There is an economical rice stall near my house which I frequent. The stall is run by mostly Chinese (PRC) here on a work permit and a few Singaporean Chinese. Just last week, while I was queuing up for food at that stall, there were only two Chinese (PRC) workers around – one cooking and one serving. In front of me was a Singaporean Indian in his 30s, while another man before him was ordering several packets of food.
Here comes the problem. As the Chinese worker thought that the previous person had finished his order, he motioned to the Indian man for his order, saying “Hello. Hello”. Obviously, the Chinese (PRC) worker could not speak English and neither could the Indian man speak Chinese. But as the Indian man ordered a takeaway packet, the person at the front of the queue requested for more packets of rice. The Chinese worker had no choice but to continue serving him instead of the Indian. The Indian man got upset and hurled expletives in Hokkein at the Chinese (which he understood). In his angst, the Indian man even discriminated the Chinese (PRC), emphasizing that they were foreigners and did not belong here.
I thought: What made the Indian man so angry? Was it because he was impatient? Even if he was, there was no need for such vulgar language and becoming so rude. I felt hurt that he was disturbing the racial and cultural harmony we have in Singapore. However, I perceived that he had several preconceived assumptions about the Chinese (PRC) who are working in Singapore. Some of them might be:
1) You don’t speak my language (English or Tamil)
2) You are not Singaporean – you do not belong here
3) You are just a worker, I am the customer and I am always right
4) You are inferior, I can swear at you and walk away with it
Thus, offense was taken when the Indian man was provoked and could find no common ground between the Chinese worker and himself.
I think the Chinese workers were definitely hurt emotionally because the other worker who was cooking wanted to swear back at the Indian man but he had already walked away. I am certain that this was not the first time the Chinese workers have encountered such situations because sometimes, Singaporeans, in general, can be very rude. In response to this, I observed that they have learnt to compromise in such situations and to control their feelings in order to serve other customers that patronize their stall with a wide smile.
When the Indian man swore at the Chinese workers, there was no doubt that he might have had a certain sense of ‘safety’ because he would not feel threatened being a part of the majority (being a Singaporean). Well, as they say, there is safety in numbers. However, I felt that what he did was wrong in that he was condemning and discriminating those from different cultures and background just because they were the minority in Singapore.
If you witnessed this situation, how would you feel? Why do you think the Indian man acted this way?
