<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Sep 14, 2008
YOUR LETTERS
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>Kudos to writer for walking the talk
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->I want to thank The Sunday Times for its special report on foreign workers.
The report was well-balanced, covering the foreign workers' opinions, their backgrounds, as well as the expatriates in Serangoon Gardens.
I was especially touched by writer Lydia Lim, who wrote in her viewpoint column ('Why I did not sign the petition'): 'I have maintained in this newspaper and elsewhere that foreign workers are human beings, no less so than I am. And human beings need places to live. That all persons are equal in dignity is a value I hold dear.'
I applaud her for having the courage to stand firm on her principles and to walk the talk.
Ironically, on the same page, it was reported how the 5,000 expatriates in Serangoon Gardens were made to feel welcome in the estate.
The report gives an impression that the expats are mainly 'white people'. A great many expats in Singapore are from India, China and probably the same countries as the foreign workers.
For those who are still living in the colonial days, my advice is to start embracing the changes in the world, especially with the emerging economic power of China and India.
I recall my O-level literature teacher, who used to live in Serangoon Gardens, engaging the class in a discussion of George Orwell's Animal Farm, and condemning the proclamation by the pigs in the novel that 'all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others'.
I wonder what my teacher would have to say on this issue of foreign workers. Teo Eng Hock
YOUR LETTERS
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>Kudos to writer for walking the talk
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->I want to thank The Sunday Times for its special report on foreign workers.
The report was well-balanced, covering the foreign workers' opinions, their backgrounds, as well as the expatriates in Serangoon Gardens.
I was especially touched by writer Lydia Lim, who wrote in her viewpoint column ('Why I did not sign the petition'): 'I have maintained in this newspaper and elsewhere that foreign workers are human beings, no less so than I am. And human beings need places to live. That all persons are equal in dignity is a value I hold dear.'
I applaud her for having the courage to stand firm on her principles and to walk the talk.
Ironically, on the same page, it was reported how the 5,000 expatriates in Serangoon Gardens were made to feel welcome in the estate.
The report gives an impression that the expats are mainly 'white people'. A great many expats in Singapore are from India, China and probably the same countries as the foreign workers.
For those who are still living in the colonial days, my advice is to start embracing the changes in the world, especially with the emerging economic power of China and India.
I recall my O-level literature teacher, who used to live in Serangoon Gardens, engaging the class in a discussion of George Orwell's Animal Farm, and condemning the proclamation by the pigs in the novel that 'all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others'.
I wonder what my teacher would have to say on this issue of foreign workers. Teo Eng Hock
