Aliens In Our Midst

The X Files

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDZBgHBHQT8

The truth is out there. A friend's friend from overseas was interested in my views on the issues of foreigners coming to Singapore. It is a good topic.


There was a time long ago when we first read some sci-fi stories about aliens landing on earth. "We come in peace" then all hell broke loose as they actually came to piss. They have made countless movies and television series too and people in the USA and later many countries around the world you get people who claimed they saw aliens or Martians, flying saucers, spaceships and strange green creatures. Some stories that are not on aliens will have some elements of superior beings from outer space. Some folks went on lie detectors and were reported not to have lied when they reported about being abducted and sent on space ships. Some depicted aliens to be evil and others showed them to be good but to date no one has ever gotten a clear shot or found an alien body dead or alive. The Bible in Genesis 6:4 says "The Nephilim were on the earth on those days and also afterwards." Nephilim are fallen angels, demons. Are they the aliens and extra terrestrial beings? Were they a figment of our imagination? Or is it what we do not know we fear. Fear of the unknown. Look at Tim Burtons' Mars Attack! -


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oC5O9NFWZCs


What Are Aliens


The only aliens we know are people from another place, another country. Some countries call these folks "aliens" which I thought is unkind. Alien means foreign, adverse and different in nature. Foreigners are people from foreign countries. They visit you as tourists or they come to work as expatriate executives or for labour. Some may become Permanent Residents and / or eventually citizens. If this were true, then everyone of us is an alien don't you think?

Aliens 1986 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0HsB5z5rG0

Let me show you prove. When you go to school or a new class or workplace everyone is alien to you. When friends introduce new friends, they are aliens. All in-laws are aliens for that matter. Anything and anyone who does not appear familiar or part of our group becomes alien. That's why the world is full of trouble. Prejudice and bias. Colours and beliefs. What happens if a person or persons of your own beliefs, race, nationality or group betrayed you and put your life in grave danger and along came an alien who rescues you? What is it that really matters in this case? People are just worried that aliens may turn into predators?






Our Situation


Singapore is a nation made up of aliens who migrated here from various places seeking greener pastures. From 2 million people who grew to 5 million now. In between, we have managed our space rather well with urban planning - public and private housing. Roads that are basically free from clogging jams due to costly road pricing. When I visited other cities like Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai and others I found that we are not too congested and living spaces are still very bearable and in fact spacious. We even have lots of greenery. The truth is that we never had sufficient critical mass like lots of jobs but not enough takers. Every country or people face the same dilemma - success brings along its own new problems. Like too much good food can make us sick. We can become less hungry. In the old days, the moment you finished with education you have to work to supplement family income. Today, one can decide slowly what you want to do in future. You get picky about jobs. There are lesser needs as you probably can get what you need and what. Certain jobs are shunned at all cost.

For Johoreans, working in Singapore can get them more than double their salary just based on exchange rate alone. Every more successful countries or those with stronger $ will get foreign labour because they are cheaper and these foreign workers could earn a lot more than they could at home. There is mutual need here. Such foreign labour is necessary as there are not enough takers for the jobs and from each country they come with different skills or labour. What I like about Singapore is that we actually built respectable places for these workers to live in. 

Not many people understood these things that without these foreign labour, our economy cannot move as smoothly. Who would clear your rubbish? Build your homes? Provide services? Some quarters are worried and complained that they took away jobs from Singaporeans but the fact is some locals did not want certain jobs. However, it can be true that at the higher end, there are expatriates who can't hold a candle to a local but they got the job then that is inappropriate. But then such expatriates comes with their organisation set up. If they come with ten expatriates that gave employment opportunities to a 100 staff you have to do your maths.

When a country embraces development and attract investments, the coastal region will flourish first before it would later spread inward. The other being the border region such as Singapore/Johor, Malaysia, Penang/Perlis (Malaysia)/Haadyai/Songkhla, Thailand, Hong Kong/Shenzhen, etc. Foreign invasion of the economic kind are bound to occur and they are always both good and bad. The economy of the cheaper place will boom and sometimes things for their own locals can get more expensive. There are possible attraction of vice. May be ohter unsavoury things might happen. 

Possible Problems

I'll give a simple example of possible problem. When Asian immigrants went to the USA, they brought along their "toman" or "snakehead" fish with them for food. Some unwittingly released them into ponds and lakes. As snakeheads are voracious eaters, they ate up everything in those waters that can be food and when there were none, they ate all the other species of fish. When these lakes became devoid of fish, the snakeheads could jump off the waters and climbed over land and bounced and walked themselves into the next pond or lake in the process wiping up the other resources and caused an inbalance to the ecosystem. Therefore, such things can also happen to humans too not just snakeheads fish but humans can be bad ass snakeheads too. 

Look At Both Sides Of The Coin

For every complaint from someone who could not get his home because the prices has gone up you forgot that there is someone else who sold a house and make a good profit. For every one who complained that there are now more cars on the roads or not enough seats in trains, somebody else would have benefitted from having more business from more patrons. Not that these complaints are invalid or trivial but time is needed for adjustment. Our generation has to be extremely grateful and thankful for the previous generation's contribution to be where we are today. If not for their blood, sweat and tears things could have been very different. Success can bring with it its own problems like laziness, complacency, uncompetitiveness due to a lack of hunger. We already have everything. You may not stretch yourself harder to reach it. New immigrants into our society can be an impetus when managed properly but immersion into our culture and assimilation into our society would be the keys. A kick on our backsides is sometimes a necessary evil.

Cosmopolitan/Global City

Years ago, there was a TV series called "V" about aliens that came to earth to be our friends and appeared to help us but in reality they are really lizards but in the shell of human form and to conquer us and already living among us. A small group then discovered their sinister intent. The new "V" remake is on television now. As I have said earlier, we fear what we do not know. Do we put the blame on foreign workers in our midst for stealing our jobs? Are we sure if they were not here that you will take up those jobs? Are we ready to compete and show ourselves truly capable? Is is better to be a small fish in the ocean or a big fish in a small pond? The world today is getting borderless and globalised. Does not competition brings out the best in us? Oh and can we forget that we were once aliens too in a foreign land? After all, we are a nation made up of immigrants. 

We ought to be proud that many people from other countries wanted to come to Singapore to work and play. It means that we are a happening people and a happening place. Of course there are black sheep everywhere including some who may just want to milk the system. Separate the wheat from the chaff. We already have aliens in our midst. Welcome them and share with them our culture and values. We can help to make them like us (only the good things please). They like our foreparents wanted a better life for their family. It isn't easy for anyone to uproot and come over and even more difficult if they have to renounce their citizenship of their country of birth. So I say that if you are here for a noble purpose of raising a family and living a noble life you are most welcome.

If you don't have these people here with us, the aliens in our midst, you might not get to enjoy their culture too. Just look at it as widening our influence. This is what being Cosmopolitan is all about. A global city like a potpourri or a wok where you pour everything in and come up with a great dish. Do not forget that now we have friends and connection to many more countries. Only people like Silviu Ionescu are not welcome here. All other Romanians are. Not only is he a coward, he continued to lie unconvincingly. Wonder how he sleeps at night.


Let me show you a clip to remember and I don't even know if he is local or alien - Bolllywood dance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63NSt9tiY7o.

Welcome to Singapore!



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