12/22/2007

I don't feel safe in my neighbourhood anymore

This is what Tan Ting Ting said in her letter to the ST forum. Her neighbour was attacked after a late night party, bashed and robbed. She used to feel so pleased about the quiet and peaceful neighbourhood of Anchorage and Sengkang but these have turned into fear. Another woman was murdered at Holland Road and a Bangladeshi worker is being charged. Like I said, it is only the beginning. But thank god, statistically we are still looking very good. The crime numbers are still negligible. Then if you don't add people being assaulted as crime but personal and private problems between two people, then we can keep the numbers even lower. Fortunately or unfortunately the woman that was bashed was also robbed. Otherwise it would be another private matter for her to pursue with her lawyers. There must be regulations to limit and restrict the rental of HDB flats to foreign workers. Having a flat with 5 or more men, all hungry, burly and lonely is a recipe for trouble. Only the naive Singaporeans who have lived a life of peace and undisturbed existence will think that life will always be that way even with so many foreigners living next door. The day will come when the mothers, the wives and the daughters would not dare to walk alone in HDB void decks or corridors. That is the price to pay for our reckless disregard of social and environmental security. You only need one or two bad hats in a thousand to create pain and fear.

11 comments:

  1. Hi Redbean, surely you are not totally hanging the blame of crime increase at the doors of foreign workers?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Alamak redbean, why the overreaction?

    People were getting murdered in S'pore before the arrival of these foreign workers.

    You're talking fucking nonsense again. S'pore is one of the safest cities in the world—despite the small amount of violent crime, which is going to happen anyway.

    Human freewill cannot be "beaten"—if some is going to steal, cheat or kill, it is IMPOSSIBLE stop them unless you are physically present and equipped to intervene (armed with weapons) at the time, or just before. Of course you may attempt (and in most cases succeed) in catching the perpetrator AFTER the crime is committed.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Frightening, scary and haunting, there are so many homicides lately in such a developed first world miniature landpiece.

    ReplyDelete
  4. i picked the bangladeshis because it just happened to be reported in the msm. incidentally, the prcs are here only to be chopped up by singaporeans. that was also reported in the papers.

    the issue is to cram too many hungry people in paradise. there is nothing about their colour. the common denominator is poverty. when a person is hungry and lonely, and desperate, and the neighours have everything, be prepared that their minds are ticking and thinking.

    in our madness to chase for economic numbers as a sign of progress, the simpletons are letting their guards down. there is a price to pay for this kind of progress. the social cost.

    ReplyDelete
  5. As I have mentioned in a previous post, you'd make a fine, and definitely the first non-white Grand Master in the Ku Klux Klan, due to the fact that you're looking on these foreigners as if they were "niggers".

    The irony is that most of us who call ourselves "Singaporean" are the offspring of IMMIGRANTS.

    But hey, I defend freedom, and thus defend every individual's RIGHT to be racist. All hatred is spawned from fear. Please continue to meld with your fears and become one, and consequently continuing entertaining the world :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. This is the first post I have read and I have concluded, after reading, that it shall be the only post I will read.

    If you think there is a causal link between greater influx of foreign workers and higher crime rates, please substantiate it with hard evidence and statistics. You cant get away with statements like
    "Having a flat with 5 or more men, all hungry, burly and lonely is a recipe for trouble" wihout looking silly or downright obtuse. You are just perpetrating fear that is founded on both ignorance and misinformation. Let me ask you, is this 5 "hungry, burly and lonely " men scenario restricted exclusively to foreign workers? Secondly, what makes you think they are "hungry, burly and lonely "? And lastly. what makes you think that being ""hungry, burly and lonely " would lead to greater propensity for crime??!!Hungry= buy food. lonely-we all feel lonely at times dont we? Burly? Well I have a couple of cousins who are pretty big in size. Should i be afraid of them?

    I wish you would stop painting this grim, and extremely lop-sided view of foreign workers and filling in your own deficiencies and gaps with urban legends and allegations. A good writers makes at least make sense of what he is writing and be able to filter the credible from the hosh-posh of information in the World today.

    Lastly, matilah_singapure makes an extremely valid point. The human freewill cannot be subdued or manipulated, it is difficult to pre-empt a potential crime such as robbery or fight unless you are physically at the scene amd you are able to intervene. I do believe however that education, both home and school, will determine whether one will turn out as a civilized person or a misanthropic. The bangla next door is just as criminally-inclined as the Singaporean next door. when it comes to crime, there is no distinction between race, colour,language,culture or religion. A crime is a crime, whether the perpetrator is a the Pope or Hitler. No such thing as a "black" crime, or a crime caused primarily by "Blacks" or "jews". crimes are caused by the miscarriage of human natue, a travesty of the value system, not because one is black, white, yellow, or lonely, burly and hungry.

    ReplyDelete
  7. bloody hell. i'm really hoping redbean is joking. the reasoning behind his suggestion for a "law" is simply ridiculous. it'd never pass, even in Singapore, and for good reason.

    the slippery slope and scaremongering he uses is really politician talk. politician talk is okay, but he must be crazy to think that it can justify a law. he obviously hasn't used his brain.

    and I see tons of other blog posts with 0 or few comments. no wonder. redbean, if you want your little news website to gain some respect, then it's not about quantity, seriously. you're not going to make it by spamming and spamming and hoping you reach critical mass.

    ReplyDelete
  8. the perception of fear is from the potential victims. just like the rottweiler case, the owner will have no fear of the dogs. it is only the passerbys.

    are singaporeans feeling any fear or anxiety? 'While there has not been any reported conflict between foreign workers and the residents, we hear of residents complaining about drunken rowdiness, littering and loitering in large numbers,' said Mr Wee(Siew Kim, MP for AMK GRC). And for that, the Jalan Kayu Rangers Community project was formed to managed the presence of foreign workers.

    Singaporeans are equally proned to crime as the chopping of PRC workers have proven. For Singaporeans, we have no choice but to live with them. For foreign workers, we have a choice.

    We have a choice to let people keep pets, keep rottweilers or otherwise. Saying yes or no have their own consequences. There is no free lunch.

    ReplyDelete
  9. i can support the keeping of killer dogs as pets for many other reasons. so can i support the presence of foreigner workers for many reasons.

    i am just high lighting the consequences that we have to bear if we go along. don't say i did not tell you so.

    the french and brits did not believe that their kindness to take in immigrants will result in today's minority crisis and riotings.

    ReplyDelete
  10. to anon 1056 -

    *clap* *clap* Standing ovation!

    to anon 307 -

    right hand hi-five *clap*, left hand hi-five *clap*

    Oi, redbean, you've been poked in the eyes, kicked in the bum, and kicked in the groin...

    D'ya think there's a message in there somewhere?!?

    ReplyDelete
  11. i believe in freedom of expression. no one needs to agree with me and me with anyone. if we all agree about everything then there won't be anything to talk about.

    i respect every forumer's view if expressed honestly.

    ReplyDelete