Everyone hates Singapore.

I'm not quite a global citizen, I may have gleaned my information from the net, but I find the world is not making much sense. Misconceptions are merely lying in wait for anyone to send it flying across the world at the speed of a quick email/youtube��.


1) Islam is a violent religion.

Even though I'm Chinese and non-Muslim, I am VERY offended by this statement. One of my best friends is a Muslim and I get riled when people make such sweeping statements about a religion that they only saw through twisted news stories.

Singapore resides in the South East Asian archipelago, and the 2nd largest ethnic group is populated by Muslims. It's surrounded by Muslim countries like Indonesia, Malaysia etc, who frankly despises Singapore. Ask any Singaporean driver to drive his/her brand new car with Singaporean plates in to Malaysia a highway across and chances of him/her getting mugged rockets to 70%.

So I WOULD know what I'm talking about.

It's also true that Singapore had/have been/still is targeted by Muslims extremists. But I liken such extremists to Christian evangelists who con senile old people of their pensions, but merely on a different scale.

Muslim extremists distort the truth of the Koran, and exploit faith so as to gain power to control countries and wealth (look at how filthy rich Osama bin Laden is!) , while Christian evangelists, tries for a shorter timeline, going for wealth and fame during their 15 minutes of fame on TV. Buddhism has it share of bogus monks asking for alms clad in the sacred orange robes. I've even heard tales of temples being fronts for money laundering. The Catholic Church is plague by children fondling priests, the good Christian community oppressed blacks in the 1950s and Christianity has a long and bloody history long since forgotten by the modern society. (Think witch hunts and the crusade and Hitler)

There are black sheep in every religion, who parades in the name of their "God","Buddha","Allah" and all the rest of the pantheon of holy idols for personal gain. And its unfair to judge based on a minority group of radicals.

Yes, Muslim radicals killed many with their terrorist's acts. So did Hitler, decidedly white and quote,

"Although Hitler did not practice religion in a churchly sense, he certainly believed in the Bible's God" http://www.nobeliefs.com/hitler.htm "He justified his fight for the German people and against Jews by using Godly and Biblical reasoning."

Strangely, no one discriminated against whites and Christians then.

Take a good look, you will realise that a religion which advocates, no alcohol, no gambling, no usury, no prostitution, and humane slaughtering of animals for food is hardly the one that would advocate "kill all non Muslims!"

2) Singaporeans speak lousy English

I was outraged when I read this from T's blog.

http://www.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Singapore/Story/A1Story20080207-48643.html

You've got to be kidding me!! Taiwan who tries to imitate American English pronunciation and comes out sounding all wrong? Taiwan whose President can't speak a full sentence of English has Taiwanese artistes mocking Singaporean English on national TV???

Taiwan is primarily Chinese (mandarin speaking) and Hokkien (dialect) speaking community. The only proper English I have ever heard from Taiwanese artistes are from the ABCs.

I do not deny that Singaporean English is far from perfect, and most speak pidgin English aka Singlish. Colloquial English in Singapore is generally a mesh of abbreviated (or shortened) English, Malay, Mandarin and a couple of dialects, stirred in with one or two Indian words.
It reflects how the cultural mix in Singapore is something unique. Malaysia calls itself, "Truly Asia" but it's not quite on the same level as Singapore on that count.

Anyway

It's sad that Taiwan doesn't recognise this as a part of Singapore's uniqueness and instead chose to insult Singapore's brand of English. I'm pretty sure that if called for, Singaporeans would be able to speak proper English to anyone who cares to listen. Singlish is often used to show good will and friendliness as compared to a put on English accent. Such English is deemed to sound as if the person speaking it is politely sneering at the other person especially if he/she is not English educated.

It's exactly the same as when Taiwanese speak in their not-perfect hokkien.

Haiz.

This is long.

Ok. I'm going home now. Its 1.25pm. I'm at the office and it's a public holiday, for Chinese New Year!



Gong Hei Fatt Choy!!

I don't hate Singapore.
I've never been there, and one of the people who went to my school from there did (jokingly, I hope...) remark how I "sounded like [her] domestic help" when I spoke in a Filipino accent, but hey--the food's good, the people are nice, and the place is clean. Plus, any country that decides to cane a teenager for spray-painting cars gets a plus in my book.
» ranor on 2008-02-08 12:34:01

Thanks ranor!
sometimes i really feel that singaporeans seem to step on everyone's feet.
» merrick on 2008-02-08 12:39:00

wow... i didn't know malaysia frankly hates singapore.
» renaye on 2008-02-08 08:32:44

A person who used to practise Islam
told me about it. With excerpts from the Koran, (which has never been translated to English, I hear). He said it has a lot of hate.

The black sheep of religions are just that: black sheep. I don't judge a religion based on how the people "use it," because I DO know that they're doing just that. I base my judgment on what it teaches.

Seriously, Hitler? That's kind of low. I'd love to know where in the Bible it even implies killing Jews.

I don't stand by the "black sheep" in the Catholic Church, (I REALLY don't agree with the Catholic Church,) or anywhere else in Christianity. If they're doing something wrong, then that has nothing to do with their faith.

As for hating Singapore, I'm happy to say that I don't. :D
» middaymoon on 2008-02-08 06:08:29

Around here...
...nobody ever talks about Singapore like that. My school is fairly diverse and we have a lot of Koreans and Singaporeans here

The Nation of Islam is a religious group that operates in the United States, and they are very racist toward caucasians. So yes, there is racism toward white people. Everyone has hated everyone at some point, there are no races or religions who are exempt.

Anyhow, the terrorists who bear the banner of Islam are the "black sheep" that you were talking about. But that's all people ever get to see of Islam, they only get to hear about the suicide bombings on the news or read about the insurgents in the paper. You can only expect people to have a bad impression of Islam the way its portrayed in the media.
» The-Muffin-Man on 2008-02-08 11:19:12

Woops
My first paragraph got cut off....

"...nobody ever talks about Singapore like that. My school is fairly diverse and we have a lot of Koreans and Singaporeans here, but none of them ever take crap for their nationality. Maybe not EVERYONE hates Singapore, it's probably just the "black sheep" acting radical and making their hateful opinion known.
» The-Muffin-Man on 2008-02-08 11:21:03

midday: the hitler part i was quoting what i found in online, its exactly my point of people or a person distorting the true intentions of religious teachings. I'm sure the bible Never said anything to constitute anything to hideous

apparently hitler said;"Hence today I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord."

i'm not attacking anyone personally.

i agree w muffin, that pple are just gonna see Islam they way its portrayed on tv and news. haiz.
» merrick on 2008-02-10 03:06:21

u knw, with all these stuff abt black sheep from what religion doing immoral crap and what not, i find that im just really happy that i chose to be a freethinker, so that i dont have to debate and defend for my chosen religion when someone somewhere does sth stupid. i knw it sounds selfish, but heck, man are born selfish anyway.
» HellSinG on 2008-02-12 11:13:05

as for hating singapore, suffice to say, i dont really hate her.. i just like to rant and complain abt the gahment, along with the rest of the flock, when they do sth stupid, like raising taxes and giving out next to nth tax relief bonuses...
» HellSinG on 2008-02-12 11:16:31

I can't stand people who suddenly put on false accents when communicating with caucasians! I'm proud of my accent! :P though it's weird at times too haha
» Koban on 2008-02-13 09:36:08

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