1/09/2008

Social tension right before my eyes

I saw it last evening in the train. The apparent peaceful atmosphere was deceiving. There was this local sitting there with eyes closed and beside him was a FT. I did not see what actually caused the outburst, but probably a brush while sitting tightly beside one another. 'I know you are not Singaporean. Go back to your country.' The FT was stunned. And all was silent. Later the FT stood up to alight. The local stood up too. Both were at least 1.82m tall. Then smack smack, that was all the sound I heard as I was at the door. I turned and saw the FT standing motionless, too shock to react. The local muttered a few more harsh words and strutted off. With so many people crowding in the train or in public places, this kind of tension and violence will erupt more often at the slightest provocation. And it can become worst if it becomes a group thing.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

How do you know for sure the 'local' was indeed local ? I know of some Malaysians who like to pass themselves off as Singaporeans.

Speedwing said...

I too witnessed an incident where a local man sitting next to a Bangladeshi smack the thigh of this Bangladeshi all because they brushed against each other. Things will get nastier unless people are more tolerant.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

no where in the world is there a country where foreigners and citizens ratio is 1:1. in a small place like ours, the presence of foreigners will be exaggerated because of the close proximity of each other.

like it or not, singaporeans are just people and not angels. under pressure or stress, they will behave badly.

Anonymous said...

Singaporeans behave badly in ALL circumstances. That is why they are called DIRTY SINGAPOREANS.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

dirty, ugly, sheeples, singaporeans do not deserve to be in this paradise. i can envisage their eventual homes in some god forsaken islands to live through their last few years of life.

Anonymous said...

That will be great, leave the island of Singapore to the new Singaporeans and FTs from India and China. Like they say, cannot stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. Then you will see the real meaning of meritocracy.

Anonymous said...

>> no where in the world is there a country where foreigners and citizens ratio is 1:1.

Then you obviously have not travelled very much. Half the population of Brunei is Malaysian. Foreigners also outnumber citizens in the Gulf states of Bahrain, Oman and the UAE.

Anonymous said...

I hope the social tension gets worse and some turmoil surface. I think S'pore and S'poreans need some real crisis....not some little threat that's exaggerated & excessively disproportional.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

how about a 5 men public demonstration?

i think the lawyers are going to be very rich with people beating up one another. all these are civil cases and they can bring the assailants to court.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

How come I always miss out on the fun?

C'mon people... why so serious? In many other circumstances you have to PAY to see humans smash each other.

What the fuck are you complaining about? You have a free show!

Lucky devil!

Anonymous said...

troublemakers that give a bad impression of our country shud be put away.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

we need to form a team of inspectors or monitors to patrol up and down the aisle of the trains to keep peace.

with so many people of all kinds and temperaments being squeezed together in trains or buses, you can expect a few bullies to appear every now and then.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

Too expensive.

Simply make a constitutional amendment for S'poreans to own and carry firearms.

As Robert Heinlin observed:

An ARMED SOCIETY is a POLITE SOCIETY