Singapore Indian shocked that daughter is now a minority in Indian kindergarten
November 8th, 2009 | 
Author: From our Correspondent
A Singapore Indian has expressed his shock and dismay of being “swarmed” by overseas Indians within his own community!
In an interview with the state media, Mr K. Varatharaju, 43, a factory owner related his own experience when he sent his youngest daughter to Sarada Kindergarten in Bartley Road: He discovered that she was one of only two Singaporean Indians in the class of 15. (Source: Straits Times)
“When I go for a function and I see only expat Indians and no Singaporean Indians, I feel uncomfortable – like the future is being taken over by expats. What will happen in 15 or 20 years’ time, when my children start work?’ he asked.
In all likelihood, Mr Varatharju’s children will find themselves competing with foreigners from all nationalities (not only expat Indians) for a decent job if the ruling party’s liberal immigration policy continues unabated.
Foreigners now made up 36 per cent of Singapore’s 5-million odd population which means that one of out three people you see in the streets are non-Singaporeans.
About 8 per cent of Singapore’s populations are Indians, most of whom are ethnic Tamils whose descendants hailed from the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
Singapore has a sizable number of expat Indians working in the IT and engineering sectors and they come predominantly from the northern Indian cities like New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bangalore.
Apparently, Mr Varatharju does not feel comfortable with the influx of overseas Indians in Singapore, just like how ethnic Chinese are aghast at the arrival of large numbers of Chinese from mainland China.
Though Singapore is a nation of immigrants, the four major races of Singapore have lived together peacefully for decades and have evolved an unique culture and identity which is separate from their ancestral homelands.
For example, an ethnic Singapore Chinese will probably prefer the Indian Roti Prata or the Malay Mee Rebus for breakfast than the Chinese “jiao3 zi3″, a staple diet in northern China.
Mr Varatharju may find it easier to strike a conversation in English with his Malay neighbors than an expat Indian from Mumbai with a different accent.
Despite rising unhappiness and disgruntlement on the ground at the relentless influx of foreigners, the ruling party is adamant that foreigners are “essential” for Singapore.
In the past, foreigners are employed only in sectors shunned by Singaporeans such as the construction industry.
Nowadays, foreigners can be found taking up semi-skilled jobs like network administrators which can otherwise by filled by a local.
Due to their lower wages, foreigners help to keep Singapore businesses competitive which contributes to Singapore’s GDP growth.
A substantial percentage of the ministers’ multi-million pay is pegged to Singapore’s GDP growth rates.
The ruling party has lately unveiled a $10-million dollar mega “Community Integration Fund” to make the newcomers feel “welcomed” in Singapore.
As the number of expat Indians continue to rise in Singapore, Mr Varatharju may find himself the one who needs to “integrate” into the Singapore Indian community instead of the other way round.
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Mr. K Varatharaju could count himself lucky for being able to find a place for his daughter, there could be other Singaporeans who cannot even register their children in that kindergarten.
Vacancy Full with foreigners on a long waiting list.
After all the celebrations and having fun parties at HDB void deck, they now, telling us, Singaporeans to wake up.
Hi,
A demographic earthquake of untold proportions will rock Singapore very fast, and the local Indian community will be the most devastated from this shock.
As the writer has mentioned aptly, a minority race of 8% (for the local Indian community) can be overcomed or marginalised within a few short years if the influx of North Indians go unabated.
There is a gap which cannot be reconciled between North and South Indians. The main bone of contention, in my view, is the caste system, in which the North Indians believe they are much more superior than “less civilised” South Indians. They think they have Aryan blood, a superior race.
Other than that, I foresee our local Malays will be marginalized by Filipinos. Historically, they look similar but of course they are separated by religion. However my experience in interacting with Filipinos or Pinoys reveal they behave pretty much like our local Malays. They are the free-and-easy type, quite willing to spend (good for our local economy actually) once they have money or receive their pay, and are highly reproductive. Normally they have more than 2 kids per family. They also do not interact well outside their race.
Only local Chinese will be the majority, followed by 5-8 minority races, including Chinese from China. There will not be 4 major races in Singapore from now on. This is the truth: Singapore will change drastically in the near future!
Our national pledge may also need to be rewritten to take into account recent statements by MM Lee and Law Minister Shanmugan.
The day Singaporeans wake up is the day they lose this country. What goes around comes around. Ironic.
singapore pap going the path of its own demise
and ignoring the singaporeans opinions..
Will that happen?
I can sense that those decorations and those brightly lighted streets at Little India celebrating Deepavali are no more for local Indian Singaporeans.
Now,STPB would focus the emblem to suit expats demand and expection so as to promote their integration with the remaining few Indian citizens.
Future looking bleak.
Whose fault? Who open the windows so wide to let those insects in?
This is the beginning of the changing ‘humanscape’of Singapore.We better prepare for this type of scenario
henceforth.5 to 10 years down the road,the same scenario
will repeat itself in all the secondary schools.In 15 to 20
years, in the universities. Fast forward 20 years we will see this scenario in the Singapore’s workforce! Just think about it,it WILL be a reality!!
hi Jim,
actually the filipinos are marginalizing the Portuguese eurasian community. Our Portuguese language and culture has already been on the endangered list (recognised as facing extinction by UNECSO but not by our own gov’t), but the sheer mass of migrants will only exacerbate the problem.
Samy on Sun, 8th Nov 2009 2:36 pm
The late Deng Xiao Ping came visiting decades ago NOT to learn more about our quirky communism. HE GAVE A DEMOCRACY LECTURE. It was well learnt, well-absorbed and put into practice.
Let us now close the window and spray the house with the most deadly DDT.
And of course, at the next first opportunity, remove the MIW who brought in all this pesky creatures into our midst. We won’t need the company either.
whatever it is, the foreigners are still humans and no human deserve to be insulted with degrading names such as “insects” which i see in comments above and in earlier posts on foreigners. i am a singaporean myself and i saying this with no bias.
the topic of issue here in this article is about foreigners outnumbering locals in certain settings…. keep to that topic… i just dont understand why there are so many comments for all the articles whereby the commentors post insults than comments… TR should delete and disallow comments that are insulting targetting anyone including authors, locals, foreigners etc…
these people dont add to the debate, they just wanna spoil it
@ Jim on Sun, 8th Nov 2009 12:31 pm
Dear Jim,
I am an Indian national living in Singapore, but be rest assured your views don’t offend me. However, I’d like to highlight that your views are a little too skewed and misleading. The sweeping generalizations you are making are in reference to a nation of 1 billion people, as such, it would help being mindful about the diversity that India represents (which in effect is a union of 28 completely different nations and cultures). I agree that Singaporean Indians are from 1 of these 28 nations and do not necessarily relate with people from other parts of India, due in part to the difference in language, religion, traditions and so forth; but on the other hand suggesting that north Indians feel superior to south Indians and so forth (with references to Aryans and whatnot) clearly illustrates that you do not know anything about the caste system in the first place (it’s not based on race / skin color / language etc., it’s very firmly based on occupation – for instance – the ruling class, the landlords, the clergymen, the defenders (soldiers), the educationalists, the working class, the scavengers and so forth.
Secondly, the amount of diversity in India automatically programs children from a very young age about being accepting and forthcoming of other cultures. Again, I am not suggesting that all Indians subscribe to that view, but let me illustrate – an average Singaporean kid is more likely to respectful / mindful of differences in culture (because of the racially and culturally diverse background that he/she was brought up in) than say compared to a homogenous society like Japan (I am making a sweeping generalization too, but it’s just for the sake of that example).
@ All the other not-so-kind commentators,
Just as an alternative, try helping these so called “evil foreigners” assimilating into the society and you would be pleasantly surprised about how grateful they are for the opportunities that Singapore is providing and how willingly they want to contribute towards its betterment. On the other hand, alienating them and using words like “insects” (in reference to a posters remark) to describe them would only lead them towards a “ghetto mindset” and be cynical towards average Singaporeans who mean no harm…
I’m a Malaysian local Indian…
Its going to be more and more difficult for local Singaporean in the years to come be it Local Chinese, Local Indian or Malays for that matters
They are like insects and the windows should be shut
@ Matt at 3:05PM
I’m not a Portuguese nor a Eurasian, so correct me if I’m wrong.
I’m very surprised to read your view on the coming extinction of the Portuguese language/culture. How is this possible, given that Portugal still exists (and assuming that it is not being swamped by immigrants of other languages/cultures). And there’s also Brazil, a huge and populous Portuguese speaking country.
After the return of Hong Kong to China, I remember seeing a televised ceremony of the return of Macau to China. The top civil servants (all of whom were ethnic Chinese) were heard taking their oaths of office in fluent Portuguese! So I think the Portuguese language will survive – though it won’t have as many speakers as its close cousin, Spanish.
I believe what you (or UNESCO in your post above) might be referring to is that variant of Portuguese called “Cristao”. If I’m not mistaken, this is not the standard Portuguese but a variant spoken by the Eurasian community in Malacca. Also, Cristao had not been spoken (i.e. had become extinct) in Portugal itself for quite some time.
Matt, given that the majority of Singapore Eurasians trace their roots to Malacca, would you be referring to the extinction of Cristao, which I believe only the senior citizens would be fluent in?
The foreigners are taking all the jobs. I am having great difficulty in paying my bills, especially my medical bills.
What is going to happen to me in a few years when I retire? No money left. I guess I have to book a place in ‘Changi bungalow’ and let the government look after me and take care of my medical fees.
I go on contracts working in many MNCs providing IT service.
I used to be shocked to find myself a minority in their IT departments that can have as many as over 1 hundred staff in 1 big department.
As go around providing IT services in other MNCs, I became used to the fact that I am the minority.
It became such a norm. I am now numbed.
If my understand is correct, foreigners can operate businesses here and they do not need to hire too many singaporeans , if any at all. Correct me if i wrong. I read a news report a few days ago. It says that these may need to hire some singaporeans from now on if not in future.
Its sad to learn that they were allowed what they were allowed.
So, i was not surprised that more are finding themselves
the minority.
In orchard road, ini mini maini moe, one of them is foreign easily.
We allowed it. Its really us. We had the choice.
Dear Richin,
Your comments noted.I beg to differ as a local Indian who had travel to most corners of India which I bet most in India themselves would have not.Therefore I should have some credibility here on this subject.Casteism is not based on your profession but of your birth.One cannot become a high caste just because one is the president of India.And Yes ! …the Dravidian and Aryan divide in India is not merely a figment of ones imagination but a reality in India and it’s politics..Anyone who surf any Indian matrimonial portal would soon realises that…The divide indeed is a reality at a personal level.
Having said that..The further divide between the local Indians and the newly imported Indians from India is also a fact.And I dare say that divide is not purely based on caste per ce.It is more of a psychological divide than anything else.Sort of a superiority complex that comes with a nomenclature of “Foreign Talent”..When one wears the halo of a talent why would he/she would want to fraternise with non-talented locals in a manner of speaking.That is the gist of the issue here.
I don’t buy this argument that local Indians are not going all their way out to giving people like you a helping hand …to assimilate amongst ourselves.Because we as Indians,Chinese,Malays and Eurasian Singaporeans had already achieved that.And it did not came about just because we sat comfortably crying for help.It came about just because we all tried.Did you?Would you be in US or Australia asking the majority to come forth to help you without you coming forth yourself first?
Why this double standard pal?
Yes, I am referring to kristang. The situation is similar to the Hokkien vs Mandarin debate. We did not fall from the sky suddenly all speaking english. In fact, the push to speak english only started around the turn of the last century, in order to get jobs in the colonial civil service. I resent the CMIO model which implies we all speak english and have no language or culture of our own. In fact, my grandmother used to wear a eurasian kebaya (which is distinct from the Malay kebaya and the Nonya kebaya).
Kristang language has been forced underground for the last 500 years, by the Dutch, the British, and now the CMIO regime. Back in the 50’s, you would get slapped by the english teacher for speaking kristang. Unlike the Macanese (or Macaista), all connections with Portugal had been cutoff when the Dutch took over Melaka. What you heard during the Macau handover – Portuguese was the official administrative language then.
There are small pockets of us who still speak kristang (not only the elderly) – although our grasp of it is not unlike the command of vernacular hokkien of the average Singaporean today. It’s a matter of identity and self respect, and connecting to our true heritage. Just because it’s not mainstream it doesn’t mean it’s not there.
Our numbers have alway been small. For the first 20 years of my life, I have always been mistaken for a Malay. Now strangers approach me speaking in tagalog. Despite the fact that we’ve been here for the last 5 centuries, there are still people who have never heard or eurasians.
This ridiculous influx of foreigners cannot continue. It is plain madness.
Let’s be honest. The foreigners who come here are economic migrants. They have no intention of staying here. The work are willing to work for much lesser wages than Singaporeans because they come from 3rd world countries where the cost of living is very low. After working for 5 or 6 years, they are able to save enough to buy a home and start a business back where they came from.
Many of them are reluctant to pay more than S$300,000 for 85 sq metre of land in the sky when they can buy a few hectares of land for 1 tenth the price back home.
Their presence here, however, has resulted in hundreds of thousands of Singaporeans losing their jobs or having to take home a salary which falls short of covering their expenses.
Why has the government allowed this to happen? There are many answers to that question but the fact remains that this situation cannot be allowed to go on. For those Singaporeans who are indifferent to the plight of their suffering fellow citizens, let me advise you that it is only a matter of time, and not if, that you and your children will be affected.
As beneficiaries of people who have come here and struggled to build up this island, we have a sacred duty to prevent callour and greedy individuals from destroying this place for their own selfish needs.
I am optimistic that the future of Singapore is bright. Everywhere I go, I hear true blooded Singaporeans telling me that the time for change has come. There is nothing to fear. When you have been pushed into a corner, your instincts is to push back or be crushed. Survive or perish.
Time for Change is now.
PS. When Singaporeans take back our country, we must make sure that only committed individuals who want to make Singapore their home will be given PR status. Those that have been here for donkey years without converting to the Red Passport must be kicked out like the parasites they are.
And we must not opens our legs as wide as the present government has done to attract any Tom, Dick or Harry. Singaporeans must reclaim their dignity. We are not some street hooker desperate for any custormer that we should keep our legs wide open.
Peace. Take heart. The time for change is now.
No only is the windows wide open, the doors all wide open and all the fences were tear down !!!
A few points..
a) When we arrived in 1996 the treatment received from local Indians was one of ‘oh you poor buggers from India giving us a bad name’. I found the Local Chinese and Malays far more welcoming. In the last decade the Indian expats have overtaken Local Indians in salaries, it is their fault?
The Local Indians laughed at our English, thanks to Gurmeet Singh they became more informed.
b) Caste is a matter of birth. It is a shameful thing that exists throughout India. Hindu India never had a shockingly horrible thing like slavery – most other countries did, this was a milder version.Less shocking and hence taking time to fade. It has nothing to do with North and South India, besides people from the East and West are clubbed into North Indian category in Singapore.
c) Do you guys realize by calling immigrants ‘insects’ you are referring to your own forefathers? Hasn’t Singapore already been taken over by foreigners. Their children now call themselves ‘locals’. What happened to the original Malays who inhabited this island? How did they become a minority?
Please given immigrants a chance and see how grateful they are for the opportunity and how willing they are to integrate.
BTW.
The kindergarden referred to is run by an Indian charitable organization who came here in 1950’s to help the people of Singapore when this young country was trying to stand on its feet.
Do not forget your own humble beginnings.
BeenHere13years on Mon, 9th Nov 2009 9:14 am
If North Indians who have come here recently accept citizenship, the reception from locals might be different.
96% of North Indians who come here are economic migrants. They leave after they have made their money. Ms Swetal Agarwal who wrote to the Shitty Times on 20 August 2009 is one of them. Although demanding more rights than locals, she admitted that she wanted to go back to India once she sucked up all the benefits she could.
To be fair, PRCS are quite similar. China national and Singapore PR Zhang Yuanyuan came to Singapore, took a job of a Singaporean and left after she earned enough. To rub salt to the wound, she went on national TV there to publicly humiliate Singapore.
Trust PRs who don’t accept citizenship? Never!
As if stealing 1 job is not enough, when one North Indian PR gets a management position in a company, he or she will try to bring his whole village over, thereby displacing and robbing other Singaporeans of their livelihood.
But the worst things about the recent arrivals to Singapore from North India is that they are extremely rude and arrogant to Singaporeans, especially the service staff. It could be that is the way the treat other Indians of lower caster back home, but we Singaporeans don’t give two hoots about your caste.
My advice to Indian PRs is to make your money while you can because it will not last very long. The time has come for change and when that happens, we will have to sent you packing for home.
We will be soon the minority in our own country.
BeenHere13years on Mon, 9th Nov 2009 9:14 am
If you are here already 13 years and a citizen, you are PART OF US. You should not have grouses and stand on the side of our citzenry.
If NOT, can I still call you a feasting “cockcroach” since you won’t share any part of your life and future with us?
You see, cockroach are survivors anywhere in the world, they hide in crevices and come out feasting when the host disappeared momentarily on sight or in darkness of opportunity ( very devious of greedy behaviour don’t you think??).
After the tsunami swept through Christmas, cockroach emerged from the scattered rubble feasting on remains of dead carcasses and food – posing health hazard to survivors.
Do you remember this??
Dear BeenHere13years on,
I see your point.That local shalt be blamed because you were poor in 1996.And again now in 2009 the local Indians must be blamed because you are richer than them.Unwittingly ,it is you who is pushing this blame game.Ever wondered why you guys were here in the 90s?…If you must know , it was very much because there was a great brain drain of local Indians due to the political climate here..The situation was so bad that local Indians with tertiary education hit the bottom..Now,ponder this ! How did Singapore reached a stage where it attracted people like you?..Can anyone with sincere honesty can say it is because of our lacklustre local inhabitants devoid of any conceivable talent?….You and others chose Singapore to migrate over say Uganda because there are plums to be picked here..That is the bottom line.Local Indians along with other races have contributed immensely to what Singapore is now today..So,you are here now because local Indians existed..and that their contributions to Singapore in the past is immense…If not any Pakistanis or an Eskimo for that matter would have filled that vacum.
And if you and others from India harbour ill feelings towards local Indians than you do have a choice–to leave.Sadly,for those who are born and bred here the option to quit our country of birth comes with a heavy price.For most , even that option is not available
Slavery you said….Casteism is an evil worse than slavery.Because it entrap an infant from it’s birth to death ; for the past 3000 years or more…And I could not fathom by any measure of logic why you immigrants are not given a chance at all.First,you immigrants are here with a job.Job is a rare commodity for local born these days..Second ,you people can always fly off to your motherlands if things do not work out for you here.Leaving the locals to pick up the pieces…Third ,for most migrants these days Singapore is a stepping stone for greener pasture.Whereas our roots and family are here…So you see,we locals are not denying people like you any chance to survive.But it us locals who are now fighting for a chance to survive. we are simply being swarmed and overwhelmed by foreigners in huge numbers who are cutting our life line–for jobs and some security.
Surely as locals we deserve a chance for survival.
Hey everyone,
It’s really interesting to see the anonymous cowardish Singaporean citizens speak their mind out on such comments sections in news articles.
I am so certain none of you will take any action to prevent this other that writing such comments. All of you are hoping that the government will read this comments and will take some action.
Come on you guys, if you dun have a job in a competitive market, thats not because of foreigners, that’s because of lack of proper skills or inability to give a 100% to the job. Most business owners here are Singaporeans, why do they prefer expats or foreigners?
Just because they produce more. If you guys can make your efforts worth it for the company you work for, I’m certain you’d be preferred over a less educated or less qualified foreigner.
It is simple economics. Demand v/s Supply. Insects, cockroaches whatever you call them, if you are not good enough you are just going to be swarmed by them and eliminated.
Free trade pacts and treaties continues to be born and sooner or later “citizen” privileges may become far less than what it is now.
Have you guys ever thought why a lot of the Singaporean women marry expats and live happily? Why some of them never bother to get married to fellow Singaporeans? I think it is simple science. Not productive enough.
Have you guys ever thought why is it so easy for a foreigner to settle here? Why they can buy HDB without any grants or cheap loans? Its just because they are good enough. They are able to earn enough.
You need to improve, produce more, earn more. The oppurtunities are out there. Complaining on this forum is useless. Go do something! Make it happen for yourself!
You drive foreigners away, the rents will drop drastically, HDB prices will go down, Condos will be dirt cheap. In the end who’s economy will suffer? Have you guys heard anything about the financial crash that happened in U.S.? Do you even know its critical for a government to maintain things at it’s normalcy?
Singapore is very very small country. Trust me, it wouldn’t be able to survive a economic crash that happens internally.
Government knows this. Thats why they hire Ivy League graduates to analyze situations and make recommendations. That’s why smart people the ministers of Singapore are pro-expats. They know the value.
Perhaps they are realizing now that the balance is a bit off right now. I guess the government will help control things a bit. But overall on the long run I think trends will remain pro-expats.
Accept it. Learn to overcome it.
If you chose not to, you can visit these forums and keep complaining. The food on your table might get colder.
Can somebody tell straight to my face what does it mean to be Singaporean now in 2009? My fellow Singaporeans have to compete mercilessly for food and water now. The foreign talent policy is a stupid instant gratification solution to a two-child policy which had led us to search for this quick fix solution to make up for a dwindling young population. The Government made a mistake. And it still doesn’t want to admit. Why don’t we all migrate to a country that respect basic human rights, freedom of speech and equal opportunities? If you have your performance bonus tied to your GDP, your main motivation is money not the betterment of people’s lives? Singaporeans so stressed up making a living. And we have a government who self-qualifies itself for more salaries without any justification. Not only are their preposterous, their policies of the last 15 years have fcuking failed. It’s OK. Go on sleeping, my fellow Singaporeans. Go on teaching other Singaporeans to accept the newer and harsher reality of life here instead of speaking out at something that truly upset you. We need more voices in parliament to contend the hypocrisy and the lack of transparency in the system. Leaders need to be put to account, otherwise they will start to normalise their behaviour and think that they are ALWAYS right; even when they are wrong.
Hi Wannebe Singaporean,
I hope you are not applying the reverse psychology thingy.
Anyway if you advocate only the fittest should survive.There is another name to it;it’s called the Law of the Jungle.Brutes with muscles makes it and the winner takes all.But this goes against the very grain of the very democracy itself.One man one vote that is.With it comes the opportunity for all.Whereas in the Law of Jungle situation one is left to fend for oneself or whither and die.The old are culled.The weak withers.
Now tell me in which social or political system or religion which advocates such a inhumanity?…I have yet to come across any humane society which leaves it’s young to the mercy of the forces…Simply putting some sort of protection is a must in a humane society…Or humanity perishes.
let the “rulling party” do what they wish to do.end of the day there will be elections and the foreiners are not going to vote in the elections it is us poor singaporeans.we have to wake up now or it will be never.it is in our hands we have the free will to choose.please my dear singaporeans let us stop denying what we observe and take action based on what we observe.now is the crucial moment let us not let foreigners step all over us anymore.we had enuff, this concerns our children’s future so many thousands of singaporeans are starving and jobless at the moment and foreginers are enjoying life to the fullest at our expense.roar out singaporeans roar out chase out the foreigners at our roar.
@ True Singaporean on Sun, 8th Nov 2009 11:02 pm
Dear Friend,
I think you got me wrong there; I was responding to a poster who said:
“There is a gap which cannot be reconciled between North and South Indians. The main bone of contention, in my view, is the caste system, in which the North Indians believe they are much more superior than “less civilised” South Indians.
My response was refuting that particular claim as I come from a social background that is “quite literally” unconscious of caste / creed / race and religion… besides, he is referring to racism and terming it as a caste issue. You seem to understand it better, so I bother to take this further – No doubt the traditional system (which most young folks don’t really care about) is such that you are born into a caste… but suggesting that north Indians feel superior to south Indians on the basis of the caste system?? Doesn’t make any sense – because a lot of south Indian “Brahmin” folks that I have known are equally bigoted in their approach towards lower caste people. My real point is that making sweeping generalizations regarding a billion (1,000,000,000) people is not rational. There are all kinds of people everywhere.
Also, in response to your comment about local Indians lending a helping hand; by all means you must be right, I never contended that and as you seem to suggest, I am not even asking for help, I am just trying to clear misconceptions. Also, I shamefully admit that I don’t have many local Indian friends (strangely never had any of them working with me in the same team or dept.), but the ones I have known – have been very accommodating and have cared enough to be curious (in a friendly way) about differences in our culture and practices, and I remember them pleasantly.
On the other hand, this backlash that I sense in recent years (faced with competition) puzzles me with curiosity; because I was made to believe from the day I stepped into Singapore that this country and Singaporeans in general are fiercely competent and firmly believe in free trade and all out competition (which I may add is a major reason for its economic success).
Wannabe Singaporean on Mon, 9th Nov 2009 11:44 am
Singapore belongs to Singaporeans. I think you believe the BS about FT that our government has been feeding you.
Singaporeans will reclaim our rights after the coming elections and we will kick out all the foreign trash. Enough said.
Peace.
My request to Singaporean Indians is please understand a little more about India. You will be surprised to find that the vast majority of Indian expats are in the non North Indian group.
In Singapore a person from Mumbai (like me) is categorized as a North Indian. In fact just about anybody north of Bangalore is categorized as such.This North Indian / South Indian divide in Singapore is a result of less information about India
There are expat Indians in Singapore from the East, West and North East too and we also dislike the obnoxious behavior of some North Indians during our gatherings.
The are locals who still ask me ‘You are Indian and you don’t know Tamil?’, the Indians in Malaysia are even more unaware of the diversity in India. There are local Indians who tell me about ill treatment during NS (by higher ranking local Indians) just because they couldn’t speak the language and came from the minority Hindi speaking Singaporean families.
In India despite its diversity there have been no large scale killings of any community. For example China’s founding emperor ‘Chin’ elminated half the Chinese poplulation (millions) hence you find a homogenous set today.Look at the Europeans, even 60 years ago they were killing each other in millions and dragging us into the mess as well.
Yes we Indians quarrel but do not seek to annihilate each other. Anybody touches a part of India and the North-South divide will quickly disappear. e.g. when Mumbai was attacked it was the commandos from Southern unit who eliminated the terrorists. Similarly the North have been dealing with muslim barbarians (now called Taliban) for thousands of years.
This Aryan Dravidian divide is a myth perprated by the British to divide Indians. There is no such thing in our genes !!!
There was a study done of how races populated based on blood samples (http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/journey/). It is very informative.
In fact do you know Tamils and Japanese share a similar language? , read ‘Dravidian Hypothesis’ under (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classification_of_Japanese) or (http://arutkural.tripod.com/tolcampus/jap-tamil.htm)for similarities in phonetics and words.
Caste is horrible and it exists throught India. Cast system has been greatly weakened in the last century it will disappear in this one. The other option is a red revolution like China, do we want 20 million Indians dead?
We have lived together for 5000 years and shall live longer, all nations had written India off 15 years ago, the country was almost bankrupt but it turned around because we had a North Indian finance minister and a South Indian prime minister. We built nuclear and space capabilities because we have scientists from all over India working in the south safe from invasion protected by the north and eastern flanks.
My humble request to fellow Indian Singaporeans is please find a bit more about the land your forefathers came from. It is not a land of divides based on North and South.
My request to Singaporean Indians is please understand a little more about India. You will be surprised to find that the vast majority of Indian expats are in the non North Indian group.
In Singapore a person from Mumbai (like me) is categorized as a North Indian. In fact just about anybody north of Bangalore is categorized as such.This North Indian / South Indian divide in Singapore is a result of less information about India
There are expat Indians in Singapore from the East, West and North East too and we also dislike the obnoxious behavior of some North Indians during our gatherings.
The are locals who still ask me ‘You are Indian and you don’t know Tamil?’, the Indians in Malaysia are even more unaware of the diversity in India. There are local Indians who tell me about ill treatment during NS (by higher ranking local Indians) just because they couldn’t speak the language and came from the minority Hindi speaking Singaporean families.
In India despite its diversity there have been no large scale killings of any community. For example China’s founding emperor ‘Chin’ elminated half the Chinese poplulation (millions) hence you find a homogenous set today.Look at the Europeans, even 60 years ago they were killing each other in millions and dragging us into the mess as well.
Yes we Indians quarrel but do not seek to annihilate each other. Anybody touches a part of India and the North-South divide will quickly disappear. e.g. when Mumbai was attacked it was the commandos from Southern unit who eliminated the terrorists. Similarly the North have been dealing with muslim barbarians (now called Taliban) for thousands of years.
This Aryan Dravidian divide is a myth perprated by the British to divide Indians. There is no such thing in our genes !!!
There was a study done of how races populated based on blood samples http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/journey/. It is very informative.
In fact do you know Tamils and Japanese share a similar language? , read ‘Dravidian Hypothesis’ under http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classification_of_Japanese or http://arutkural.tripod.com/tolcampus/jap-tamil.htm for similarities in phonetics and words.
Caste is horrible and it exists throught India. Cast system has been greatly weakened in the last century it will disappear in this one. The other option is a red revolution like China, do we want 20 million Indians dead?
We have lived together for 5000 years and shall live longer, all nations had written India off 15 years ago, the country was almost bankrupt but it turned around because we had a North Indian finance minister and a South Indian prime minister. We built nuclear and space capabilities because we have scientists from all over India working in the south safe from invasion protected by the north and eastern flanks.
My humble request to fellow Indian Singaporeans is please find a bit more about the land your forefathers came from. It is not a land of divides based on North and South.
Dear NorthSouthdivide,
The North vs South divide in India exist and that is a fact..You cited Mummbai (previously known as Bombay) as an example..Than you should know about Shiv Sena outfit.The origination of this outfit had it’s beginning to drive the South Indians out of Bombay to claim their purity back..Now this outfit is a political party aligned to a Hindu chauvinist political party in India.Such is India’s politics..
Now tell me which main political party in India can survive without the support of the numerous regional political parties entirely based on their caste,creed and language?..Whether it be Congress or BJP…
Having said that the history of India itself reflects that divide–North and South..The Northern India shares its history entirely with the Northern Hemisphere..Hence most of the invasion of India also came from North.Whether that be Alexander the Great or the Moguls.
Now the Dravidian from the South had entirely a different history.Their presence in SEA can be traced back as far as thousands of years.The Rajendran Chola of the Chola Kingdom from S.India left his mark by his marks in SEA by his conquest of the Malay Archipelago up to the present Cambodia–prior to 1000AD..The ancient structures of Angkor Watt in Cambodia and the Borobudur in Indonesia bears that testimony to this….The South Indian traders existed in the Malacca Kingdom as far as 700 years back..The presence of North Indians in SEA only came about during the British rule.In the form of sepoys (foot soldiers), most whom were Sikh Punjabis.Now one would ever find this information in any historical text book in Indian schools.—Such is the divide between South and North India.
Even very recently the ongoing ethnic war in Sri Lanka saw about 800 or so Indian fisherman from Tamilnadu shot dead by Sri Lankan marines..Yet Delhi administration took no notice.Had a single Indian civilian was shot dead in the North say in Indo-Pakistan border that would be an International news…So tell me ,is there a North /South divide in India?
Dear NorthSouthdivide,,
The North vs South divide in India exist and that is a fact..You cited Mumbai (previously known as Bombay) as an example..Than you should know about Shiv Sena outfit.The origination of this outfit had its beginning to drive the South Indians out of Bombay to claim their purity back..Now this outfit is a political party aligned to a Hindu chauvinist political party in India.Such is India’s politics..
Now tell me which main political party in India can survive without the support of regional parties entirely based on their caste,creed and language?..Whether it be Congress or BJP…
Having said that the history of India itself reflects that divide–North and South..The Northern India shares its history entirely with the Northern Hemisphere..Hence most of the invasion of Hindustan also came from North.Whether that be Alexander the Great or the Moguls.
Now the Dravidians from the South had entirely a different history.Their presence in SEA can traced back to thousands of years.The Rajendran Chola of the Chola Kingdom from S.India a thousand years ago left his mark by his marks in SEA by his conquest of the Malay Archipelago up to the present Cambodia..The ancient structures of Angkor Watt in Cambodia and the Borbudor in Indonesia bears testimony to this….The Arab and the South Indian Muslim traders existed in the Malacca Sultantate as far as 700 years back..The presence of North Indians in SEA only came about during the British rule.In the form of sepoys(foot soldiers) most whom were Sikh Punjabis.Now one would ever find this information in any historical text book in Indian schools.—Such is the divide between South and North India.
Even very recently the ongoing ethnic war in Sri Lanka saw about 800 or so Tamil fisherman shot dead by Sri Lankan marines..Yet Delhi administration took no notice.Had a single Indian civilian shot dead in the North say in Indo-Pakistan border that would be a International news…So tell me is there North /South divide in India?
> Singapore has a sizable number of expat Indians working
> in the IT and engineering sectors and they come
> predominantly from the northern Indian cities like
> New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bangalore.
The correspondent have no idea regarding what is North India and what is South India. Of the cities he has mentioned, only New Delhi is in the North. Bangalore is as much a South Indian city as Chennai (Madras) is. Kolkata is in the East and Mumbai in Central India. I think he should have worded it as Tamil-speaking Indians and “rest of the Indians who can speak Hindi”. BTW, South India by itself is not free of caste-system. It is just that the earlier Indian immigrants in Singapore were Tamil speaking ones, who were least bothered about the caste system. It is not all about caste. It is more about the language they speak. Tamilians in Singapore still speaks Tamil. Tamilians as such hate Hindi and those who can speak Hindi.