After The Riot We Must Reflect On Our Clueless Selves

I was watching TV, We Bought A Zoo just ended and I was channel surfing before thinking about going to bed. A Whatsapp message came in "Riot in Little India". My reaction was whattt?! I flipped channels to Channel News Asia, perhaps the only other time I tuned to CNA after the local elections reports that I had done so. Lo and behold, pictures of Indian men whacking a bus, vehicles on fire, people running helter skelter. This can't be right, this is Singapore. But there it was, bedlam in the middle of town. 

I never really used the term "Little India" except to refer to the train station there. It's always been Tekka. I never saw the words "Little India" used so often before last Sunday night. 

Twitter and Facebook bore the brunt of the corresponding Internet frenzy and videos were simultaneously going up on YouTube as we gawked dismayed at the barebone news trickling from the TV. In fact, CNA was used the social media reports for their coverage because it hard to get someone close to the ground. 

The videos were frightening by Singapore standards. Come on, these things are enjoyed on the big screen, not in real life, for us sheltered folks. A mob flipped a police car over. An ambulance sped of. Then a fire engine sped off. The same mob tried to flip another police car. Another car or bus was on fire. An ambulance was set ablaze. Projectiles were being thrown. It was hard to fathom this reality. Video

At about half past midnight I decided to turn in. I hoped no one died. There were unconfirmed news that policemen were seriously hurt. 

Details were clearer the next day. A foreign worker was run over by a bus and his friends turned fiends and wrecked the place. People were likely drunk. It seemed that the police weren't that prepared because it took them a while to quell the violence. 

What was more interesting was the online reaction. There were comments of shock, some of hope, others praising the police and civil defence workers, and some just racist with lots of finger pointing. Then there was reaction to the xenophobia, condemning the shallow and narrow minded points of view. With some expressions of disappointment and outrage. 

It all goes to show some Singaporeans don't quite get the reality of our situation. We need these foreign workers. That's bluntly it. How else are the nice buildings we live and work in going to get built? How else are they going to get cleaned? Singaporeans eagerly shun these low-pay high-risk poor-image jobs. These guys work 12 hour days to make sure Singapore runs like clockwork. There isn't any cause to malign them collectively. The riot was one incident fuelled by rage and alcohol. That's about it. These foreign workers don't deserve a blanket expression of disgust. There are always some black sheep. Every society has them. I bet that the drunk teens on Read Bridge at Clarke Quay could in no time ignite ferocious violence given suitable circumstances.

Another problem some Singaporeans have to defining racism. Some people think that mentioning a race in a negative situation constitutes racist commentary. No it does not. “The Chinese man broke a window”. That isn’t racist right? “The fat Chinese man broke a Malay barber’s window” is also not racist. It is a statement of fact. The action of the Chinese man may have had racist connotations or he just got a really bad haircut but we have no way of knowing that from this statement. Now this is a racist statement - "The yellow pig threw a brick at the lazy brown monkey barber shop." That's is a contribution from a Malay friend. When a race is described in derogatory terms, that's racism. So people were mixing up messages they read. There were of course arseholes who were out to blame Indians and foreign workers for this incident. The Real Singaporean website even published an article which I brand as borderline Nazi. It was extremely offensive but not profane. It would have been easy to be swayed by the arguments there and anyone with some sense who decry it as rubbish and incendiary filth. 

The other elephant in the room is the great divide Singaporeans, especially the youth, have created between themselves and the foreign working class. We are superior because we employ them. We tell them what to do and they do what they are told. We do not mingle, we do not share. We are better than they are because we have money and iPhones and take taxis. Sigh. Our prosperity has made us selfish. Our pride has made us uncaring. Our narrow-mindedness has prevented us from seeing foreign workers as people. There's no need to repeat the reasons why they are here. There are many reasons to talk about how detached we have become from reality, head buried in our mobiles, Facebooking and Candy Crushing. 

If these overseas foreign workers were to disappear now, Singapore would grind to a halt, our rubbish will pile up, our half finished buildings would stay uncompleted, people would not be able to go to work because they'd have to look after their kids, more hospital patients would die because there half our nurses would be gone. We are so reliant on them yet so distant and apathetic. 

A little respect, that's what everyone deserves. 

Violence is inexcusable. And those who were arrested will bear the consequences. 

Our apathy and detachment isn't excusable. We need to embrace overseas foreign workers as part and parcel of our Singapore way of life. 

#littleindiariot

Fly Into Changi Terminal 1 Canteen

I firmly believe all tourists flying into Singapore should make the Changi Airport Terminal 1 staff canteen their first stop. Forget about rushing to the hotel and trying to figure what a talkative taxi uncle is trying to tell you about some same-sex sex district (Geylang). Go to the secret, well, a little hidden, lift at the right side of Terminal 1 near the skytrain platform and Bengawan Solo shop, hit the B2 button and you will have arrived. A clean, robotically laid out array of multi-coloured (but mostly beige) tables and chairs in a large quadrangle lined by efficiently run food stalls. This is Singapore in a nutshell. Food glorious food at reasonable prices. There's a Yong Tau Foo stall where one picks dainty morsels of nibbly things (mostly tofu based) to be warmed in soup or lathered in sauces. There's a Malay stall that sells mee siam, mee rebus, kueh-kueh and curry puffs. The sardine puffs are da bomb. (Whoops, not quite appropriate words for an airport related post.). I've tried the shrimp dumplings from the wantan noodle shop. Not too shabby. They need to go with sambal and pickled green chili. The soup they're in is perhaps embellished with MSG I suspect. There's of course the coffee stall where tourists must must must attempt to learn the difference between Kopi-o, Teh-si and other colloquialisms. (The first time is always the hardest.) Oh there's kaya butter toast too. And soft-boiled eggs. At the far end, there's a nasi padang stall with a perpetual queue. I didn't see any prata stall, perhaps the only glitch in the tale of superb delights alongside the world's busiest tarmac. It'd be miracle if a person spends more than $5-6 on a meal here. It's the most economical place to eat at the airport. Ok, cheap. Not the prettiest but this is the true Singapore food at its most convenient. There's a famous mee goreng at the Terminal 2 canteen but that's hard to get to through the carpark. We don't want tourists to get run over before they fill up on local fare. Yup, Changi Airport T1 canteen, so happening, so underappreciated. Someone tell Tripadvisor. 

Three New Things I Tried

Three new things I tried last weekend: 

1. Uber - this is a limousine service. My office manage to procure a promo code which allowed me to partake upon a free Uber ride. There's an app to download and it's pretty and nifty. There's a map that shows where the cars are, an indicator for how many minutes a car would take to get to you, and even the driver's contact details. The creepy bit is the credit card info one has to submit. I took a ride from Potong Pasir MRT to Valley Pt. The Uber app indicated that the journey could cost between $28 and $32. Hefty price to pay for most. The taxi came. A spanking new and clean Toyota Alphard. The driver was Kamsani who explained to me that he worked for Hertz and Uber lets Hertz plug in their idle inventory to make rides and happier customers possible. Wow. Smart idea. The ride was mucho comfortable and I was late for yoga anyway, so no stress. No money was exchanged at the end of the trip, just pleasantries. Uber sent me an email receipt - $31.88 the ride 10km ride would have cost me. Interesting. Try them out Uber Singapore 

2. Since I was late for yin class, I decided to join the Pilates class staring 45 mins later. Haven't tried it before and wasn't sure what to expect. I've fleetingly glanced at other Pilates proponents flail, flounder and flap about on the floor. Someone told me it was easy but his body hurt in places he didn't know existed the next day. Well well. The instructor seemed to be a petite Chinese or Japanese woman who spoke in mildly accented English, a mix of Mainland Chinese and Singlish roots. I couldn't ascertain this but this was not the main cause of worry. I sucked at Pilates. The initial poses were ok until they were strained and held. Then I was fumbling on the balancing poses. Then I was miserable on the floor with leg raises and crunches. It hurt and hurt. Aaargh. The instructor came around and told me to suck my stomach in during an awkward leg raise. Yikes. Overall a not so enjoyable time. Pain, agony and emotional distress from personal failure. Hopelessness, despair, the works. But I should go back. My core strength evidently isn't up to par. Maybe this Saturday, I'll miss another yin class accidentally on purpose. Affinity Yoga. 

3. After Pilates, I scooted off to a friends pseudo housewarming. She bought a flat in Bedok and spruced it up nicely. Myself and the associated group of talkative troublemakers roundly gathered at her abode to rummage and plunder. No lah, eat and drink. And a main part of the fabulous eats was Pezzo pizza. Omg. We had an ikan bilis sambal and a chicken pesto pizzas. Omg, so good the sambal pizza. I had 4 slices I think. The pesto was a little bland for me. Nice but not wow-worthy as the sambal. I want to try the chicken tuscany and spinach pesto pizzas next. iYou need to check them out. Pezzo Pizza.

Dubai Or Not Dubai

I was recently on a work trip to Dubai, my first to that city. Over the course of 3 nights and 2 days, we went around the city and of course, did some work and discovered bits and pieces of this gem in the Persian Gulf. But as I landed on the plane back home, I felt compelled to write this little rant about why Singapore is better than Dubai. 

1. The airport immigration at DXB sucks. We got in at peak hour about 6pm and proceeded to wait an hour to get through customs. When it was my turn, the machine wouldn't read my passport. The guy tried a few times before handing me off to another counter. Maybe it was a one-off but the wait was exasperating. And guess what, we waited 40 minutes to clear customs on the way out! Come on, twice?! The only positive I could eke out was that the queues weren't right next to each other. People might have passed out being that close to one another. Singapore airport immigration is pretty chop-chop. 

2. The city's colour scheme is mostly sand and concrete. It's a little boring during the day. My Dubai agency friend felt the same, that the colours of the city were best experienced in night time neon and sparkle. The whole Palm area seems to be made of the same sand. A little variety would stop things being too generic. The building designs are great but nothing sticks out like the Burj Khalifa. The Singapore city skyline is a kaleidoscope of shape, size and colour. It dissipates a certain vibrancy. I didn't get that from Dubai. Certainly the WOW factor but not anything more to the big picture. 

3. There seems to be nothing old in Dubai besides some people. In their hurry to modernise maybe the city planners didn't think about keeping some heritage prominent. There many fancy office buildings and malls but nothing quaint and historic to remind one of the past. I saw some mosques, maybe 3 or 4, with their minarets and crescent moons perched above. That's it. There's thankfully a better mix in Singapore. Maybe we were 'lucky enough' to have a colonial past and European style buildings and city planners that had paid attention to history lessons. The mix of old and new lends character to my island nation. 

4. It's all malls in Dubai. They are huge and monstrous. They swallow you up and you get lost in the belly of the beast. It envelopes you and doesn't want to let go. Everyone runs to the malls here. I'm not a shopper so I wasn't too excited to check out one mall after the other. Good thing our friend guide knew and took us to some attractions within the malls - the huge aquarium in Dubai Mall and Dubai Ski at Mall Of The Emirates. I don't know if things are cheap or at a bargain. The girls might know better. The stuffed camel and other trinkets I purchased weren't exactly rock-bottom priced. 

5. I don't know if this is true but I sense a great deal of hedonism in Dubai. The malls with high-end brands, the big fast cars, the fat main Sheikh Zayed Road with 7 or 8 lanes, the billboards with displays of ostentation - they just bother me. Maybe it's also because no one but the tourists pay tax. Not many seem to care about cost of water or electricity or oil. Glam is the way to go whatever the cost. I wonder if there is an environmental awareness program in place. The hotel I was in had a towel reuse sign. Maybe life isn't as hard there and folks are just milking it. In Singapore, we're reminded about our water and electricity use, and made to pay for these essentials. 

6. The sand is just everywhere. 

7. There isn't enough green going around. The beach area around the Westin is lush with foliage while the rest of Dubai is concrete and sand. It'll make the city more hospitable if more trees were planted where people lived and worked. 

That's it I think. Here are four reasons why Dubai rocks. 

1. Service culture is great. The shop and restaurant staff I encountered  were friendly, accommodating, patient and in some cases funny. 

2. There's a bit of an "anything is possible" attitude. It about confidence, creativity and excitement.   

3. There's a traffic law where the authorities impounded the offending vehicle for a month at a cost to the owner. Punishment! Also they have SMS based parking fares that go into  the driver's phone bill while in Singapore we tear appear coupons. Lame lah. 

4. The breads, humus, fattoush and tabbouleh are awesome. Omnomnomnom burp! Oh, mint in lemonade is brilliant.