I went up in flames when I glanced at the headlines.
When I read the article, I was very very annoyed. I was like, we've a rapidly ageing society at hand that faces a myriad of problems. Those issues could use these funds. Yet the ministry chose to sink it into 'social integration'.
Seriously. Social integration!! What.the.hell. Yes, integration into the Singapore psyche is crucial. The various races moving into Singapore because it's safe, politcally stable and peaceful need to be aware of the multi-cultural issues and society and not stay insular. In an earlier speech, our Prime Minister promised to calibrate the flow of immigrants into Singapore. I was not expecting a spin-off of activities in the form of S$10m to pump into social integration programmes.
So our government has to spoon-feed new immigrants and cajole them to join activities to make them Singaporean. It's rather laughable. Our forefathers were never made to do any sort of government-directed activities (except their definitive roles in WWII). They integrated just fine. Oh holy crap- everybody spoke dialects, Tamil and Malay regardless of race. And after all these pow wow and fiddling with our education system, what do we have now? Global citizens who might not know how to speak another language. On the flipside, is the government acknowledging that very possibly, we have no more shared and earth-shattering experiences to bind us together as a nation, a country and a people?
In other English-speaking countries, wait staff at restaurants and stores who are foreign, made all sorts of attempts to speak proper English to guests. Only in Singapore shops and restaurants, I get Mandarin thrown back into my face. I'm expected to speak Mandarin because I look Chinese and the wait staff at reputable Chinese restaurants can't speak any sort of coherent English. (Yes, that's a direct shot at Shang Palace at Shangri-la Hotel and Imperial Treasure Restaurant at Great World City.)
Sure, tell me this S$10m is also expected to create events and jobs to drive the events sector and stimulate general employment. I predict that our 'Speak Good English Movement' and 'Courtesy/Singapore Kindness Movement' will continue into the next 3 decades.
Why is there a need for purposeful social integration if we're attracting top quality foreign talents who are supposedly mobile and cosmopolitan? Isn't this sort of vibrancy the type that the government wants? I think it's obvious that we're not exactly attracting these 'ideal' people to stay. So what are we left with? Second and third-rate immigrants who have to be integrated into our society and made to understand the Singapore way of life? And have mainstream media trot them out in the run-up to National Day or significant racial celebrations and highlight how successful they've integrated as a result of using a portion of that S$10m.
I'm averse to social engineering. I see it an evil necessity. It is sad that in this age, humans still have to be taught, educated and prodded to live together as different races in harmony. Does our government really need to have a strong hand in cultivating how the Singapore society should grow or the direction it should move towards (or away from)? We're not plants who obediently line the expressways and roads in an orderly fashion. Why can't they freaking do this to Singapore in Second Life instead of manipulating us like amateurs playing The Sims?
Pruning, sifting, is it? I.am.not.a.happy.camper.
9 comments:
I'm amused.. though it's not supposed to be amusing, I know. Anyway, we've got our stories on this side of the planet too. And yes, the grass on your side is still greener (to me!!) :)
Having stayed in Melbourne for close to 6 months now as a student and interacted with both international students, local students and working Melburnians, I must comment that social integration is an important facet of life as a multi-ethnic society.
Over here, I still see asians sticking to asians, whites to whites, and middle easterners to middle easterners. While there has been some mixed groups, they are few and far between, even amongst people who are born in Australia. The problem of social mixing gets even worse if we consider the indigenous population in Australia, who are hardly seen in the cities and managed under a different rule of law from the rest.
I think the challenge lies in how one can balance between fostering better social integration yet not meddle excessively in people's private lives as citizens and residents. This is something that has to be considered carefully by the powers that be who implement this.
zzzz...so another moronic act by e gahmen huh and another great reason/ effort to waste taxpayers $$$ to spoon-feed..amazed lor..so now I'm waitin for our dear SG to calibrate herself into a ginormous refugee camp for these immigrants..e reality is our honest and maddening feedbacks to e 'over-godly' tinkin gahmen wun help anw..they are 'deaf' lor..groans~
The thing that really made me want to laugh is the part about teaching immigrants to queue. They going to do that to all the foreign talents? The money could really be better used.
jomel: some parts are amusing though. haizzz.
coolinsder: indeed, otherwise we'll end up with a polarized society and that's not what singapore needs. it's a matter of how far and how much.
mochalatte: not totally moronic. the policy is necessary. but i question the amount of funds used!
wildgoose: Well. HAHHAHAHA.
What's interesting is that most other countries seem to put the impetus on the immigrants to integrate, but we seem to be doing it the other way around.
Cool Insider makes a good point - it does seem that people are reluctant to break out of their comfort zone, and that's understandable. However I don't see how an integration programme will change anything other than superficially. Of course as Cool Insider said, there's also the question of too much meddling.
People will start to mix when they start to see each other as people, and not stereotypes, and that's something no sponsored programme can 'teach' you.
dawn: that's the thing. if racial stereotypes are there, it's quite tough to eradicate. we can try...
social integration is needed in our increasingly globalised society, but its aim should be to facilitate new residents to contribute their knowledge and skills to the country they've recently relocated to.
social integration, as you said, is not social engineering. if a society only wants new comers to fit into its existing mode, it might as well start making robots.
kikare: yah lor. with this sort of funding, in sgp, it isn't ever abt social integration. it's social engineering.
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