If you change Maldives to Singapore...this article will still apply

[red amoeba]

http://www.miadhu.com/2012/08/local-news/we-and-our-neighbours/

In his recently published book titled ‘My Log Book 1947-2008’Ali Umar Maniku, a well known Maldivian who was associated with development projects in Maldives writes about our country “I have always said that the world has got into the Maldives: The Maldives has not yet got into the world”. Ali Umar Maniku has caught the Maldivian dilemma rather well. While in our own thirst for progress and development, we have imported many things, including people from abroad. Hover, We Maldivians are yet to enter the “contemporary world”.

We are a proud nation and a proud people. Maldivian history tells us that we have always been independent except for a brief period of Portuguese domination in the 16th century. Even during the British time, there was no physical presence of the British in Maldives. Yet today we are a modern nation with highest per capita income in South Asia and, perhaps, the most developed in the material sense of the term. But are we really developed and how real is our progress?

For example, what about our understanding of our neighbouring countries? We have a population of 350,000 and an expatriate population that is about 100,000. Our young generation has lost value for hard work and is happy to while its time away doing nothing or consuming drugs. It also spends considerable time on making rounds of Malé city on motorcycles and in the process mercilessly hitting pedestrians. In the last 20 years we have made tremendous progress, primarily due to the development of resorts. But what about human development and the treatment we mete out to our neighbours?

There are over 50,000 Bangladeshis in this country. Without them we cannot think of keeping our country running. They are the ones who do the menial jobs of picking up our trash, clean our houses and ultimately see that we live our lives in a comfort zone. But they live the lives of bonded labourers and slaves with no recourse to health and basic amenities forget about justice from the system.

How many of us have really seriously thought of these people and their lives? We are upset when international agencies write about these issues and our bloggers have shown considerable enthusiasm in condemning such reports, but have never offered suggestions to bring humane existence to these labourers. Without them moving essential commodities, constructing new buildings and resorts, running our houses and offices would become impossible and yet we seem to be completely unaware of this sub-human existence of hundreds of people from our neighbouring countries amidst us.

The issues confronting expatriate neighbours whether from Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka or Nepal are the same. Their salaries are meagre, they have to work continuously for several hours, often they are not paid salaries for months, the food that they get is of a low quality, their places of stay are often cramped and crowded and they have barely space to sleep or breathe. Would we treat our own Maldivian brothers and sisters like this? The condition of maids from Philippines, Sri Lanka, India or other countries is not encouraging either. They work in our houses day and night and we have a right to exploit them in whatever way we think appropriate. Often many of us don’t give them leave, they have no freedom to move around, they may not step out of Malé for years and when they want to go on leave we simply go to the police station and complain about the so-called misbehaviour of the person. Our efficient administration then ensures that the person is stopped at the airport or he is harassed in some other way including a police case which can go forever grounding the person in Maldives.

While we treat our expatriates from the neighbouring countries in this manner, we also develop an inferiority complex towards white man and the western world. Each time an incident happens in Maldives, we rush to Western institutions and countries to seek their approvals or condemnation. We treat people from our neighbouring countries like inferior slaves while others from the Western world as superior species that has destined to guide us and takes us out of our problems.

There is a dire need for us Maldivians to take a stock of ourselves. Let us think how much inconvenienced we would be if the expatriate labourers returned to their respective countries. Can our youth construct buildings? Can our youth carry heavy loads from the boats to the market? Can our youth take the waste to the disposal ground? Let us pledge that we will treat our expatriate labourers with respect that they deserve. Let us respect these people if we cannot salute them for helping us run our country.

 

[jubilee1919]

We are too far gone relying heavily on having cheap labour that there will be no turning back. The 10% poor in Singapore will never be able to get out of poverty if the government does not address the problem.

 

[KopiO]

Very good article for insightful reflection! And honest, unlike the majority of self centered postings here in SBF.

The poor in SG will only want to "threaten" the government. They want a better life and yet not want to work for it. Take a trip back 50 years; what true blue Singaporeans were there? Where were these true blue Singaporeans? Today the descendants of these early migrants to Singapore seem incapable of working as hard as their forefathers.

 

[roadrunner]

OP says they have a local maldivian population of 350,000 & expats of 100,000 & he raises some very valid points.. but i dun think you can compare it with SG. For one Maldives ecology is already suffering, scientist have warned that if seawater level goes up, Maldives will be under water. And recently one documantary highlighted their method of disposing rubbish is already killing the seas around them, so the rise & fall of the Maldivians might come sooner than later & its all down to the ecology. You know lah, when the going is good, everybody is there having a party, when it's over.. all the tourists trade dies off & even the foreign workers go home, what you get left is a sinking polluted chain of islands.

In SG it's just wave after wave of immigrants arriving over the years or even centuries. The newly arrived or Sinkeks are poor & work very hard, their children get a better life but they start to spoil them becos they dun want them to suffer like they did, one hand use silverspoon to feed, the other wipe their backsides, slowly slowly this is filtered down the generations.. now you see maids carrying ah boy backpack, ah boy can even scold maid & scold parents, the worst are those that just pester their parents until they give in & let them get what they want. If grandfather or great grandfather can see this he'll turn in his grave! The "can do" mentality of previous generations & the "pioneering spirit" of our forefathers are long gone.

and going back to the OP, yes there's good in looking within oneself, being open, even humbled in acknowledging the sacrifices & work these foreign workers do in Maldives but applying it to SG, i somehow dun see it working in a pressure cooker like SG, it's too easy to look the other way & be self centred, there isn't enough of that new "consciousness" around. You are the product of SG & you're surrounded by more of these clueless automatons. IMHO i think it's too little too late to change the mentality in SG, if things or life in SG were less complicated, there might still be a chance for real changes. Politics might change in the near future in SG but die, die inside every singaporean there is that kia si kia su blood pumping away. Those that i know who have broken free of this.. have become roadrunners & gone elsewhere. So the cycle of migration continues... once a son/daughter of a migrant, always a migrant!

 

[ionzu]

The poor in SG will only want to "threaten" the government. They want a better life and yet not want to work for it.

this is a function of democracy and the popular vote. likewise, the rich will threaten the government and refuse to pay more in taxes for social welfare programs. the "hardworking rich" will begrudge the "lazy poor"