Ten days after Singaporeans reclaimed Mandarin Gardens from the Indians, Mandarin Gardens is back to Mandarin Gardens. It is no more Mumbai Gardens.
The ambience is good again. The environment is peacefully. the indian children are no more playing cricket and street scoccer on the manicured gardens.
The elderly and wheelchair bound can relax in the gardens. toddlers can run around in the gardens without fear of getting hit by a cricket ball or soccer ball.
Thank you, Singaporean owners for reclaiming and restoring Mandarin Gardens to what it was before it was invaded by arrogant and lawless foreigners who think they own Mandarin Gardens.
Thanks for raising the incident and the follow up. Glad to know things are back to normal and hopefully you will be able to see at the next AGM whether things will continue to be normal.
This issue is also very close to my heart. Am very saddened that Singapore has become one of those countries on Earth where foreigners can go in and throw their weight around and bring in their antisocial behaviour with impunity.
Singaporeans generally are mindful about each others' spaces and know not to encroach. There is a sense of awareness that others including the elderly share the same public spaces.
When I see Indian nationals come in en masse and bring this kind of behaviour, of china nationals coming in and doing on the streets what they do in Hong Kong, and there is no effort at all in just practicing basic politeness and civic mindfulness, it saddens me. Am not even talking about real, substantial integration where foreigners have to understand our cultural norms and nuances and become one of us.
We're not asking them to become one of us. They can go back to India or China after a few years and not know about our Lunar New Year, our Ang Baos, our 4D draws, our daily struggles, etc.
We're just asking for them to be mindful. To be aware of the need to share public spaces with everyone especially the local Singaporeans and do their part in keeping the place tidy, clean and hygienic. To clear up their own mess after they have had their barbecues and poolside parties. To throw litter where it belongs. To do their business in the toilet rather than on the streets. To make way for the elderly and be quiet when children are attending classes nearby.
Is that too much to ask? Are these basic acts of civic mindfulness so onerous an imposition on the foreigners who step foot on our shores and snap up our properties and drive the cost of living sky high?
We took many decades to learn not to spit. To not pee in elevators. To speak English and not Chinese to a Malay neighbour if we don't know Malay ourselves. We even had to have a former Prime Minister call us dogs just to chastise us into behaving well. Now it seems we are back to square one, with foreigners behaving in our country just as we might have behaved to each other 50 years ago.
What is the price we Singaporeans have been asked to pay? Why is that the government asks us to embrace and tolerate these foreigners rather than telling these foreigners to adjust to our ways? Why is it that the fault for poor integration is always blamed on Singaporeans and not on foreigners? Why is it that basic civic mindedness is slowly becoming more and more absent in our society?
Sorry for the long rant. I had to let this out. This issues touches my heart as well.
