... and kills endangered animals.
Since When are ducks endangered ? :D :D

Obviously he was just referring to shark fin alone when he said that. Nevertheless, in both, animal cruelty is in the commonplace.
sundaymorningstaple wrote:They even have a submarine now with a couple more on the way. :o
Actually, Singapore has been the only country in the region, with 4 fully operational submarines before the newest (well, rebuilt) ones joined ... unlike the some neighbours ones, who's submarines sank while moored ..

*face palm* Yeah and wasted the taxpayers' hard-earned money. But then again, that is just a tip of a huge iceberg that got submerged over there (if you know what I mean)
So early already post in forum ah? :P


Nothing like regular doses of state-induced paranoia to keep the proles subjugated :)


Shark's fin.... shall we kick that one off again (facepalm, please no), or do I just link over all the points I made last time :)

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