When you think of expats, what’s the first thing that pops in your mind? White collared Caucasian men/women buzzing around in their BMWs, right? That’s stereotyping. How come, whenever people mentioned expats, it’s always the Caucasians that gets all the attention and glory? And every time we speak of foreign workers, it’s always the same old nationalities that make it to the list, i.e. Indian, Bangladeshi, Indonesian. We have to be fair and not labeling them in such a way. As long as they are not Singaporeans, and are working on a permit, they are foreign workers. Simple as that, colors aside. Please give credit to those lowly paid foreigners, who are actually contributing to our GDP. They may not be well-educated and living in condos, but they literally build our nation with their bare hands. They sweat it out almost 7 days a week, long hours, inferior living quarters and simple fare. On top of that, they still need to face our discriminating glares. I’m sure they don’t need that. I always feel we can do something good for them. The most recent is, the government enforcing companies to insure their workers with insurance. I think it’s about time we do something for them, especially the “foreign workers”. At least, if something bad happened to them, their families get some form of compensation.
I don’t have anything against the white collared expats, but I just feel that us, Singaporeans, should also show our appreciation to those who slog it out in adverse weathers and acknowledging their efforts to the nation. As our pledge goes, “Regardless of race, language or religion”, we should embrace everyone who makes Singapore what it is today, and better in the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment