It is normal to treat and have greater affinity with members of your own clan with shared beliefs, culture, et al. I can understand where a Chinese POV is coming from as being part of an overwhelming majority he seldom feels the impact of being singled out for specific treatment or find himself crowded out or feel marginalized let alone discriminated against.
Back in the 80s and 90s when Singapore was importing significant numbers of Malaysian Chinese under the guise of the FT program, our Chinese brudders here would rather employ a Malaysian Chinese FT over the Malay/Indian S'porean simply cause he was Chinese. Any charges of discrimination or bias were vehemently denied. Miniorities were accused of being choosy. Come to think of it, it’s not dissimilar to talking to the general chinese population about anything out of their sphere of interest. Or so the Chinese thinks.
Karma is a bitch.
Fast forward to present, better qualified and experienced professionals from Nehia, are taking up high paying professional and managerial positions in various MNCs across different sectors. Offshore banks have been overtaken by Indian Nationals, with Chinese saying it is like "working for a Indian Bank instead of Deutche Bank".
The other interesting facet is the Indian population in Singapore has been rapidly increasing. What used to be 5-7% is now closer to 11% and could possibly be as high as 14%. Chinese are increasingly complaining about the number of Indians their estates. There is now a tv series from Mediacorp "Indian food made simple" to cater to the growing affluent Indian population. There are 3 Indian schools in Singapore currently with plans for an Indian university campus in Singapore.
At the other end of the spectrum now is a local Chinese (see link below), a 44-year old single living with his mother, Alvin Tan has been unemployed for a year. Once a senior manager, he currently finds himself in unfamilar terrority and ranted recently on his blog that FTs are taking away jobs from Singaporeans amongst other excuses such as National Service. Would it be fair to say Alvin is choosy?
I do feel sorry for the Chinese brudders though. At least when minorities were on the receiving end of racial discrimination, many of them were fresh out of universities. It was a hard but valuable lesson learnt and along with the taunts and denials it hardened the resolve in us to do one better than the Chinese, nevermind the odds, as youth was on our side.
What is tragic about the blowback local Chinese are facing is that many like Alvin Tan are in their mid 30s onwards. Many with hefty financial committments are going into depression instead and are throwing themselves in the path of oncoming MRT trains or jumping of high rise flats. Sucide rates in Singapore are highly classified and are rumored to be 1-2 per day on average.
http://www.transitioning.org/2010/05/16/jobless-reader-cried-with-mum-on-mothers-day/
Speaking of the Alvin Tan saga, a netizen, Chua Yuankai, queried (see link below):
"Did he hire, recommend or promote a significant number of younger foreigners between the ages of 21-35 in relevant organizations between 1997 and 2009?"
The sad fact is that many Chinese HR and line managers did. Like Alvin Tan many today find themselves victims of their own discriminatory practices.
http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/0...s-of-44-year-old-senior-manager-mr-alvin-tan/