Mr Wang Says So said:

I proceeded to check out the available graduate scholarships at the NUS Law Faculty. Alas, I saw that in fact, almost all the scholarships were reserved for non-Singaporeans.

That's still the way it is today. See the current list of graduate scholarships here:

(1) Research Scholarship
(2) Graduate Scholarship for ASEAN Nationals (NUS GSA)
(3) Faculty Graduate Scholarship (FGS)
(4) Scholarship for Young Asian Academics
(5) Microsoft Scholarship

The 1st scholarship is open to both Singaporean and foreign applicants.
The 2nd scholarship is open to students from all ASEAN countries, except Singaporeans.
The 3rd scholarship is open to students from anywhere in the world, except Singaporeans.
The 4th scholarship is open to all Asian students, except Singaporeans.
The 5th scholarship is open to students from anywhere in the world, except Singaporeans.

Is it strange that so many Singaporeans feel marginalised in their own country? No, it is not strange at all. It is clear that in our country today, citizenship often turns out to be a liability.

Recommended by Anonymous Coward: "In Singapore, citizens are automatically disqualified from most scholarships, just because they are citizens. Amazing."

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Angry AngMo said:

Obviously I am not Singaporean, which means I am not able to share heartwarming and patriotic moments with you, like singing the National anthem with 25.000 other people, or feeling overwhelming joy about the free “Funpacks”.

Instead I can show you how a foreigner sees and feels about these 2 hours filled with interesting but weird elements, that got me and my buddy asking more then once “Why the hell would you do that!?”

Recommended by Anonymous Coward: "Angry foreigner criticizes the NDP... at his peril."

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Oikono said:

One sunny afternoon, I stopped by the Redhill Hawker Center for lunch. Two pretty Chinese ladies walk up to the table of hawkers sitting next to me. The hawkers were giving catcalls to the ladies. One of the ladies gets a hawker to buy her a meal. Walking back, she promises to introduce the hawker to a lady of the night.

Recommended by Anonymous Coward: "Author reflects on changes in Singapore and asks how our foreign worker policy is affecting income inequality and social stability...Interesting stories tell us more about this issue in Singapore - a National Day must-read."

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Conscript said:

All this talk about National Integration and integration of foreigners into Singapore misses the mark. We are talking about welcome others when we treat our own so poorly. What am I talking about?

I am talking about National Service. I am talking about mandatory 2 years (formerly 2.5 years) of conscription of Singaporean male citizens into the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), the Singapore Police Force (SPF) and the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF).

I am talking about the 10 years of reservist obligations comprising but not limited to:

* annual in-camp training lasting 2 to 21 days (in practice but legally up to 40 days under the law)
* annual individual physical proficiency tests (IPPT) for those medically fit NSmen (those who fail to clear their tests are subject to Remedial Training of twice/thrice a week)
* notifying Mindef Notification Centre for any overseas trips exceeding 24 hours
* need to apply for exit permit for trips of 6 months or longer
* annual operations manning or mobilisation exercises than can happen 2-3 times a year

To be male and Singaporean is to serve and f*** off
These obligations are not new. They have been imposed on NSmen since the whole NS system was developed just after Singapore gained independence and as the British withdrew their military forces out of Singapore not long after.

What is new is that the pace of immigration to Singapore has increased tremendously. It has created a truly global city, Singapore Inc, with the implications of a labour market that is competitive in every sense of the word.

Recommended by Anonymous Coward: "As a fellow reservist, I feel his pain too. Why are Singaporean men so cham? Our only wrong is to be born here in Singapore and get punished by government who embrace foreigners."

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Alvinology said:

It takes skills and a lot of effort to saw open a durian this way! Well done. I am wondering how they manage to eat it with the durian seeds halved.

Recommended by Anonymous Coward: "Funny lah! Use light saber cut one."

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Kaffein-nated said:

Being a maid is a shameful thing. But working as a chambermaid is not. Huh?

To bring fear, you give me a glimpse of what happens if we have a bad government. Now with recession, you encourage my grandmas, aunties and perhaps even mother to work as chambermaids.

Maybe it's because the government can no longer feed them. Or perhaps the wonderful retirement plan (ie CPF) is a ticking bomb waiting to blow up in our faces.

So this scenario begs the questions:
Am I paying millions for a bad dose of government already? If yes, why am I still paying?

Aren't the women in Singapore working as chambermaids akin to being maids in foreign countries? Is there really a difference then?

Recommended by at82: "Are we getting our bad dose of government already?"

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Bangkok Post said:

Singapore is a choice destination for many Thai 'working girls', but an unknown number are trafficked to remote locations on the edge of the city where they are essentially held as sex slaves

Recommended by Anonymous Coward: "Something you won't see in the local media"

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Popagandhi said:

To get there, I had to follow someone who knew about it—through the back door of that famous shopping centre in Little India, through the back alley, left, right, left, right… until we got to a dingy apartment building. It almost felt as if I should be blindfolded. Up two flights of dodgy stairs. It’s always a pleasant surprise to come across something so pleasantly creaky and dodgy in a city where things tend to work too well, but this apartment building had a gaping hole where its lift button was supposed to be, and apparently there used to be a sign that said something to the effect of, “please stick your finger deep into the hole to press for the lift”. There was a door, and a handwritten sign stuck on it, saying in Nepali: “Nepali food”. I loved this place already.

Recommended by Mr Miyagi: "Gotta love this city and the pleasant surprises before they're shut down."

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Kitana said:

So Minister Ng Eng Hen says that we ought not rely on anecdotal evidence, but then again, we are the ones on the ground (like Ms Lee Wei Ling). We might not have a helicopter view like the government, and we do not have the statistics at our fingertips. All that we have are the stories of our friends and family and of our neighbours.

Recommended by Anonymous Coward: "Very rosy pictures are painted with statistics all the time and the news media laps it all up without questioning. The devil is in the details (and the answers to questions not asked)."

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Daphne Loo said:

I don’t think they are very poor - in China, that is. The mother seems quite well-educated; perhaps not very highly-educated, but she definitely is educated. But my point is, they saved up so much to come to Singapore, so that he could study here, have a better education here, and hopefully, a better future. They have to live in such squalid conditions because they definitely don’t want to run out of money before she gets a job to support them. They’ve been here for 2 months, and trying to settle down.

Recommended by Adam Zhang: "Impressive reflection after viewing foreign family's living condition in Singapore."

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Chu Wen said:

But, tell me, how is a typical Singaporean undergrad in Engineering going to get decent grades with all overwhelming numbers of foreign scholars/students? From my estimation, there's probably only 40% of Singaporeans, and the rest are largely, from a 'upcoming Asian nation'. And they're really clever, or hardworking, or both.

Recommended by Anonymous Coward: "The troubles of an engineering student on the number of foreign scholars in their faculty, most probably echoed by many others out there. It's a fair entry, does not judge foreign scholars unfairly, but just shows how local engineering students feel."

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Jadeite said:

It’s utterly reprehensible. Beating up someone just because he was ’staring’? Firstly, I don’t really believe that worker was staring at the guy. Even if he was. Beating him up is hardly a logical conclusion. Secondly it’s practically a full-on racist attack

Recommended by jay: "Can't believe this happened in "multiracial" Singapore"

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Roxanne describes the plight of a foreign worker from China:

He has to pay off his debt to his recruitment agency and the loan for the air fare to Singapore, which means he's left with very little money each month. He's so broke that he can't even afford to buy hawker centre food. You know the $2 mixed vegetable rice? Naaadah. Not even that. He buys himself a large bag of rice and eats just that everyday.

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