Problem on Foreign Workers

Foreign workers came under the spotlight last week when residents of Serangoon Gardens kicked up a ruckus over possibility of a former school there being turned into a dormitory for foreign workers.
This estate has always been welcoming foreign residents, and actually 5,000 expats call this little community home. However, a petition was started and signed by about 1,600 households out of 7,000. The reason for being against the move are: concern for the safety of the young and the old, congestion strain on the estate’s infrastructures, theft, loitering, alcoholism, hook-ups between the foreign workers and the maids, and a dip in the value of million-dollar properties in the vicinity. Though the arguments appear with the phrase like “I have nothing against foreign workers but…” , it is clear that these reasons are rational and pragmatic for not wanting the foreign workers to live with the residents.
I think the main problem is the wrong stereotype that all foreign workers are poor, uneducated, untrustworthy and troublesome. Actually foreign workers are not the synonym of “trouble”.
Singapore is a country that needs foreign labours. The foreign workers come to Singapore, hunt for opportunities. In another word, Singapore needs them and they are just here to earn money. They build home for Singaporeans even though most of them won’t get a Singapore citizenship after many years of hard working. Therefore, foreign workers should receive respect from Singaporeans. However, the situation is the opposite; many Singaporeans look down on them. The reasons are: they litter, they drink a lot, and they urinate at void decks. I think this is all a misunderstanding. Can’t deny that some of the foreign workers have bad habits, but this group is just the minority out of the majority. We cannot label all the foreign workers the “trouble maker”. Some Singaporeans also steal, litter, and offend crimes; does that mean all Singaporeans should be blamed? Of cause not. So why do we do this to the foreign workers?
Mr. Jonathen Thang, a foreign worker from Myanmar, feels disappointed that Singaporeans do not trust him. When he is in a shopping centre, willing to buy a pair of trousers, the shopkeeper follows him wherever he goes, like he will steal something. There is no reason why foreign workers are more likely to steal, because they are not. Police statistics do not bear out the belief that foreigners are more prone to committing crime than Singaporeans. Infect, some foreign workers are very concern about self-conduct, especially when they are in Singapore.
Mr. Zi Yangjian, a Chinese worker, said, “In china, it would be natural to do that (littering) but in Singapore, it is an offence to litter. On public transport, I have also learnt that Singaporeans like it to be quiet.” They are away from home, their family to work here. They get paid for the work; they also pay for working here- they sacrifice their happy time with family to come here. So they treasure their job. Hence they follow the rules and thus try to get away from troubles. Foreign workers know what to do and what not to do. Some of them even concern much more about the rules than Singaporeans. But they are still misunderstood as trouble makers.
The conception that foreign workers are more likely to offend crime does not stand. All the foreign workers want to be accepted by the locals over time. And it is possible. There are Singaporeans who do not discriminate against foreign workers and stand up arguing for them. There is nothing wrong with foreign workers, so why don’t we accept them?
(500 words)