A shame

A Singaporean hate blog towards Filipinos was recently taken down by no other than Google, as it acknowledges that racism has no place in today's world. The blog entitled "Blood Stained Singapore", openly suggested to ordinary Singaporeans ways to maltreat Filipinos without breaking the law. In other words, campaign of getting into the heads of Filipinos enough for them to exodus the country on their own. Suggestions like maltreating waiters, shoving and poking them on the streets and even in the buses, snickering upon seeing a Filipino hurt or in any kind of accident, and even eating at a well-known Filipino fast food restaurant and openly criticizing the food while making a mess. Acts that would infuriate anyone, for that matter, since it is racially motivated.

The Singaporean government denounced the blog, saying that it does not reflect the Singaporean people as a whole. And yet, it took Google to take down the blog. In fact, Singapore is actually a mish-mash of many races from Chinese, Indian to Malay and others. You wouldn't be able to tell a Singaporean unless he or she tells you, because what you see is either a Chinese, an Indian, Bangladeshi or Pakistani, or Malaysian, Indonesian or even a Filipino. I wonder who the author of the blog is, and his heritage. I'm sure we would be able to trace it to another country.

I would think that Singaporeans feel their jobs are being taken over by Filipinos, or even Asians in general. The Filipino community may just be the most prosperous hence the target of the hate blog. But if indeed they are competing for jobs, exactly whose fault is that? Singapore's population has steadily decreased over the years. Part of the reason the country is very open to foreign workers. Immigrant workers helped in the development of Singapore.

I remember the riots in Los Angeles where hate crimes were directed against Asians, particularly Koreans. African-Americans felt that the Asians were taking over their jobs. But some say that the jobs immigrants take are the ones that the locals do not want or find too "low" for them. They want to be managers, executives, CEOs, presidents right away, and not the grassroots jobs that are available. This situation is not uncommon in many countries, but then again, whose fault is that?

The blog just shows the insecurity of some people. They feel they can no longer compete when in fact it should be a challenge to step up their game. A hate blog is nothing more than cowardice behind a computer. And this particular blog is as vile as it can be, resorting to cheap shots in the face of defeat. It is a shame for a multi-cultural country like Singapore to harbor hardcore racists.