Monday, November 10, 2008

Racist Issues

When Barack Obama won the title as America's President, everyone from all over the world were pleased. Many of us have been rooting for Obama even though we are not Americans.

Singapore especially, being a Cosmopolitan country, we welcome foreigners from all over the world, with arms wide open. However, having done a Debate on Gender bias in Singapore, I came to realization the true statistics of Gender Bias in Singapore.


But, Singapore does not only suffer from Gender Bias, but also being bias in terms of Race( I wouldn't want to term it as Racism). That was why I found the article found in the papers the day after Obama won, an article asking if Singapore is ready for a non-Chinese PM.


Reading through the article and "debating" it with myself actually made me come to a conclusion that Singapore is not ready.


And one point that proves it all is whenever you job hunt. I wouldn't want to discriminate the specific store, but this one Popular Bookstore had really bad service. When my friends and I, clearly at first look, are non-Chinese, applied for the job, the manager was really rude to us, saying that not all of us will get the job and really seemed disgruntled when she tore the application papers for us.


Well, at first I thought she was having a bad day, but as I filled up the form, I looked around as many others applied for the job. Shockingly enough, she was happily tearing the forms for them, rattling away in Mandarin.

And after every Chinese applicant completed and gave her the form, she would talk to them for a pretty long time. And when my friends did the same to her, she looked at us in disdain, took our paper, not even looking at it, and said "Notice a weeks time", and she looked away.


Well, this is the first Bias treatment that I have received so far, but there are many jobs that, when you apply, always seek for people who can speak in English and Mandarin. I mean, I have no problems, despite not really being good in Mandarin. But it made me stop to ponder, if every one's looking for people who speaks English and Mandarin only, then where would the non-Chinese find a job?


Isn't this the same scenario as in Sri Lanka, where back in I-Don't-know-what-year, the Tamils were only given three years to learn Sinhala or be dismissed. The non-Chinese may not face the exaggerated time limit nor get dismissed, but is Singapore expecting the non-Chinese to pick up that language in order to get a stable job?


I think that Singapore should really cherish its people, and stop inviting foreigners over. It's true that they raise the competitive level for all jobs, but they are literally chasing away Singaporeans. Singaporeans also face limited jobs now. The newly built IRs have 60,000 jobs but only 10,000 are for Singaporeans. The rest? For the foreigners.


Even at the zoo, people are getting retrenched. The tram guides for example, are mostly being replaced with
Filipinos.



With the economic meltdown, more people are jobless.
So what is Singapore to do, if all of its people turn their backs on her?








And if Singapore is really ready for a non-Chinese PM, I would LOVE to run for it! hahah

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