A local entrepreneur named Rudy Irawan Kadjairi took to Facebook on Monday (14 September) to highlight that Singaporeans, who have over the years discriminated minorities in the labour market, are now voicing their displeasure towards foreign talents in the country.

In his post, which he said will “piss a lot of people off” but had to be said, Mr Rudy noted that discrimination in the job market is something that had been happening for a long time now. However, nothing much had been done back then because it did not affect majority of Singaporeans, but just the minorities.

“It may be hard for some to accept, but discrimination in the job market was already ‘a thing’ in this country for a long, long, time. Most didn’t do anything about it, because, well, it wasn’t levied on them…it was mostly on the minorities,” the Singaporean wrote.

He added, “Any lament, frustration or raising of awareness of such discriminatory practices were always met with an indifferent shrug, a threat not to unsettle our fragile racial harmony (though you had to ask that if we were so harmonious, why would it be so fragile?) and the everlasting good advice to simply ‘work harder’”.

Mr Rudy went on to state that people who were in charge in those early days didn’t even do anything to change the situation, as a large number of people were doing the work for them by drowning the voices of the minorities.

“Worse, is when they would place a consolatory token to shake off any accusations that there could even be a slight possibility that hiring practices were discriminatory in nature.

“Add insult to injury, these willing tokens would sometimes come out, be the voice of pretentious reason and say, ‘Well, look at me! I did well for myself? How could there be discrimination in this land?!?!’. And everybody would nod their heads in agreement,” Mr Rudy expressed.

Singaporeans are only talking about workplace discrimination after being personally affected

Given that the minorities’ accusations were “disregarded and disproven”, this resulted in them to “dug in, and worked harder”, the businessman stated.

However, the discrimination in the job market has now “engulfed more Singaporeans through the country’s dalliance with foreign talent”, Mr Rudy noted.

“And only now, would a growing number of Singaporeans, regardless of race, raise their voices about discriminatory practices in the labour market, but only because the poor souls are now affected,” the Singaporean man said.

He continued, “Many have even turned xenophobic against foreign talent, which is technically another way of saying that they’re kinda just being racist about things. At least that’s the one constant we can still depend on in this country – our benign, casual racism.”

Mr Rudy went on to point out that discrimination becomes acceptable if it benefits or an advantage to the person who is suggesting it.

“How ironic that those who are demanding that we must be “Singaporeans first” do not see that it’s exactly what have been done to minorities all this time; discriminate when it’s convenient, but deny all use of it when arguing about doing things for the country or for some assumed collective good!” he lamented.

Mr Rudy said that everything is still considered discrimination, regardless of if it were for racial, religious, political, gender based, age-related, sexual orientation, social standing, or for whatever gamut of reasons.

Government didn’t intervene to curb the issue

Moving on, the Singaporean citizen also noted that the Government was also not bothered about the situation in the labour market. In his post, Mr Rudy explained the reasons why the Government’s acted in such a way.

“Firstly, however you want to slice it, the leadership and its rabid fan base will always win, morally, on the argument of providing meritocratic opportunities for everyone regardless of race, language or religion.

“Everyone else arguing about getting rid of foreigners will just look like a racist, xenophobic prick. This works brilliantly for them as they look more benevolent than the frustrated actual victims of discrimination,” he noted.

Another reason is that such discrimination practice of “subjugating a segment of society into accepting a ‘new social order’” worked well before this, Mr Rudy said.

“It doesn’t bother them in the least because let’s face it, they’re only interested in the monetary gains from having a larger population; they know full well they will not change the status quo and they are willing to run through the gamut of complains, angst, unhappiness and whining,” he explained.

As such, Mr Rudy asserted that there will always be Singaporeans who are not affected by the “indiscriminate insertion of foreign manpower”, and these individuals will keep “drowning the voices of those aggrieved.

“At the end of the day, the ones lamenting are still, for now, the minority, in numbers. Stop it with the xenophobia. If you want to be upset, don’t be upset at the foreigners who are here to earn a living. They are our guests. If you want to be upset, get upset with the policies.

“Work at changing the policies for the better. But don’t be as discriminatory as the way discrimination has put many of us in harm’s way. Rationalise more strategically. Reason better. Articulate your thoughts in a manner that will convince, not rile,” Mr Rudy expressed.

“We’ve been through this “scenario” before. As an experienced individual in this matter, all I can say is, “suck it up, dudes”.  Work harder. As I have had to all my life.”

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