Sunday, September 21, 2008

Little India

In the past few weeks, the government is mooting a proposal to build foreign workers' clusters.

One related report here.

To me, foreign workers have their own habits and cultures back in their homelands, e.g. open peeing, gathering in groups on plots of land, littering etc.

We can integrate them into Singapore community physically, but the assimilation of them into our community, our culture needs time.

On a typical Saturday, just go to Little India and see what I mean.

The foreign Indians talk differently, behave differently.

A statistic point out that around 50,000 foreign Indian workers descend on Little India on a typical Saturday.

And they become the majority there already!

Little India now, in my opinion is different from the Little India in the past.

The Little India in the past was Little India with a Singaporean flavour, now Little India becomes really Little India, a hub of the native Indians as it becomes transformed into an activity place for these Indian workers.

As thousands of foreign workers come to Little India, they transform the soul and atmosphere of the place, in my opinion.

What would be the first persons to benefit from an influx of foreign Indian workers into Little Indians?

If you guess correctly, its the businessmen!

Businesses in Little India would definitely adjust their offerings, products and services to grab a bite of this big market.

Thus the atmosphere of Little India may hence be changed by taking on a more native Indian flavour.

I do not have any discrimination against foreign workers as they are like all of us, who need to earn a living.

And it is harder for them , having to adjust to the highly urbanised state.

So let us be understanding to foreign workers.

It is alright not to smile at them if you face headon with them but please do not cast them with a different eye or discriminate against them.

Some Singaporeans I see, treat some of them as inferior to us in social status.

It is a bad atitude. These foreign workers contribute to the economy of Singapore and a part of the comfortable living we have right now.

Please note that I am discussing on foreign workers in this article.

I would be touching on foreign talents in one of the coming posts.

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