154th Scholar Bitch: Serangoon Gdn IMMATURE & IGNORANT!

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>They build our homes, but we want to deprive them of housing?

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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->SERANGOON Gardens residents should try to welcome these foreign workers to their neighbourhood and co-exist with them for a time before jumping to the uncalled-for conclusion that their behaviour is wrought with vice.


If things turn nasty among pockets of foreign workers, there are always measures available to root out these bad eggs and then educate and counsel them.

=> By who? WKS?

For these so-called educated middle-class residents to generalise about foreign workers as dangerous ragamuffins is immature and speaks only of ignorance. Are they not human, like us?

=> And humans have biological needs. So she's prepared to be fingered herself?

Class segmentation and racial segregation have plagued world history during evil and cruel times. Surely we do not want a repeat of the past today, so why can't Serangoon Gardens residents up their level of tolerance and behave like caring and educated people?

I urge residents to put themselves in the shoes of these working-class immigrants or backtrack many years ago when their ancestors came from villages overseas and brought their supposed 'bad habits and uncouth behaviour' to Singapore. We must reflect on the tolerance the original occupants of Singapore had to these migrants because it is the reason we stand here today as a successful society.

In addition, I would like to highlight that most Singaporeans are shocked by the extreme and adamant reactions of Serangoon Gardens residents. These foreign workers provide us with modern, state-of-the-art accommodation through their toil. Are we to deny them even the most basic accommodation?

I have family and friends in Yio Chu Kang, Yishun and Sengkang who co-exist peacefully on the most part with foreign workers who stay in lodgings just a stone's throw from their flats, condominiums and landed properties. Living in such close proximity also allows healthy cultural exchanges. I urge residents to view the matter objectively.

This fiasco is of great embarrassment to Singapore. We claim we are a cosmopolitan city but the way we treat the very people who have played a major part in shaping of city is just plain ungrateful.
Melody Zaccheus (Ms)

http://www-bus.tp.edu.sg/bus_home/bus_showcase/bus_successstories/bus_successstories_cmm.htm

Melody Zaccheus

Melody Zaccheus, CMM Class of 2008, was presented the Singapore Press Holdings Scholarship award on 17 July 2008 by SPH Chairman Dr Tony Tan.

Of the seven recipients this year, Melody is the only polytechnic graduate to be selected for the scholarship. The SPH Scholarship is traditionally awarded to ‘A’ Levels graduates with academic and CCA excellence to pursue a university education either locally or overseas. Melody is the second polytechnic graduate selected to receive this award (the first was a TP School of Design graduate).

Melody gave credits to the knowledge gained in the diploma and the 24-week-long internship at SPH in an interview with CMM-produced campus newspaper, Stop Press. Melody interned with The Sunday Times where she had the opportunity to interview people from all walks of life including dignitaries. All the CMM lecturers speak with pride of having read her articles that were published in the national paper during her internship.

She had won the commendation of senior editors at SPH during her internship and in a sense was “talent-spotted” for the scholarship award.

Melody, who is currently attached to The New Paper, will be pursuing a Bachelor of Arts & Social Sciences degree at the National University of Singapore and is sure that her training at CMM will put her in good stead.

http://www.flowerpod.com.sg/forums/lofiversion/index.php/t65579-100.html

Melody Z
May 12 2008, 06:57 PM
Dear Ms

I'm Melody Zaccheus, a reporter from The New Paper. We are interested in pursuing your story and to expose this fraudster. Is it possible for you to get back to me at 63196218 or [email protected]?

Thank you very much for your time.

Hoping to hear from you soon. (:

Melody Zaccheus
Journalist
DID 6319 6218

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Disgusted by prejudice against those who are less well off
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->I READ with disgust and how much prejudice some Singaporeans have against foreigners who are less well off and are here to work as labourers to support their family back home.
Foreign workers are not criminal, nor are poor people. Michael McCrea, a British financial adviser, killed his driver and his driver's girlfriend in 2002. Let us not forget American teen Michael Fay, who was caned for multiple acts of vandalism in 1994. And what about the army regular who was charged recently with molesting a young girl at a bus stop? Perhaps we should be wary of British, Americans and army regulars too and bar them from living in Serangoon Gardens.
From what I picked up online and verified at the Singapore Police Force website, 'the number of foreigners arrested for crime decreased from 3,036 to 2,758 persons in 2006. They accounted for about 14 per cent of the total persons arrested, same as in 2005'.
I was not able to get any current statistics from the police website. But the 2006 statistics reveal that 86 per cent of crimes in Singapore are committed by Singaporeans. So perhaps I should be more wary of my fellow Singaporeans than foreign workers? Since I am more likely to be a victim of a crime by a Singaporean, or perhaps foreign workers should be more afraid of Singaporeans than the other way round?
Most foreign workers are law abiding, though I understand that some of their public behaviour is considered socially unacceptable in Singapore. Perhaps foreign workers should be given a course in proper etiquette when they arrive, sponsored by the Government.
I connect this negative view towards foreign workers with the rise in maid abuse cases in Singapore. In February, a husband, his mother and his wife were charged with maid abuse. The next month, another family was hauled to court on the same charge. In July, three cases of maid abuse were heard in court.
What about the Chinese national who was bashed for talking too loudly on the bus in May? What surprised me was the views some Singaporean netizens had, that he got what he deserved. I have seen these sentiments regularly.
If you take a bus near any school after school finishes, the students will make enough noise to make your ears ring. Do they deserve to be bashed too? Or are rules different for Singaporeans and foreign workers?
Foreign workers are humans too, though they come from poorer countries to make a living here.
I quote former chief justice Yong Pung How in 2001, when he sentenced a Singaporean couple to consecutive jail terms for maid abuse:
'A maid sells her services, she does not sell her person. An employer should not exploit his maid's dependence on him for food and lodging, for these are basic rights,' he said in a written judgment.
'A maid's abased social status does not mean she is any less of a human being and any less protected by the law,' he said.
Martin Luther King said: 'I want to be the white man's brother, not his brother-in-law.'
Foreign workers and maids are here to stay, a necessary part of society, as they contribute to society by doing their jobs.
It is a sad to realise that, despite the economic progress we enjoy in a developed country like Singapore, Singaporeans still discriminate against people because of their social status, have problems viewing them as humans, and need the law to remind them foreign workers are humans too. Eric Luah

At least the younger generation have some grace, as compared to the older ones over at Sgoon Gardens...

if all of them like melody with perfume can put them 100K beside my flat I also dont mind. But not 100K smelly construction workers. It is not about race. eg Even 100K smelly NS slaves also not welcome.

She Serangoon Garderner meh?