Protracted online flame war between foreigners and locals on TR a warning for future social unrest
January 18th, 2010 | 
Author: Written by Our Correspondent
It was supposed to be a routine run of the mill article on Temasek Review on the issue of foreign workers, but it ended up being the most commented article in its history. (read article here)
In the span of four days, the article about a young Myanmar lady working as an accounts executive in Singapore and taking English lessons at a Community Club at the same time had atracted more than 5,000 readers and 400 comments so far.
Apparently, somebody had tipped off the Burmese community in Singapore who flooded our site posting comments berating us for “insulting” the Myanmar lady by posting her particulars online when we had obtained the information from Straits Times.
Some posters accused us of poking fun at her language skills and demanded that we apologize and delete the article. Others slammed us for being “unprofessional” and threatened to sue us.
Though we have explained repeatedly that the gist of the article is about the immigration policies of the ruling party and not on any particular persons or nationality, the flaming continue unabated till it becomes a mud-slinging session for both the foreign workers and locals to vent their frustrations, resentment and anger.
Judging from the comments posted, it is quite obvious that the tension has been building up in both communities for quite some time already. Our article is merely a spark which triggered the storm.
While the Burmese felt that they were being bullied by the locals, Singaporeans are of the view that they are here to snatch away jobs are otherwise taken up by them.
This is probably the first time that an all-out “flame war” has broken out between foreigners and locals, a reflection of how serious the problem has become which continues to be ignored by the ruling party.
In an ambitious plan to increase Singapore’s population to 6.5 million people, the ruling party had allowed too many foreigners into Singapore in too short a period of time without taking into consideration the interests and feeling of Singaporeans.
After realizing the extent of the problem, they decided to throw money at it in the form of a $10 million dollar Community Integration Fund which proved to be “too little, too late.”
The root cause of the social tension lies in the fact that Singaporeans feel they are not getting a fair deal from the government as rightful citizens of the nation ranging from housing subsidies, places in primary schools to jobs which pay well.
Singapore had accepted many immigrants from Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Taiwan in the 1980s and 1990s and Singaporeans never had any issues with them as they are similar to us in culture and had come in smaller numbers.
The latest wave of immigration saw the ruling party opened the floodgates to the world, especially Chinese and Indians who flocked to Singapore in such large numbers that they do not see the need to integrate into Singapore society.
Some questioned why we did not close the article for comments which appears to be inciting hatred between the Burmese and Singaporeans.
We are leaving it open for the authorities to see for themselves the mess they have created for Singaporeans and if they do not revamp their policies radically and reverse the intake of foreigners, the flaming they see on TR now will spill over into real life one day.
Posted in Editorial
The days of unfettered immigration is numbered.
Our economy cannot create enough meaningful job for them. The salary is too low.
Talents in PRC now prefer Shanghai and Beijing rather than here. As more and more Singaporean are displaced, we will have mass unemployment. LKY will have to open more position in civil service (he is already doing it now, y not just halt immigration).
We will run into budget deficit.
Next, there will be wide spread protest and deliquent. The low income family cannot sustain proper education for Children will create lots of social problem.
Eventually, we may have wide spread sympathy for Islamic fundamentalism among some groups.
Rich people may flee in doves bursting our ponzi property.
LKY, you are creating trouble for all of us.
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Nice, now ISD got something to legally open a file and radar on liao.
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Foreigners that came in the 90s and prior are different. They are willing to accept our culture and laws and we can accept them as one of us. I have many friends of different nationalities. In fact, I welcome them as they bring different experiences.
The foreigners that are mass imported now are entirely different. Due to the constant messages from PAP that they are talents and Singapore can’t do without them, they have developed an entitlement mentality. They demand constantly to be given the same privileges as citizens (although there aren’t many differences to begin with) but refuse to accept the responsibilities like serving NS. Some even told me that NS is no big deal, it is just a holiday camp that provide free exercise.
As can be seen in the Myanmar post, they took offence when there is none, dishing out legal and death threats (deleted by TR) to commentators.
That’s not all. They have no qualms about insulting our work ethics and language. If Singaporeans are as bad as they said, Singapore wouldn’t have come this far so quickly. On the contrary, our productivity has dropped every year since PAP started mass importing foreign workers.
One of them claim to be a scholar. However his English is not even of “O” level standard. If he is really a scholar, I pity our local students, surely we can find someone more deserving among the locals? They claim that English skills are not important, technical skills are. Unless you are a technician who doesn’t need to communicate, language skills are definitely important.
I rest my case, PAP is the root cause for all these. Singaporeans, vote against PAP. Vote for your future, vote for change!
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They say foreigners are doing the jobs that Singaporeans do not want to do, how about enlisting them into the army? I am sure many Singaporeans do not like to clean rifles, dig trenches, do road marches and charge up hills.
Since ISD is mentioned, does ISD hire foreigners?
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Obviously the big mess is cause by non other than the PAP government.
To the Burmese Community,
I apologise to you on behalf of my Singaporean counter parts. We sincerely want you to call Singapore home and help us build and defend the country.
To Singaporeans,
We must not blame foreigners. They did not invade or conquer our lands.
Fault lies with our dear PAP party.
They nd their liberal polices have created this mess not only for Singaporeans but also created problems for our foreiogn friends.
VOTE THE PAP OUT!! That’s the remedy.
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Why are we accepting all these coward Burmese here when they are supposed to stay at their owned country to fight against their military junta for practicing genocide blatantly on its owned people. These Burmese are AWOL citizen, just like an AWOL soldier who runs away from the battle
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I hope the admins learn something from this incident. A simple run of the mill report can be taken as an insult and can be accused of discrimination and inciting discriminationary behavior.
I had colleages who were perfectly capable of doing their jobs but had a poor command of english as a spoken and written language. Besides, the position mentioned in the article may require “A” levels or diploma holders. I seriously doubt that many Singaporeans are happy with just an “A” levels if they could not make it into Uni. Most of that group would take up a diploma or try again as a private student.
If TR wishes to place emphasis on the immigration policy there are better ways to do it. In fact, one way is to find the local breed and born (cos I am not one, so I feel marginalised) who lost their jobs to supposed FTs and publicise their plight. Given our society’s penchant for sympathy or empathy that will draw more attention. Going down the path of seemingly hitting out at particular groups is not a good way of making feelings of the public kown. There is another article that described the majority of PRC nationals who immigrate here as “uncouth, uneducated peasants”. I had read countless articles decrying the ruling elite and here we are in TR promoting our own “elitness”. Nationalistic feelings like this slowly lead to Farcisim if not controlled. That is also worrying. “Singapore: The New Aparthied” a new headline soon on a New York paper.
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btw, the govt has actually slowed down and reduce the intake of FTs for now. It will probably restrict and reduce the FTs in singapore furthermore until next general election. there are more s-pass rejections, slowed pr approvals, yes even with the iR opening soon,,,,
Sands will be in deeper shit if they have not gotten their prospect employee approvals and singapore workers,,,,
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Why just import Myanmar citizens, why not also import Myanmar generals and soldiers into the SAF?
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csl,
If foreign “talent” cannot even comprehend simple English, do we have to dumb ourselves down for them? Choose words that primary school students can understand?
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q,
You want the Myanmar generals and soldiers to practice genocide to our people. Our wooden MM already turns us into sheep, still not enough.
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Winston Churchill ” To jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war”
hope that this thread does not become another long thread like that one.
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* Repost comment here
Even jobs open to local/ foreigner, most employers still tend to look at cheaper labour (due to high business cost), and fill up vacancies with those with lower expectations (dont see any win-win with current policies/ practices)
Successful employers need to focus on hiring right candidates who welcome customers with smiles (though not common here yet), for business to be sustainable in long run (or even strive to excel)
Most importantly with right attitude/ mindset, Singaporeans must stand together to bring in service excellence during work, and one day even on par with other countries like Japan/ Taiwan
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to tan,
yes,we know govt is doing that, but can they promise they will not revert to old ways again. remember, a leopard never changes its spots
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“btw, the govt has actually slowed down and reduce the intake of FTs for now.”
haha, after all these years, you still believe in this government ? You will do much better believing in genie instead. When old fart says that foreigners is coming to replace ‘lazy Singaporeans’, you can be sure that the floodgate will be opened to foreigners even more. The SinGov will just follow old fart’s words so that these buggers can retain their high salary.
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Why are we blaming the foreigners? They just want to earn a living here to have a better life in their home. Our singaporean elite rulers allow them to come in. Whose fault?
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■tan on Mon, 18th Jan 2010 1:41 pm
“….btw, the govt has actually slowed down and reduce the intake of FTs for now. It will probably restrict and reduce the FTs in singapore furthermore until next general election…”
are you able to substantiate your claim that this shit miw government is slowing the intake of FTs? Or are you just repeating and believing what that shit LHL said in the msm?
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Thanks for hightlighting issues that we may NEVER get to read anywhere in the local printed media.
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cpt,
these foreigners who came should be humble and try to blend in to the country and not come here and start demanding equal rights from the host
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i don’t think this is a good post. This may open up for ISD to knock at your door.
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Globalization has generated Mass Economic Migration – those from poorer economies wishing to migrate to rich economies. Two ways to do so – legal migration as in Singapore’s context of Foreign Talent [sic] or illegal migration as boat people into Australia. Whichever way – there will be backlash from the indigenous [local born-and-bred] people. News from Australia regarding attacks against Indian migrants [so far 2, 1, a stabbing murder and 2, a torching] are just the tip of the iceberg. According to an informed source, Indian migrants are very visible [talking loudly in their own language], taking most of the low end jobs and have failed to integrate with Aussie society and their cultural norms. It is a no-brainer that they are targeted for attacks. They simply do not know how to keep a low profile but instead behave badly in their adopted land. For illegal migrants, X’mas Island, a former colony of S’pore’s is now a detention centre for boat people into Australia and is now severely overcrowded with boats arriving every other day. They are a volatile mix – Australia dare not admit them as most do not have the prerequisites – command of English and relevant work skills. Foreign academic qualifications are irrelevant as Australia do not recognize them and anyway, white collar jobs are the domain of the local Aussies. The point of this whole thing is that Governments should maintain the status quo for their citizens or face the consequence of their actions later. The Australian government is under enormous pressure to either admit the boat-people [under humanitarian pressure from Non-governmental agencies] or to ‘bugger off’ them to where they came from [ballot box winner - popular election vote cruncher]. S’pore government do not face the electorate pressure unlike Australia’s but that is not a good thing! So far, ‘Foreign Talent’ policies are seen to favor the foreigners over the locals. It is the overwhelming fault of the local citizens who failed to ‘use the prod’ to remind the government that they are accountable to the people. In that, they have to discard their ‘fear’ or ’support’ in the next election or forever hold their tongue! [i.e. keep quiet and let the govt do their thing]. Old Man was definitely ‘insulting’ the locals in his National Geographic’ interview and he needs a ’spur’ up his hide to ensure he does not take S’poreans for granted.
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opening the flood gate is only step 1. This is to let foreigners taste the sweet juice. Now the time is ripe for Phase 2. Force these people to take up PR. take note again PRs ARE CONSIDERED RESIDENTS. Phase 3 will be activated base on the political situation in singapore. Looking at it… very soon they will either invite RESIDENTS to ballotbox or force PRs to take up citizenship
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Many ruling powers in the world have been using race and religion to divide and rule those under their powers. Singapore ruling elites prefer to divide and rule those under their power along those who’re “hard-driving” and those who aren’t under the name of “meritocracy”.
The ruling capitalist bosses in USA have always been dividing and ruling workers along the line of “hard-driving” recent immigrants from Europe and or other parts of the world against older generations of immigrants in addition to dividing and ruling along race and religious lines. Perhaps our MIW ruling elites aren’t as overtly racist in this respect but the motivation is the same — profit above all else.
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The purpose of getting FTs is to eventually ( very soon ) allowing them to vote so PAP can stay in power again . If zoom into the problem , the MIW knows that 80% of the citizens wanted to boot them out in the coming election . They don’t give a shit to singaporeans anymore . Time to do our part as citizens during election time . We do not have an option .
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There are many old men and old women pick drink cans from trash bins and carton boxes from alley ways. It is sad to see them scraping a living this way. They could be you or me in 20 years’ time.
Can we be not be proactive to offer these elderly Singaporeans people a job at food courts cleaning the tables instead of picking rubbish on the streets ?
Why are there foreigners working in our food court instead of these elderly people?
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Dear All,
Please note that TR will be more stringent and more active (as a response to feedback from bloggers) about Racists and Vulgar comments.
Please note that we will remove entire blogs with these comments.
Please support TR to be more Credible and Sustainable.
Cheers, Moderator, Temasek Review
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To My Dearest Myanmar national,
1) In fact many of us here have nothing against Myanmar national, native singaporeans are frustrated at our government policy and working attitude. They made things increased and expect us to get low salary while they themselves get millionS dollar salary!
2) Our government keep encouraging poor singaporeans to bite the bullets and behind our back, they fire missile and cannon at us.
3a) Talking from human point of view, we are like you, most myanmar national are very disappointed with your country government because your government did not take care of the people welfare. Please correct me if I am Wrong .
3b) For our grievances, unhappiness and dissatisfaction and shit we are in, touch your heart and tell me whether we are happy to see foreigners worker here ?
4) We are mostly very dissatisfied and look down on PRC and india national.
5) These PRC & indian even become new citizens without even going to two years of national service.
These new citizens brought with them their uncultured, bad behaviour, cunning and irritating style here to antagonize and irritating singaporeans. It is unfortunate that they are our neighbours but we will ward them off !!!
These are really nuisance and rubbish from China & India !!!!!!!!!
6) Speaking from a chinese myself, majority of the PRC culture, behaviour, mindset, character and attitude are a total disgrace to the Chinese in singapore.
Be it a colleagues or neighbour, we find these PRC and Indian a nuisance and irritating idiots !
7) I hope you understand our situation and I supposed I have informed you that you are not our main target.
It is those cunning, irritating and discarded goods from China and India !!!
Personally I find Myanmar national more friendly and sincere.
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Just to let u guys know, I’ve seen foreigners collecting drinks cans.
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LKY has never regarded sinkapore as a nation, and is ‘disappointed’ with the current stock of sinkees as they’re not ‘cheap, good and hard-driving’ anymore. So he is seeking to replace the entire stock with foreigners who can be just that, and remake singapore from the ground up – by replacing its populace!
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This blog is inciting hatred and disharmony and is threatening
the nation’s peace and stabilty. All your articles are meant to plant seeds of hatred and anger within the group of people who are ill-informed and irrationally ruled by emotions and taking advantage of them.
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The fact that the article was originally posted at Shitty Times did not draw any response but did when at TR goes to ahow:
1. More readers are taking TR seriously.
2. Shitty Times blog or forum are censoring these comments and not allowing them to surface against PAPies policies.
Which is why readers visit TR to soeak their mind.
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6.5million Population; 3.5million NEW CITIZENS – PAP EVERY 5 YEARS SURE WIN.
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
PAP
PAP
PAP
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StupidStory:
You are them mouthpiece of the PAP?
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@StupidStory
“This blog is inciting hatred and disharmony and is threatening
the nation’s peace and stabilty. All your articles are meant to plant seeds of hatred and anger within the group of people who are ill-informed and irrationally ruled by emotions and taking advantage of them.”
That applies for Straits Times as well.
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@StupidStory
You are not suffering at all that is why you said we are inciting hatred disharmony. 你在讲风凉话
We are speaking the truth.
You never hear any truth because no one has been honest to tell you the truth.
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所以部長所說：外勞和國人能相輔相成簡直繆論。不然這些外勞怎麽囘群起攻擊維護本土利益的行動呢？
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“This blog is inciting hatred and disharmony and is threatening
the nation’s peace and stabilty. All your articles are meant to plant seeds of hatred and anger within the group of people who are ill-informed and irrationally ruled by emotions and taking advantage of them.”
TR only shown brutal truth and make no pretension to paint rosy and beautiful picture that disconnected with the ground like ShittyTimes. TR only take order from the nature not from bastards like MIW and cronies. If you want to continue to live in blissful make-believe world of PAP, having rich life in Ivory Tower, go and visit PAP site and read ShittyTimes.
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Foreigners should not blame Singaporeans, they should blame the PAP. The SinGov is making use of foreigners to perpetuate and promote their own wealthy hegemony to stay in power, money and to vote them in the next election. If these foreigners still think that we need to bow to them, they should think thrice, cos we not going to respect any foreign clowns who vote PAP into power because these clowns feel that PAP is much better than their own gov and country. The very fact that PAP can attract people from country below ranking of Singapore, reaffirm our suspicions that the gov is going to screw the local with sub-standard foreigners.
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Didn’t the foreigners even realize that they are just a pawn in the chess game like Singaporeans by the PAP to enrich the hegemony ? If so, you choose to come here and become citizen, then why complain about the backslash ? If the PAP not going to resolve the social cohesiveness and impact of overcrowding Singaporeans with foreigners, then Singaporeans have to resolve it themselves by backslashing and rejecting these foreigners in blogosphere and in real world.
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FT is good if you are employer hiring the cheap labor.
Unless all of the native is an employer than it will benefit most of us. However, to the contrary, FT come to setup business and hire FT and most of us is employee not employer. The PAP policies is screwing up those hardworking Singaporean.
Inflation goes up,FT number goes up, HDB price goes up,
Percentage of native Singaporean goes down, salary drop,saving drop, number of homeless goes up, number of working hours goes up, retirement year goes up to 85.
Prediction PAP salary goes up because of improvement of Singapore economy from the mass influx of FT.
Singaporean cost of living goes up.
Social problem goes up.
Please vote for PAP to get Singapore to become the first uniquely ‘Global city’. Let those ministers have more pay rise and we shall continue to be slave of the ’slave city’.
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TR, I agree that racism and expletives have no place here. Focus on the facts and let Singaporeans make up their own minds if you want to reach the mainstream. This current government gives you endless material to write on with their faulty, ill-conceived policies. But it would also be waiting to pounce on your mistakes. I wish to see you grow from strength to strength but beware of the pitfalls as some people have warned here.
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Well done. You are right, online spats can someday become real life spats.
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Hi vege,
Thanks for your feedback. Unfortunately, with our readership now, we are already in the MAINSTREAM.
Exposer encapsulates very nicely what we have been trying to say:
There is a difference between inciting hatred and disharmony and reporting the TRUTH (the ugly truth to be precise).
Inciting hatred means that we adopt a stand against a particular race and write inflammatory articles attacking their culture, language, beliefs etc.
Did we do that in the article on the Myanmar girl?
We simply report the facts as they are:
1. Her name and occupation were reported in Straits Times.
2. She is learning English at a CC.
3. Her job can be taken over by any local.
What’s wrong with the above statements? Did we write anything about her nationality? Did we incite hatred against the Burmese? Think about it.
The reason why there is such a massive outcry over it is because tensions have been building up for a very long time. Just because people don’t express them publicly doesn’t mean they don’t exist.
At least now we know there is a problem and we can figure out how to address the concerns of both communities. It is not our responsibility to do this dirty work for the PAP, but we are doing so as we want to be responsible stakeholders in the community.
The PAP’s modus operandi is to pretend everything is all right and sweep the problem under the carpet. Such an approach will only breed a state of denial and complacency which will create more problems in the future.
Take for example the HINDRAF movement in Malaysia:
For many years, the Indians were marginalized in Malaysia, but their problems were never addressed publicly. MIC, the party representing the Indians always played down the community’s problems and the Tamil newspapers never reflect the real concerns of the Indians.
That’s why when HINDRAF was formed, it was able to garner so much support within a short period of time.
Similarly, for our detractors throwing brickbats at us, please analyze the situation carefully: if we are really racists, will we have so many readers and supporters?
Surely there is some element of the truth in what we are reporting.
The truth hurts, but it still must be revealed so that we will know where exactly the problems lie.
There may be a flame war going on now between locals and Burmese. However, it will lead to greater understanding, acceptance and tolerance between the two communities at the end of the day.
Why? Because there is communication, there is debate and there is dialogue going on though the language may not be exactly pleasant all the time.
Now go and read the latest comments again, cool heads will prevail eventually.
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I agree that PAP is the root cause of our problems. We must vote them out.
However, certain foreign workers here are equally detestable. The Myanmar have insulted Singaporeans, calling us lazy, useless, etc. All TR did was to highlight that a Myanmar with poor English was given a job when there are many equally qualified Singaporeans.
We have treated Myanmar the best, being the first to give them aid when the floods struck Myanmar. This is how they repay us!
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Leave the thread open so we can see how many Myanmese trolls there are around the world. I found their posts hilarious.
The Myanmese way too free lah, their employers here & around the world should take note to give them LOTS OF WORK. Quite a number of these Myanmese trolls claim to be from USA & other places. They must be shaking legs & eating snake while at work.
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TR, I was talking about the comments which your previous article attracted. As I said it is great to have an alternative to the official media, that is why I am sure many of us want to see you succeed. But I think you are some way from being mainstream. Are the majority who voted for the PAP reading this? If they read you how receptive are they? All the mouldy minds which had been fed a steady diet of government propaganda and misinformation take time to kick-start. That is why you must be miles ahead of the Straits Times in terms of the standard of reporting to wake them up!
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Screw Myanmese forum posters. Just because the SG government welcomes you with open arms, does not means that the SG citizens will! They should count themselves lucky to be here. In a real developed country with a population of politically saavy citizens… they’ll be driven out!!!
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No comments in the mainstream newspapers does not mean no one commented. It could be, the editors would not print the letters, or they did not open a thread in the ST DB. It is no secret that most people from Myanmar do not write or speak comprehensible English. If social unrests happen in future, it is just a tragedy waiting to happen.
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I have a suggestion. Let’s promote this site by doing a search in Google and Yahoo with the words “Temasek Review” every now and then.
Internet users like myself who monitor “Google Hot Trends” and “Yahoo Popular Searches” should check out this site out of curiousity.
But of course, TR have to make sure their server can handle the increased traffic.
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When burmese created an unrest and conquered our land with their arrogance, we want President Nathan to issue a letter to PAP to step down voluntarily for the new government to form. Alternatively, they will be legally voted out and never to appear in the face of Singapore ever again.
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“Singapore had accepted many immigrants from Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Taiwan in the 1980s and 1990s and Singaporeans never had any issues with them as they are similar to us in culture and had come in smaller numbers.”
Yes, in the past, the % of FTs among the Singapore population is a lot smaller. Currently, it’s about 36%. With smaller number of FTs, it’s easier for them to be assimilated into our Singapore society too. With a large number of FTs in Singapore, they will tend to congregate among themselves to form enclaves. It will be harder to assimilate them.
“We are leaving it open for the authorities to see for themselves the mess they have created for Singaporeans and if they do not revamp their policies radically and reverse the intake of foreigners, the flaming they see on TR now will spill over into real life one day.”
PAP obviously is choosing to pretend that nothing is happening. I’ve never seen PAP so completely out of touch with the ground before. As recent as yesterday in a Minister dialog session involving Shanmugam and Yew Tee residents, he still denied that FTs take away jobs from Singaporeans. He accused Singaporeans for being choosy… LOL!
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The burmese got brave because of the SDP. They identify with SDP and Su Kyi and the Burmese are invited by SDP to join them in their opposition activities etc.
PAP is only a party. They have manage to keep Singapore manageable. There is no guarantee that they can do it forever.
One day Singapore will be joined to Malaysia. Then even a word will become an issue and you will pine for the PAP.
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I don’t want to say Singaporeans are the worst. But let me say a real experience. In recent ASEAN youth summit in one of ASEAN countries, there are 17 delegates from Singapore & 9 of them are foreigners. And this summit took 2 days and Singaporeans delegates only took part for first day. On second day, they toured around the city a whole day while others 400 & more delegates were in the summit hall paying attention to the speakers. All the delegates were chosen from Internet & awarded free transportation, accommodation & summit ticket. They wasted their big chance to meet the international speakers. I cannot understand those kind of Singaporeans. Are those Singaporeans better than foreigners? Oh, yes, I forgot one fact to say. As there are no Singaporeans in summit, a delegate from other country had to represent Singapore in official interview.
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I don’t want to say Singaporeans are the worst. But let me say a real experience. In recent ASEAN youth summit in one of ASEAN countries, there were 17 delegates from Singapore & 9 of them are foreigners. And this summit took 2 days and Singaporeans delegates only took part for first day. On second day, they toured around the city a whole day while others 400 & more delegates were in the summit hall paying attention to the speakers. All the delegates were chosen from Internet & awarded free transportation, accommodation & summit ticket. They wasted their big chance to meet the international speakers. I cannot understand those kind of Singaporeans. Are those Singaporeans better than foreigners? Oh, yes, I forgot one fact to say. As there were no Singaporeans in summit, a delegate from other country had to represent Singapore in official interview.
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I just want to report to the bros here that after sparring with the Myanmese in the other thread, I came to the conclusion that they have a very different idea about news reporting.
To us Singaporeans, it was quite clear that the ST reporter obviously must have interviewed the girl and got hold of her name and other information before publishing the news but the Myanmese insisted that ST/TR shouldn’t have published her name and info. They do not seem to grasp the concept of “consent” to interview. I mean, for Singaporeans, if a reporter comes and interviews us and we do not wish to be featured, we will not disclose our names.
Perhaps in Myanmar, their interview with newspapers there is accompanied by a rifle-carrying soldier?
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Myanmar can suffer from floods, starvation, riots for all I care. I am not donating a single cent to them ever again. Let their own “talents” help themselves.
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TR is just asking for it
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That was a stupid article I have ever seen in the newspaper. I think the writer must be a shallow people. Think yourself.
If the Singapore government never allow foreigners to work in Singapore, which Singaporean can work as general worker in construction sites, factory, offshore, logistics with 500 per month? If the company hire Singaporeans and have to pay high salary, that company can stay longer in Singapore? All the factory and companies will move to low-overhead countries like China or India. Singapore become a ghost-town and will disappear in a few years. Wake up guys… Look at yourself. I know some Singaporeans are very smart. They will never talk like that. They know the situation. Only those nothing-to-do people are complaining. Frankly they cannot compare with foreigner in attitude. Foreign workers respect not only their job but also their boss. They help other work even not in their job scope. Very hard to find that attitude in local people (so sorry, never meant to the good Singaporeans). Employers are looking for that kind of attitude. So, please don’t close your eyes and shout. Try to change yourself …
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REMEMBER:
Fault lies with PAP party.
They and their liberal polices have created this mess not only for Singaporeans but also created problems for our foreign friends.
VOTE THE PAP OUT!! That’s the remedy.
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vege on Mon, 18th Jan 2010 8:51 pm,
TR is far far from mainstream. TR is tembalik and opposite from mainstream and news. TR is fringe and propaganda.
Msm commend Yin to learn English. TR hint Yin is useless without English. No wonder Burmese angry.
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Blame PAP if there is any social arrest in Singapore due to foreign workers and Singaporean.Who else more deserving to be blamed than PAP?
The stupid foreign workers policy will see the destruction of Singapore. This is a small place any disharmony will wipe her out in a matter of days.
The warning were made by past PAP members that if we allow the continuation of influx of foreign workers, there will be big social problem. In spite of that, current government refuses to give up earning high salaries but leave us citizen die our business.
The influx of foreigners help to increase GDP which in turn increase MIW salaries. The line between talent and general work force is totally blurred.Nobody with a serious stake in Singapore trust them to take care of us anymore.
Even if LKY were to step out to speak for PAP, he may only receive lukewarm reception and cannot turn the majority of the people towards PAP anymore. If LKY loses his position in rallying the people, we are doomed and there are no leader with a bigger clout than him in Singapore at the moment.
This society will be fragmented and it may take a long time until a capable leader is able to rise up to rebuild this country again.
The government must repatriate low quality guest workers back home to gain the confidence of Singapore as a starter move.
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When I’m moody I read TR. The trash makes me laugh and cheer me up. Epecially, the echoes. Those who know nothing outside Singapore.
Why?
Cos I (“we” also as many Singaporeans too) travel quite frequently to many places all over the world for work and leisure.
Tell you the truth. Singapore’s still BEST.
Don’t believe me. Do the same . . . travel and seeing is believing.
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Thank you TR for standing up for the truth. Those who are blaming TR, face the truth. TR only posted an article. The rest of the comments were exchanged by us, bloggers.
Weren’t we all stating the obvious? Weren’t we all expressing our resentment on the current situation?
I realised that TR has paypal and must have incurred a huge cost especially during the recent events. I will make a donation to you TR. Since we don’t read cotton candy news here, that we often find in Straits Times. You state the facts.
How the people comment on it is more important, without jeopardizing TR.
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If outsiders see our world renowned orator and elder statesman
lambasting at us,how would you,even a foreign worker from a lesser developed country react?…what sinister thought cross your mind as could be baltantly noticed by some comments recently here and elsewhere.
Of course,more gracious and grateful foreigners would not have behaved so rudely and irrespectfully towards their hosts.
When i and my friends go on tours,we make sure we BEHAVE even if we were the ones spending money,not eraning money as in the case of our guest workers!
OUTRAGEOUS indeed!…these agrressive chaps just need to be transported over the CAUSEWAY,a very short distance away,and see for themselves the kind of reception they would have wiht SUCH ATTITUDE?!!!
Our policy-makers have not only impoverished us,the citizens, by their UNWISE policies but they have thrwon our SINGAPOREAN IDENTITY and DIGNITY to the wild dogs….sad,my fellow countrymen,sad indeed.
We,citizens,need to RIGHT this WRONG!
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TR, don’t care about the people who criticise you. They are all blind and can’t see right and wrong. These fools are so wrong. All Singaporeans around the world will know this sooner or latter. MSM is all trash and lies. They are worse than toilet paper. You are the only one who tell and guard the truth as we see it.
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“If the Singapore government never allow foreigners to work in Singapore, which Singaporean can work as general worker in construction sites, factory, offshore, logistics with 500 per month? ”
Please lah, have some brain. why talk about NEVER like MIW in extreme case ? Did anyone say we don’t need ANY foreigners in the first place ? Have some cum in your brain and stop distracting us with your highfalutin scenario.
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Dr. Truth,
You don’t have to worry for Singapore and Singaporeans, understand? Whether we become a ghost town or not, it is our own business, not yours. Maybe it is better to become ghost town, as we will have more houses to live in, and MRTs, open spaces are less crowded. We can then finally enjoy life.
All you need to do is pack your bags, return to your own country and don’t look back. Understand simple English?
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TR, don’t care about the people who criticise you. They are all blind and can’t see right and wrong. These fools are so wrong. All Singaporeans around the world will know this sooner or latter. Msm is all trash and lies. They are worse than toilet paper. You are the only one who tell and guard the truth as we see it.
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Benson Chong on Tue, 19th Jan 2010 12:05 am
Dear Benson Chong,
I have a totally different view from yours. Could be because I have been travelling to developed countries while you have been travelling to third world countries?
If you treat Singapore as a fortune 500 company then yes it is a well run company. I surpose you are treating Singapore as a place to make money, then yes I agree with you that it is a great place.
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To/
Myanmar NOT WELCOME IN SG and all Singaporeans WHO HATE foreigners ,
No offense but may I know where your ancestors came from?
Born and live here in Singapore?
Don’t think so…!
Please learn history more to know better about your country.
Thank you!
Myanmar Lady.
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> anonymous: Msm commend Yin to learn English. TR hint Yin is useless without English. No wonder Burmese angry.
I don’t see anything wrong for TR to ask hard hitting questions like how someone who is still learning essentially primary school English can work as an account executive in a company. Go to the street and ask 10 Singaporeans. They will ask the same question too! Who cares if Bumese is angry or not? What matters is if Singaporeans living in Singapore are happy or not!
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> Myanmar Lady: No offense but may I know where your ancestors came from? Born and live here in Singapore? Don’t think so…!
If you really want to trace, according to the National Geographic Genographic Project, all of our ancestors come from Africa. So, stop using this ancestry argument. What matters most is Singapore is now a soverign country and that we are all born and bred citizens of this country here. Singapore now has a duty to the citizens as much as the citizens have responsibilities to the country (e.g. serving NS). Does it make sense for Singapore to put the interests of foreigners first and those of its citizens 2nd?
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Hi Myanmar Lady,
Please don’t tell us grand mother story, you are nothing but an ancestor worshiper.
You should curse your ancestor for they are the one that put you in this pride. Why you cannot work in your own country and have to crawl to other country to steal other people’s job? Have you no conscience and pride? Why do you leave your beloved leader Aung San Suu Kyi rot in the hand of the dictator?
Instead of helping another group of people under the hand of their dictator, you are here to protect your minuscule job and cause others misery. Shame on you woman of no ancestry. Shame on you for stamping on me. Shame on you for wanting to replace me.
Our ancestors had fought and died for us and brought us independent day. Their blood gave us the right of inheritance and now we are proud Singaporean, born and bred fully and wholly in this country. Have your ancestor did that for you in your own country. So stop talking about ancestry when you have no right to add to misery.
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Dear Foreigners,
Welcome to Singapore. I do not blame you, because who does not want to aspire to a better life for themselves and their family? I have many foreign friends and they are hardworking and nice people. I hope many of you will decide to stay and become part of Singapore.
I only blame our government, for implementing policies where I as a citizen am 2nd-class to non-citizens…then have the government tell me that I am lazy. So to be not lazy, I must be a criminal and break the rules and policies that the government makes? This is not me parroting popular sentiment but because of my own experiences.
When people feel unfairly treated by their government, they will become angry and seek an outlet for their anger. Understand that Singaporeans do not actually hate YOU as a foreigner. They are angry with their government but feel helpless so they hit out at you.
As TR admin points out, this kind of online spat is reflection of the sentiments that lie simmering beneath our society. MPs keep worrying about racial and religious riots, but they’re barking up the wrong tree and I hope they don’t miss the elephant in their living room.
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Vote PAP ＯＵＴ ！
Ｏｒ ｏｕｒｓｅｌｖｅｓ ａｎｄ ｃｈｉｌｄｒｅｎ ｇｏｉｎｇ ｔｏ ｓｕｆｆｅｒ ａｎｄ ｔｒｅａｔｅｄ ｌｉｋｅ ａｎｉｍａｌ！
Ｍｙａｎｍａｒ Ｎａｔｉｏｎａｌ ｇｏｔ ｎｏｔｈｉｎｇ ｔｏ ｄｏ ｗｉｔｈ ｔｈｉｓ ｍｅｓｓ， ｉｓ ｔｈｅ ＰＡＰ ！
Vote PAP ＯＵＴ ！
Vote PAP ＯＵＴ ！
Vote PAP ＯＵＴ ！
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To Myanmar Lady,
“No offense but may I know where your ancestors came from?”
Our ancestors as well as your ancestors came from Africa. Does that answer your questions?
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Legion you are in no position to apologize on anyone behalf.
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Jason Lim on Tue, 19th Jan 2010 9:25 am
“Cos I (”we” also as many Singaporeans too) travel quite frequently to many places all over the world for work and leisure.
Tell you the truth. Singapore’s still BEST.
Don’t believe me. Do the same . . . travel and seeing is believing.”
Tell you the truth after travelling half the globe. Singapore is still far far behind. Pls compare apple to apple.
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http://www.chinapost.com.tw/asia/singapore/2008/06/27/162897/Opposition-party.htm
and this
http://tinyurl.com/2ptlgq
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To Myanmar Lady,
please go back myanmar if you are so proud of your ancestors turning your own country into a hell hole
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The difference and why many leave stupid singapore
Eligibility
A permit for working in Canada rests upon a written job offer from an employer.
Once you have received such an offer, in most cases it is then subject to confirmation by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) who will assess the likely impact of employing a foreign national in the position in question, to ensure that the employment is genuine and that it will not impact negatively on the domestic labour market.
HRSDC
from:
http://www.globalvisas.com/canada_visas/canada_work_permit.html?gclid=CJvYg-LCsp8CFQ0upAoddU-aUA
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@Myanmar Lady takes it up the arse hole,@citizenofSG,@
Kojakbt,
Thanks for your responses,
I’m staying in Myanmar.
I love my country.
There’s no reason to live in your so-called country which is in fact a small-tiny island even hard to breath cos it’s so crowded with immature citizens like u.
I’d rather stay in hell.
I also don’t support myanmars who live in singapore.
What I wanted to pointed about your ancestor was they were all came from other countries. Literally they were all foreigners. Bcos of them u guys being alive today.
Singapore infrastructure was also based on Myanmar. That’s why most of your road’s name like Irrawady, Moulamine, Mandalay and so on takes the names of our famous river and states.
Well, your ancestors were really thoughtful and created a peaceful country for u all by their blood. But what i see now today is really pathetic and narrow-minded generation. There’s no reason to against foreigners. Rather u should thank them.
And u know what we do to foreigners in our country? We welcome them with the warmest smile. We are so proud that we can meet them once in a life time chance so we do our best to please them. Our nature is humble, friendly, generous and loyal. If ur interested, I’d like to invite all of u to come and visit us one day. U’ll see…!
Actually, we should all cut this crap. Don’t want to grow the nonsense. Like kwailan said , if all of our ancestor were from Africa then we are relatives…! I think it’s not good to have family affairs, right?
Thanks.
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