Singaporeans...... Unpopular?

last SG · 2006-03-10T14:48:31+00:00

You think politics is a popularity context?

Calvin86 SG

The Aussies dont like Us,
The Thai dont like us,
The malaysians want to cut our water,
the Indonesians call us tiny red dots,
The taiwanese govt minister call us pee sai
The former Chinese Ambassador call us "Gao Ao"

Are we........ unpopular? I remembered our PM made an insensitive remark to the press about Japanese Pork Barrel politics in Japan.

Is Singapore like a school boy who aces his exam but is unpopular because of failure to show humility and sensitivity when dealing with other countries?

Why is a country of similar stature like Hong Kong do not face the same problems?

countdracula SG

hong kong is a sar, not a country. it’s a darling to the west because it was not that restrictive and manipulated. even under china, little has changed and the mystic of suzie wong remains….singapore is just too clinical, not willing to compromise on many things and thus offends plenty of people. sg govt is insensitive to many things around them.

[email protected] SG

gee i could actually tell u why Singaporeans seem to be fairly unpopular elsewhere, but it would offend those with a delicate sense of blind national pride, u know, the same group of people who simply refuse to acknowledge that Singapore faces many problems and is not the utopia they imagine it to be. The same group of people who make the rest of us unpopular, with the ugly image they project. No I can’t say more, because it would offend them. If I say anymore they would start to blindly label me a ‘quitter’ or some other brainless unjustified label.

ShutterBug SG

Calvin,

I believe you have already answered your own question:

"Is Singapore like a school boy who aces his exam but is unpopular because of failure to show humility and sensitivity when dealing with other countries?"

If we'd been sensitive towards others, I'm sure we wouldn't have so much issues over water with Malaysia, among many other issues with many other countries.

dragg SG

its true.

we are very unpopular overseas.

[email protected] SG

luckily, im popular overseas and unpopular back home. Laughing

ditzy SG

Not popular we mind, popular for the wrong reasons also we mind. We are never happy. Laughing

[email protected] SG

thats why most of us are unpopular. Laughing

geodome SG

There are some issues that cannot be compromised, and water is one of them. It is the duty of the state to ensure its citizens has access to water, and the rights of the citizen to have access to water. When the final crunch comes, and we must unfortunately subdue our northern neighbour, we must. Meanwhile, we are in the midst of trying out various water treatment technology to produce clean drinking water from our pee and the sea. Nobody can say we never tried alternatives.

[email protected] SG

yea. we love toilet water! Mr. Green

countdracula SG

so far the sg govt have hardly compromised in most issues. what goes around comes around. if you are prepared to give some, the kind actions will be remembered and possibly reciprocated. things may be contract bound but if you accord some sensitivity in dealing with others, it goes even further.

you may have the legal standing with you but when push comes to shove, that piece of paper will mean little. most neighbouring govt now knows sg is hard-nose and unrelenting. i shudder the day when we have need for important favours we will find none.

Calvin86 SG

Sometimes the disputes between govt spills over to ordinary citizens like us.

At least Most Taiwanese do not find Singapore a "Pee Sai" country nor dislike Singaporeans.

But other countries i am not sure. Would you tell others you are a Singaporean if you go Philippines, Thailand or australia, would you avoid letting them know your nationality?

TooFree SG

One thing I can say for sure is that Singapore cannot go about forging diplomatic ties and cultivating good relationships with every countries out there. Certainly in some point in time, Singapore will be force to take side.

Diplomacy policy is a double-edge sword. If improperly handled, its citizens will suffered from the spill-over effect no doubt, yet being friendly and a 'yes' man at each world government meets certainly do not reflect too well either!

Instead of questioning on the popularity of Singaporeans oversea, shouldnt we ourselves as civilised citizens reflect upon the government polices and determined who is right and who is wrong instead of turning to boycotting like what the minority of petty citizens in some other country had done before.

In my opinion, unless we are very sure that our government had tackled international issues recklessly and neglect national survivality and progress entirely, if not, saying Singaporeans are unpopular oversea is generally not a fair statement. Neutral

Yi Peng SG

No lah, Singaporeans are actually popular overseas. We are pretty civilised and kind compared to people from other countries.
Its just like Japan, many countries complain abt Japan but Japs are popular. In Japan they don't complain much abt other countries but many Japs don't like people from other contries.

Just watch for a few things, don't complain too much or think you know a lot, be humble and helpful and you will be welcomed every where.

LazerLordz SG

We as Singaporeans are alright, it's our PAP they despise/admire at the same time. Laughing

Yi Peng SG

There is a lot of admiration for our government and LKY in the region.
I try to be as nice as I can overseas and help others all my agents to the fullest. They really appreciated the efforts.

charlize SG

I still don't get why you changed your nick, Salman. Laughing

LazerLordz SG

in the region with a majority of authoritarian governments? of course.

They admire LKY for the way he built us up, but that's where the story ends.Go Thailand and stand in front of our embassy and shamelessly tell the PAD that they are liars, and we'll see if you get on the flight back to Singapore.

A good citizen knows when to criticise his own government, and not let hubris bring it down.

LazerLordz SG

Kena ban. Laughing

charlize SG

Really? Laughing