A Letter from ST Forum

[autumnbronze]

25hourmaid:

No worries, I know what you mean! Good night! :snooze: Let's sit back and relax and wait for a reply from Maris Stella to the Press about that letter.

G'nite chicky

[auntieM]

nite nite too… …

[autumnbronze]

auntieM:

nite nite too.. ..

G'nite

[Blobbi]

Chill, dearies. :grphug:


This is so OT, I have no excuse. Anyway, here goes:

For many years, I worked in a half-team where out of 8 members based in Singapore, only 2 of us were Singaporeans (the other half of the team was in New York). Our roving boss was American. Including us, there were 2 Indian nationals, 1 Korean, 1 Aussie, 1 Chinese national. We could see the strengths and weaknesses of our various nationalities, and boy was it fun taking potshots at the differences. Everything was done respectfully; we all took it in a c'est la vie kind of way - like \"what to do, we were brought up this way what\". Our American boss was shocked because, he declared, in the US, you can get sued just for calling someone fat, not to mention bringing up racial differences. But in Singapore, because the differences are so obvious in a multiracial society, we don't have to pretend we can't see.

The key for getting along was and is mutual respect and trust. But when one group keeps slamming another group for imagined prejudices against themselves (even as they write that they \"don't feel it on a personal basis\"), for \"the discriminatory policies of the governement\" when, if we rub out eyes and take a look out the window, this place is teeming with foreigners, then we locals get resentful. Here we are, being very nice hosts, and our guests keep complaining that in other countries, the food is nicer. Or why their portion is one ikan bilis less. After a while, the host's smiling face will show some strain, like what's happening at the tail end of this thread. Then one more complaint, whether there is merit or not, is unlikely to be taken seriously.

I want to emphasize - mutual respect and trust. We're very genial hosts. When we cook and you eat, we don't mind constructive criticism cos we want to be better cooks. If you give objective examples like the differential in university fees between locals and PRs, that's clear for all to see. It's definitely food for thought. Even then, it's practically loose change, so please don't lose sleep over that. Clean air, high level of personal safety, competitive educational structure, efficient public services, good employment opportunities are available to all here - no extra charge of course. But if you compare us unfavourably with free university education in a debt ridden, high tax country when much of the world has given up that crazy, unsustainable policy, then that's spitting in our face. All we're asking for is ... some consideration.

[outsider]

Hi Bobbi,

Can I copy this and paste in the \"The Expats will Rule S'pore\" Thread too

[auntieM]

Blobbi,


:salute: :salute: :salute:

[Blobbi]

outsider:

Hi Bobbi,

Can I copy this and paste in the \"The Expats will Rule S'pore\" Thread too

:lol: :lol:

Can. My basic message is : Mai(4) Hiam(2). It's Hokkien, but HYPY works just as well :).

[autumnbronze]

Blobbi *raising my eyebrows*


Have you been notti notti??? Told you that you shd ban yourself from eating the sticky chewy chocolate from Swensons

See what sugar rush does to you

Anyways,

Excellent insight ... and v succintly put too *Hi 5*

[Blobbi]

autumnbronze:

Blobbi *raising my eyebrows*


Have you been notti notti??? Told you that you shd ban yourself from eating the sticky chewy chocolate from Swensons

See what sugar rush does to you

Anyways,

Excellent insight ... and v succintly put too *Hi 5*

But, I really did ban myself from the other thread mah :lol:.
You mean the mai4 hiam2 is succinct? Me too!!

Oh uh, changing the subject to my favourtie topic, STICKY CHEWY CHOCOLATE!! :drool: The bad news is, I haven't had it yet, so you can imagine how I'm gonna be like afterwards!! *shudder*

[corneyAmber]

VitoRelax:

Somebody in Maris Stella, please tell this Amit Nagpal to fly kite lah !! Usually arrogant fellas expect everyone to bend rules for them .. !!


You know, when I was searching a Pri School for my girl, I saw my friend's 4 daughters all did so well. So, I also wanted my girl to goto that school. (At that time, didn't do much research lah). Since it is a good school & difficutt to get in, my DW & I started to do some volunteer work.

But later someone told me that school was a SAP school & I asked \"what is a SAP school ?\". When I realized what SAP school is, I know it is not gonna be easy for her (even though we are Chinese) so we look for another school despite clocking many hours. To me if she can cope with normal Chinese, I happy liao !!

Replying to the part in bold ....

I think you made a very wise choice and would say that you and your wife are smart parents. As parents, we know the limits our our own children and know very well what sort of environment would be suitable for our kids, but there are some parents, who only want the 'face status', die die also must send their child to a SAP school, as if SAP schools are the only schools that would be able to give quality education to their kids, only to have their child suffer later on in school.

When my boys were in kindergarten, there was this mum who insisted on sending her son to a SAP school even though he failed all his subjects at K2 level because \"such and such a school is a good school and it is pretigious for my son to study there\", but in the end, it was her poor son who was the one suffering at the \"such and such a good school!\" :roll: