More Singaporeans came to speak up against Xenophobia

Dear readers,

I am delighted to learn that recently some known SG bloggers has come forward to open the topic of discussion about Xenophobia arising in Singapore both online and offline. 

See the news image below which I obtained from: Fabrications About the PAP

Many of them have recognized, agreed and feel that it is the most pressing issue that has not yet been addressed in Singapore with the raising number of foreigners working and tourists visiting our country. Xenophobia started a few years ago, it is only till the recent months I saw it growing more serious and started my blog/ Facebook page to create awareness the best I could. (I will explain more below on why I came online…)

Known bloggers in Singapore such as Alex Au, Andrew Loh, Martyn See, Ravi Philemon are meeting up with MP for Chua Chu Kang, Zaqy Mohamad to discuss. I see something positive will come out of it and I trust this healthy will be addressed well by professionals from both the government and citizens. I am thankful they all come forward for a good cause.

As I blog along below today, this could well be my last blog as I wish to spend my time & focus on more important things in my life. The blogging, reading, research, Facebook-ing on social media isn’t an easy job. It is very tedious, even more especially when communicating with some certain people who cannot seem to understand at all. When I talk about Point A, they turn to Point B, when I talk about Point B, they turn back to Point A. In the end, nothing came out of the conversation.

I believe some readers may want to know how and why I came forward as Little Fish.

It all happened a couple of months ago in early January when I was out with a group of friends for coffee session. We talked about the GE2011 and PE2011, the most talked politics in SG between the PAP and Oppositions. Then a topic of ‘Foreign Talent’ was brought forward out of nowhere. We were talking about the foreigner’s quality; how some of them passed off as talent, fake diploma/ degrees, imposed changes in our workplace etc. It did piss us off & we were teasing, cheering and jeering all about it. Most of my friends also do that online at Temasek Review Facebook wall pages (too many clones now)

One of the incident came when I was out for a lunch appointment with a female friend of mine. Both of us walked in a restaurant and after we are seated, I noticed her eyes were scanning around the restaurant, when the waitress came to take down our orders; her eyes were fixed on her name tag. She tried to start a simple conversation with a waitress such as where she came from. As soon the waitress’s back turned and walked to the kitchen, I asked my friend what’s up. She said that waitress is a ‘Foreign Talent’. Next she went on and on… I shaked my head & gave out a sigh. No comment. It certainly wasn’t about the foreign waitress. It is about my friend.

When we are eating, she was looking around at her food. I asked what was wrong; she raised her hand and called for the waitress. She spoke how the food sucked, the meat wasn’t properly cooked or the soup isn’t warm enough. She expected a better service from a known restaurant. Omg, I thought she sounded a little exaggerated; she didn’t even taste the food. She was in fact trying to find fault on the waitress.

I ate my meal and finished it silently. There was nothing wrong with the food. Their services are also fine. I foot the bill & received my receipt. The restaurant didn’t charge for her meal. It was free of charge. The waitress thanked us for our patronage. She was happy about it but I felt bad, a little embarrassed about my friend’s behavior.

On our way back by MRT, as soon we are in the train cabin, she started to scan through the passengers. ‘Foreign Trash’, she said. I was like speechless, never actually understood why she has to do this. I asked what if they are just tourists? (See image & links below)

Image screenshot from source: Wikipedia
For more accurate statistics, you may check out Singapore Tourism Board 
This is the link to a PDF file year 2011 of tourists arriving in SG by Air, Land & Sea. 
It is an average of 1.09 million tourists in a month.

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She said nothing more. She went on and on how the ‘foreigners’ this and that… all the way to our destination.

The other night I caught my friends commenting on a photo about “FT = Foreign Trash”. I read thru the comments and wondered why their friend took a photo of a stranger who looks like a foreigner in MRT & posted on his wall, yakking away about the way he dress, looked so dumb, like third world country…etc.

With all the news about PRCs, Pinoys etc appearing and the anti-foreigners sentiments stirring up, I began to worry about their behaviors online. Then I recalled there was one article about the neighbour’s curry issue & the Law MinisterShanmugam cautioned us against Xenophobia last year on 17 August 2011. I wondered what is Xenophobia all about? I googled and found my answers.

I tried to alert the Temasek Review Facebook but they just brushed me aside with some standard replies. When I pressed on & on, they blamed the government & shoved some articles in my face. Articles such as ‘double standards’ about locals and foreigners, how they took our jobs, how they caused the cost of living to raise, accidents, crimes etc. They won’t stop. My message didn’t manage to deliver through. They aren’t even listening or giving some thoughts about it.

Thus the birth of Little Fish. I came online to expose them, the source of xenophobia. They certainly aren’t helping Singaporeans which they claim to be. How does fuelling the anger & hate helping Singaporeans? With 50k ‘Likes’ on their facebook and 1 million readership, somehow I see the urgency to stop them.

During the process, I saw some online lunch mobs tried to hunt me, label me as a pro-government & tried to talk me out but it didn’t deter me from doing what I wanted to do because I know it is a right thing to do. 

You know the rest of the story from my blog. I am glad some sensible people saw me & I shared with them about it. One of them is the owner of ‘Fabrications About the PAP’. He heard my story, understood it and he agreed to share on his FB page. Then a reporter from The NewsPaper (TNP) came across my blog and contacted me. It came at the time when they are also working on the same topic issue for their article. The next day they released the story on their newspapers.

With the above I blogged & to put an end my blog, I hope readers can open their eyes and mind to be cautious when they read stuffs online. THINK first before anything else.

That will be all… A special thank you to all of you very much for your courage & support though there is only a small group of you in cyberspace. It was well shared to like-minded people, courageously spoken up & positive points delivered…cheers…

With love & respect,

Little Fish.