<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Dec 7, 2008
THE EX-PAT FILES
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>Sheepish in Singapore
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Andrew Raven
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->As thousands of anti-government protesters enveloped Bangkok's two main airports late last month, I watched the drama unfold on television, stricken by embarrassment.
Newscast after newscast carried comments from frothing-mad Western tourists who had been marooned in the Thai capital.
'I don't care about your problems,' one American, clad in socks and sandals, yelled at an airline employee. 'I want to go home.'
I heard that outburst at work and sheepishly ducked my head below my cubicle wall to ride out the storm of self-entitlement raging on the screen.
There was an upset Scandinavian - accompanied by his rental girlfriend who was standing not quite out of frame - berating protesters from the People's Alliance for Democracy.
One European just couldn't understand why the government wasn't 'doing more' - read: using force - to end the blockade of Bangkok's main international airport, Suvarnabhumi.
Another visitor said she would never return to Thailand. 'This is supposed to be the land of smiles,' she said. 'Well, it's not the land of smiles.'
The comments made me cringe.
They were steeped in the sort of colonial mindset that sees developing countries as being good for two things: beach vacations and fodder for the shelves of Wal-Mart.
Natives should understand their place in the global pecking order, and avoid protests, boycotts or anything else that might put a damper on a visitor's two weeks in the sun.
Last week, not for the first time, I was embarrassed to be a Westerner in Asia.
As an expat who has lived here for two years - including 12 months in Vietnam - I find myself shaking my head at things some travellers do.
Often, many feel that being in a poor, foreign country gives them licence to do things they would never consider doing at home - from hiring a girlfriend to obliterating a chicken at a backwoods shooting range. One traveller told me he turned a machine gun on poultry in a small town outside Phnom Penh. Apparently, he didn't have enough cash to upgrade to a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) launcher and a cow.
Of course, not all travellers are bloodthirsty sex-addicts. Many are considerate, sensitive to local customs and unerringly moral, whether they are in London or Laos.
But those who aren't reinforce the stereotypes that accompany being a Canadian, German or Swede living in this part of the world.
Many locals believe foreign nationals are here either for money or a young wife - not because they want a chance to experience a different culture.
Singapore is far more cosmopolitan than most other places I have been in, and the mistrust of foreigners does not run as deep.
But some people harbour suspicions. I have lost track of the number of sceptical stares I've received at my HDB flat in Toa Payoh, mostly from senior citizens.
Comments such as the ones made by tourists in Bangkok last week go a long way towards reinforcing the rape-and-pillage stereotype. (That's not to say there is no foundation for those views. The colonialists of the 19th and 20th centuries weren't exactly magnanimous.)
I realise that it is asking a lot for people on a two-week vacation to understand the ins and out of Thailand's current political crisis.
But it isn't too much to hope that they might have a little patience for a people and a nation going through one of the most tenuous times in the country's recent history.
The world isn't just your playground. The writer is a Canadian-born copy editor with The Straits Times. He has lived in Singapore for a year.
Send your comments to [email protected]
THE EX-PAT FILES
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>Sheepish in Singapore
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Andrew Raven
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->As thousands of anti-government protesters enveloped Bangkok's two main airports late last month, I watched the drama unfold on television, stricken by embarrassment.
Newscast after newscast carried comments from frothing-mad Western tourists who had been marooned in the Thai capital.
'I don't care about your problems,' one American, clad in socks and sandals, yelled at an airline employee. 'I want to go home.'
I heard that outburst at work and sheepishly ducked my head below my cubicle wall to ride out the storm of self-entitlement raging on the screen.
There was an upset Scandinavian - accompanied by his rental girlfriend who was standing not quite out of frame - berating protesters from the People's Alliance for Democracy.
One European just couldn't understand why the government wasn't 'doing more' - read: using force - to end the blockade of Bangkok's main international airport, Suvarnabhumi.
Another visitor said she would never return to Thailand. 'This is supposed to be the land of smiles,' she said. 'Well, it's not the land of smiles.'
The comments made me cringe.
They were steeped in the sort of colonial mindset that sees developing countries as being good for two things: beach vacations and fodder for the shelves of Wal-Mart.
Natives should understand their place in the global pecking order, and avoid protests, boycotts or anything else that might put a damper on a visitor's two weeks in the sun.
Last week, not for the first time, I was embarrassed to be a Westerner in Asia.
As an expat who has lived here for two years - including 12 months in Vietnam - I find myself shaking my head at things some travellers do.
Often, many feel that being in a poor, foreign country gives them licence to do things they would never consider doing at home - from hiring a girlfriend to obliterating a chicken at a backwoods shooting range. One traveller told me he turned a machine gun on poultry in a small town outside Phnom Penh. Apparently, he didn't have enough cash to upgrade to a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) launcher and a cow.
Of course, not all travellers are bloodthirsty sex-addicts. Many are considerate, sensitive to local customs and unerringly moral, whether they are in London or Laos.
But those who aren't reinforce the stereotypes that accompany being a Canadian, German or Swede living in this part of the world.
Many locals believe foreign nationals are here either for money or a young wife - not because they want a chance to experience a different culture.
Singapore is far more cosmopolitan than most other places I have been in, and the mistrust of foreigners does not run as deep.
But some people harbour suspicions. I have lost track of the number of sceptical stares I've received at my HDB flat in Toa Payoh, mostly from senior citizens.
Comments such as the ones made by tourists in Bangkok last week go a long way towards reinforcing the rape-and-pillage stereotype. (That's not to say there is no foundation for those views. The colonialists of the 19th and 20th centuries weren't exactly magnanimous.)
I realise that it is asking a lot for people on a two-week vacation to understand the ins and out of Thailand's current political crisis.
But it isn't too much to hope that they might have a little patience for a people and a nation going through one of the most tenuous times in the country's recent history.
The world isn't just your playground. The writer is a Canadian-born copy editor with The Straits Times. He has lived in Singapore for a year.
Send your comments to [email protected]
