Rilek1Corner

Tag: Chinese

  • Racial Harmony Alive In Singapore: Multiracial Effort Helped Old Man Who Fell Off From Bike

    Racial Harmony Alive In Singapore: Multiracial Effort Helped Old Man Who Fell Off From Bike

    What happened last night reaffirmed my beliefs that RACIAL HARMONY is still strong in Singapore !

    About 7:30pm last night, I was about to chase a bus back home at Elias CC. Then a woman yelled “that old man fell down”
    My wife and I turned and we saw that an old man fell off his bike. We got nearer by walking and realized he was bleeding. It then turned into a sprint.

    I yelled to my wife to call the ambulance while I dug my bag for a shirt. I immediately applied pressure on his head where he was bleeding from. He was shivering and muttering. I continued applying pressure and carried him up to sit at the ledge. At that point of time all I could think of is to stop his bleeding as it has already went down to his shirt.

    Out of nowhere, a few passer by came by to help.
    1) a Chinese woman shielded the old man with an umbrella while asking the old man for his family member’s contact.
    2) a Malay man came to us and took the old man’s bicycle aside (it was still in front of me)
    3) An Indian man rushed to the nearest clinic and called the doctor to help
    4) a Bangladeshi man stood behind me to shield me and the old man from the rain while I was still applying pressure.

    The scary part to me was holding the shirt and feeling it getting heavier and warmer. I didn’t want to apply too much till I hurt the uncle nor do I want to be too soft till blood keeps flowing.

    Shortly after, the doctor that the Indian man went to get, came down. He came with an assistant. I relieved my position and the doctor covered the old man’s wound with a gauze. While this was happening :

    1) Malay man was constantly looking out for the ambulance
    2) the Chinese woman got a hold of the old man’s family and comforted the old man that they are on their way
    3) the Indian man gave his wet tissues to my wife so she could wipe blood of the old man’s hand and face
    4) the Bangladeshi man was still using his umbrella to cover the old man and also the doctor

    Like what it seems to be forever, the ambulance finally came. Bringing the old man and his grandson to the hospital.

    I don’t even know the names of the people who helped me last night but I was truly touched and moved by the unconditional help by our fellow Singaporeans (and Foreign help!!)

    What gave me hope that the uncle can make it was that he was even asking for his bicycle when he was being put on the ambulance ?

    Thank you my wife Jenny Insyirah Farhanah Lim for calling the ambulance and aided them to come to the exact location. Then also helping the uncle wipe off the blood on his face and hands.

    But most of all, to those people who rushed down and help, thank you very much. I am extremely touched (‘:

     

    Source: Khairul Farhan

  • A Chinese-Singaporean Husband’s Dilemma – ‘Sorry Your Wife Is Indian. Landlord Won’t Rent To You’.

    A Chinese-Singaporean Husband’s Dilemma – ‘Sorry Your Wife Is Indian. Landlord Won’t Rent To You’.

    Darius Cheung, founder of Singapore-based property listing site 99.co, is married to Indian-Singaporean wife Roshni Mahtani, who’s also an entrepreneur (she started parenting portaltheAsianparent).

    Late last year, they began searching for a property to rent, thinking that an oversupply of apartments would make it easy. They were wrong.

    You see, as a Chinese Singaporean man, Darius had been sheltered from the everyday racism felt by minorities. He was about to get an education.

    “I began to notice something very odd as we went for these viewings, something I never encountered before in the dozen years that I’ve been renting,” he writes on the company blog.

    “On several occasions, the agents seemed eager to end the viewings quickly, sometimes without even discussing the offer. I would text them afterwards to negotiate on the price, but one of the responses we got was a shocking ‘Sorry your wife is Indian, landlord won’t rent to you. Next time please indicate earlier, so we both don’t waste time.’”

    He did precisely that. True enough, 20 percent of their enquiries were rejected right away because Roshni was mentioned in the text message.

    “In one case, after the typical vague response of ‘profile doesn’t match,’ I pushed harder to ask ‘Is it because my wife is Indian?’, and the response was a dead-pan ‘yes, thanks for your understanding.’”

    They ended up paying 15 percent more than what they should have because of their difficulty finding a place.

    The event led to some soul-searching. They wanted to include both parents’ surnames in their daughter’s name. They thought about dropping the Indian surname to protect her, but decided against it.

    So Darius sought to do something about racial discrimination in the property market. He writes:

    If you google ‘No Indian No PRC’, you will find actual rental listings in Singapore in the top results. The problem is so prevalent that even BBC had extensive coverage on it some time ago.

    Enquiries about rental properties often come with a series of profiling questions that includes ‘What race are you?’, ‘Where are you from?’, or outright rejection by stating ‘Profile doesn’t match.’ The top two groups of people who receive discriminatory responses are Indians and PRCs (referring to those from the People’s Republic of China).

    Landlords often cite reasons like “lack of cleanliness”, “likelihood of damaging the apartment,” and even “I don’t like them.”

    99.co is now tackling this by introducing an “all-races-welcome” indicator on its website. What this means is that agents and landlords can positively indicate that their properties can be rented by anyone regardless of ethnicity. Such listings will get prominent placing on the website.

    “The idea is to give renters peace of mind during their home search journey – reducing instances of rude comments and unpleasant experiences while enquiring about listings.”

     

    Source: www.techinasia.com

  • Non-Muslim Employer: Thanks To Random Stranger, My Indonesian-Muslim Maid Can Taste Aidilfitri

    Non-Muslim Employer: Thanks To Random Stranger, My Indonesian-Muslim Maid Can Taste Aidilfitri

    Almost afraid to post this but it has been a very interesting start to Hari Raya for me.

    My helper is from Indonesia. She’s my age, alone in a foreign land, with no friends, no family and barely any way to contact her home. For whatever reason, she had chosen not to take the holiday off, and instead opting to be paid for it.

    My family sat down today for a steamboat lunch. It was a pork-based soup, so she couldn’t have any. Saw her seated in the kitchen huddled over a bowl of maggi (granted it had all the halal ingredients we had for the steamboat) and my heart broke.

    Stepped out of the house in an attempt to buy a few bits of food to make her day better, and realised I had NO idea what constituted Hari Raya food. Had to stop and ask random Malay strangers for their suggestions. I was so embarrassed and flushed that my specs were fogging up.

    Bumped into this guy in traditional garb and asked him for suggestions as well, and was so humbled and amazed when he offered for me to go to his house and collect food. Took his number, and half an hour later was walking home with a giant bag of food. Gave it to my helper and could see her choking back tears.

    This has been such a humbling and heartwarming experience. I do love Singapore so much. Here’s thanking the random stranger for his big heart. (I found his profile on FB using his number, but I think tagging him is a bit too creepy haha!)

     

    Source: Justinian Liew

  • Roast Pork Smell From Temple Dinner Too Unbearable For Fasting HDB Resident

    Roast Pork Smell From Temple Dinner Too Unbearable For Fasting HDB Resident

    A Singaporean man named Sazali (https://www.facebook.com/Sazali10) ranted on his Facebook after food smells from a Chinese temple became too unbearable for him and his family. He spotted the food caterer for the temple dinner roasting BBQ pork at the HDB common areas under the kitchen windows where his clothes were hung out to dry. Despite shutting his windows tight, the smell became too unbearable for him to break fast properly during this month of Ramadan.

    Below are his Facebook updates in chronological order.

    (23 June 2016 6.41PM)

    “Can anyone share with me if this is permitted…??!! To roast pork in open & under the kitchen windows where we hang our clothes out to dry..

    I dun mean to be rude but The smell now is so nauseating for me…even after i shut tight my windows. Hopefully the other muslims who fast in my block dun feel the same.

    I think there is a dinner event going on at the open car park behind my blk.”

    (23 June 2016 7.39PM)

    “Now am waiting for NEA officers to arrive since 1855hrs approx…the nauseating taste really made me lose appetite to break fast properly…

    Then, I just realised they also had roasted at another spot…at residence drop off point…”

    (23 June 2016 9.29PM)

    “Called up NEA direct & being told that they will refer & report it to the town council as the event is approved by them…so please Ang Mo Kio Town Council, i wonder what ur actions will be.

    MUIS, is this ok for us….?? So, battling the smell & nausea, for me assisting the investigations, if any, i went down to take pics for their perusal.

    I am not the type of person to go around complaining but roasting pork in the open & directly under my nose (my unit i mean), i think it is disrespecting for us Fasting in this holy month of ours. Now, the stench is stuck in my home affecting me if not others.”

    Source: www.allsingaporestuff.com

     

  • US Special Rep To Muslim Communities: Important To Give Singapore Minorities Equal Entrepreneur Opportunities

    US Special Rep To Muslim Communities: Important To Give Singapore Minorities Equal Entrepreneur Opportunities

    PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA – For Singapore’s entrepreneurship landscape to reflect the diversity of its society, business owners and youths from minority groups must have equal access to funding and opportunities, a United States official said.

    This is important because entrepreneurship can act as a powerful counter to violent extremism, while also exposing young people to new ideas and opportunities, noted Mr Shaarik Zafar, the US Department of State’s Special Representative to Muslim Communities.

    Mr Shaarik was speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the Global Entrepreneurship Summit, which is being held over three days on the Stanford University campus in California.

    More than 700 entrepreneurs and 300 investors from around the world are taking part in the summit, including at least seven representatives from Singapore.

    Mr Shaarik has made three visits to Singapore, most recently in May this year when he met with Singapore’s Minister for Environment and Water Resources Masagos Zulkifli.

    “Singapore’s diversity, just like diversity in other countries, is its strength,” he said in response to questions from The Straits Times at the Summit.

    “Singapore has strong rule of law, and access to capital. But the challenge is, as in many parts of the world, sometimes minority youth don’t have access to this,” he noted.

    “I think the key is mentorship, and often that means people mentoring young people outside their community.”

    Mr Shaarik added that Singapore can be an “important role model” when it comes to helping minorities access entrepreneurship opportunities.

    “The next step is engaging Muslim youth, and other minority youth, and making sure they have access to the same training, the same mentorship, and the same capital…It’s important that all aspects of Singaporean society are able to access (these).”

    Mr Shaarik also said promoting entrepreneurship is a “fundamental part”of US President Barack Obama’s foreign policy, “because we recognise entrepreneurship is directly linked to stability, economic growth and connectivity with the world”.

    His comments echoed remarks made by US Secretary of State John Kerry earlier the same day, during the official opening of the Summit.

    Entrepreneurship can create jobs and opportunities for young people all over the world who might otherwise be vulnerable to violent extremist ideas, Mr Kerry told the audience.

    “Think of the peril if we leave those minds, which have the same desires that many of you do here, if we leave them to the pickings of extremists and exploiters and demagogues,” he added.

    “(Entrepreneurs) provide a highly visible and very effective rebuttal to the propaganda of violent extremist groups. Because your optimism provides an alternative to their nihilism. Because you’re trying to build the brighter future that in fact these folks are determined to prevent.”

     

    Source: www.straitstimes.com