He embraces our culture and people, but would never dream of becoming a citizen. Adam Flinter challenges us to rethink our ideas on integration.
One of the more interesting quirks about being an Eurasian expatriate living in Singapore is that, to most people, I am extremely hard to place.
To many Westerners, I am one of them: British-educated, a CV that spans the globe and an accent that places me squarely in middle England.
Surprisingly though, I am often also mistaken for a Singaporean — either one returning home after a spell in Europe, or (as is more likely) a member of the atas class who shamefully can’t quite get to grips with Singlish. While that is amusing on a day-to-day level, what it does allow me to do is drift between cultures without feeling like too much of an outsider.
Being privy to such candid conversations on both sides has led me to realise that even in a cosmopolitan city like Singapore, the cultural gap can be fairly wide at times.
These contrasting experiences have led me to ask myself: “What makes a ‘good’ foreigner?”
It’s an interesting question, and one fraught with potential pitfalls. Trawl any major social networking site in Singapore and you’ll quickly spot a host of ‘bad foreign talent’ stereotypes. From the boorish arrogance of Anton Casey, to Chinese nationals and their weak-bladdered children, you don’t have to look too hard to find latent resentment boiling over into cyberspace.
Extravagance, expensive cars, poor hygiene, awful manners, high-handed behavior, violence, racism — these are the character traits we seem to have been labeled with online.
But try searching for articles about what makes a good expat and you’ll be left scratching your head.
Read the rest of the article here: http://www.salt.org.sg/what-does-it-take-to-be-a-good-foreigner-in-singa...