I have the misfortune to deal with lots of foreigners in my area of work, PRC lousiest in english communication but they are very fast learners and can get things done, Pinoys are lazier but very fun loving and service oriented, Indians are the best at talking and boasting but after some time their true color shows. Out of all foreigners, trust me, Indians are the worst animals to bring into Singapore. They will never integrate into any society, in fact given enough numbers, they are the best at dividing the society. They speak with a forked tongue, lie on their way up, employ their own kind & once they gather enough numbers to kick all you dumb Singaporeans out, the infighting among these Indians will then start
There is something about them how they exploit opportunities and loopholes for self-benefit from top to bottom. This is not to say all are like that but I have seen quite a number.
I once changed money with an Indian money changer who gave me a $50 currency note less. As I was counting my money taking a few steps, I noticed it immediately and soon confronted him. Without a word, he gave me back $50.
Another case my friend encountered was getting the Town Council to remove furniture from his HDB home, and this Indian Indian supervisor turned up and asked for more tips openly saying he can help shift other furniture and when confronted with a "no", he changed his tact and openly pleaded for tips to help his workers who were doing the shifting. My friend relented and later he found out the workers got no tips at all, and the workers told him not to confront the supervisor as they feared for their jobs.
I have known a "top" professor in NUS whose knowledge is real scanty but he climbed his way to the top and got many promotions by exploiting the system. All his peers are aware but there is nothing they could do about it. NUS goes by a new scheme to promote lecturers due to amount of research churned out. My goodness, this chap merely did one thesis, and did minor amendments and churned out many other research papers, and sent out to all the research journals each with a different worded version. At the university's top management, they only see that so-and-so has been endorsed by this journal and see the list of "impressive endorsements" resumes.
Also, look at the Indian electronics retailers from the days of Arab Street and still operating today, they basically "scammed" you by selling you at "inflated prices" of electronics goods. Their ways of operations are subtle and basically look at you in your eyes and see how much they can scam you. But they are also smart not to go over the boundaries unlike the jokers in Sim Lim Square. They are wise always not to court publicity. Their modus operandi is still the same - work on the tourists who are less likely to return back and complain. These are local Indians.
Reading about this Mandarin Garden fiasco reminds me about the Indian culture but these Indian Indians lack the commonsense to grasp the local landscape unlike those local Indian electronic traders who obviously are localised here.
My guess is that in India, these practices are commonplace and there is no law to restrain them. Over here, Singaporeans are brought up to respect and regard the law as a force unto itself. It is a disgust over 2 different cultures. Perhaps it might also explain why Singaporeans so constrained by the law, when anonymous in this forum, can go berserk here eg cursing one another by reference to a body's anatomy ...
