Dear The Real Singapore,
I refer to the article: "FILIPINO WORKING IN SINGAPORE: I FEEL LIKE TRS READERS SHOULD BE NICER TO US PINOYS"
I was born and raised most of my life here in Singapore. I've studied throughout Primary, Secondary and now I am a student in Polytechnic. After all these years living here, I've gotten citizenship here and I am proud of that. Why? Because for so many years of my life, I have been completely and utterly embarrassed to call myself Filipino.
Don't get me wrong though, some Filipinos are genuinely nice, they even have social awareness to be softer in public, because honestly,in Singapore, privacy is a huge issue. But why am I embarrassed to be Filipino?
1) You guys don't get how inappropriate it is to just have a picnic almost everywhere in Singapore. Literally, in corners of the MRT, on the streets of Orchard, even having the cheek to set up speakers etc. Look, this is Singapore, this is not Philippines. You can't just anyhow be disruptive and noisy even if it's on a "busy noisy street' like Orchard road.
2) More than half the time, the jack*ss on the train playing music OUT LOUD is filipino. Seriously, dude, learn to buy earphones or headphones jeez. I don't think most filipinos even have the social awareness to realize that it's rude to do that here. Don't you see those courtesy campaigns from SMRT? They're there for a reason.
3) Many of you guys act like we should be blowing smoke up your *ss because you guys are foreign. Look, I don't think you're so special being foreign, want to know why? SINGAPORE'S HISTORY IS LITERALLY BASED ON FOREIGN RACES COMING HERE AND SETTLING HERE. YOU'RE NOT THAT SPECIAL.
4) You guys talk way too loudly in trains. Like 2), this is, I emphasize once more, Singapore. Maybe in your culture back home it's totally normal to talk so obnoxiously loud, but in Singapore, we're more reserved than that. We like our own private quiet times, especially since it's hard to get times like that in an overpopulated city like the little red dot. So when we're on a crowded train and all we can hear is some obnoxious loud conversation, honestly it's irritating. I'm not saying you can't talk but come on do you not know how to whisper?
5) This specifically goes to the guy who said Tagalog should be a language here; NO. Just no. Look, we are foreigners, literally we are the guests here. Yes it's true hosts should be hospitable and Singapore has been more than that, but respect is a 2-way lane. Since we are guests, we shouldn't expect everyone in Singapore to adapt to our customs, instead the onus is on us to integrate into THEIR society. You don't see people from other cultures acting so obnoxiously like that, do you? We're not so special filipinos, we need to respect this country and their people.
There is a reason why Singaporeans complain so much about us, you know. As someone who rather see herself as a proud Singaporean than some Pinoy, I know Singaporeans won't complain for no reason ( We complain for a LOT of reasons but at least there's always a reason )
You know instead of fighting back and saying Singaporeans are the ones who are rude, maybe we should try to respect the country that so graciously hosted us.
To filipinos that aren't like this, obviously you're not counted in the list. I don't mean to stereotype Filipinos but this indeed true for the most part of it. And to anyone that doesn't believe I am filipino, well too bad I guess if I sound 'too singaporean' in this post, cos honestly, how can I not sound Singaporean after more than a decade here?
To fellow Singaporeans, I get that we are unhappy with the Pinoys but let's not discriminate EVERY filipino out there because there are truly indeed some decent Filipinos out there. #SGPride
Singaporean
TRS reader