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Similarities:

Kind of like a crowd effect

Once someone start to spread a certain stereotype, it starts a certain chain effect on the overall social perception on certain group/issues

These divides are all fuelled by societal discrimination and exclusivity

Differences:

Some social discriminations are more deeply rooted in us than others

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Similarities
minority groups are usually marginalised
stereotypes are usually the driving of the divide
Differences
extent of maginalisation
circumstances of the situation
being marginalised by others VS marginalising themselves from others by their own accord

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Gov.

They hold the most influence on society and are able to carry out large scale projects that are able to help the segregated.
In Singapore, the government is involved in local media and can influence it to shine light on the current issues of the social divide

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Government: financial ability and the right to help mitigated the problem such as implementing policies to shift the mindsets of the people
Society: create a inclusive society without social divides

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individual: people can change their mindsets to reduce systematic discrimination against people who seem less capable than them

government: can implement some policies to improve societal welfare

schools: there can be more effort put in from students and staff so that those from different streams are still able to get along with each other.

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similarity:
- separated from others
- low self esteem
- looked down upon
- vicious cycle

difference:
- by choice vs no choice (migrant worker and vice vs housing and education)

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the government is a possible stakeholder to play an important role in eradicating these social divides in Singapore. this is because they possess the adequate resources abd power to implement new laws and regulations that will break the definitive social construct that causes these divides amongst society. by implementing laws that ensure that people are given equal opportunities regardless of their societal standing or other social aspects, it will ensure that everyone is included and gives the opportunity for those who aren't as socially accepted as before to integrate into society

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Similarities:

Often always stem from social discrimination

A lot/ Most of these social issues often link back to financial issues

Differences:

Some social issues get more attention from the people and government as compared to others (education VS Geylang)

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rental flats, migrant workers. geylang red light district

SIMILARITIES
- they are all different from what we perceive as "the norm", especially in today's progressive society where most of our mindsets, infrastructures are modern
- they all include people who are marginalised or of the "lower end"

DIFFERENCES
- rental flats was targeted towards low income groups, migrant workers was targeted at the fact that they are of lower economic status and geylang red light district was targeted at their occupation and income level

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differences:
- infrastructure, economic
- social causes

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Similarities:
Usually the public shuns these people away from society as they enforce certain stereotypes on these groups of people, leading to discrimination.

Differences:
Although there might be segregation between these groups of people. The extent of segregation might be different.
E.g. Migrant workers are more often portrayed by the media than Sex workers, which would lead to higher awareness levels. Thus, the public would empathise with the migrant workers more than the sex workers, leading to an overall decrease in discrimination in general.

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similarities:
- mindsets of citizens
- difference btw people

differences
- money vs occupation

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-individual level: people should change their mindesets/stop discriminating pople who they deem as less proficient as them. Stereotypes of certain groups of people also have to change.
-government: the governmnet can eradictae some of this divide a swell as discrimination through education, setting various policies to help change perception from young as well as making sure that people do not hold ingrained perceptions of certain people simply based on what they see or do.

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similarity:
- mostly due to mindsets of the local population towards these people. they tend to shun these people due to their lower socio-economic status
- government also contributed to the divide.

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- citizens that are not facing these issues
as they are usually the ones that marginalize others and make them feel left out

- government can disperse the rental housing so they don’t feel left out or through public education to change their mindset

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All of them are pies from public perception. The public tends to enforce it’s view on these groups of people which leads to discrimination. For those in public rental flats, they may tend to shut themselves off as they feel as though the situation they are in is nad and they do not want people to see the predicament that they are in. For migrant workers and vice, the divide mainly comes from other people discriminating them due to their situation although they may wish to integrate with the rest of society.

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Income inequality is one similarity found in all resources. As Singapore has limited resources, lower income group will have less access to the resources such as housing and education. This affects their kids’ learning environment and results in different career paths, subsequently differences in their incomes.

stereotypic mindset against foreign workers, people living in public rental flats and people with lower SES is another similarity in all the resources

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People ingrained perception of certain groups of people for example, stereotypes of migrant workers, lower class being unable to afford basic housing as well as students being divided based on educational level. Differences: the extent and the broadness of the issue. For example, it is seen that such divide has been present since young starting from students facing discirmination for their educational pathways and to adult life where people are judged for not being able to affotd basic necessitiies.

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Income levels is the main factor that leads to social divides in Singapore. People with a low income does not have access to the resources that middle to high income people have. Ultimately, the social divide is further amplified by the difference in housing, education and occupation, which is mainly driven by the accessibility to monetary resources.

The difference is mainly caused by stereotypes that exist within communities. There is a difference in mindset between people of high socioeconomic status (SES) and that of low SES, where people of high SES tend to grossly underestimate the situation that people of low income families are put in, resulting in them making comments that may not be appropriate. As these mindsets build up, they become ingrained in society and is seen as a norm, resulting in a clear social divide.

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There are a total of 4 articles below. In groups of 3-4, divide the resources among yourselves and review them. 

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There are a total of 4 articles below. In groups of 3-4, divide the resources among yourselves and review them. 

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For each article, consider the following:

WHY: What is the underlying reason (based on Singapore characteristic) that has led to this social divide?

HOW: How can we possibly eradicate this divide in Singapore?

WHO: Which stakeholders are responsible for the divide?

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The Wayback Machine - http://web.archive.org/web/20200108061127/https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3044897/singapores-migrant-workers-just-want-safe-space-gather

Indonesian domestic workers Sofia Marsudin, 49, and Sadiam Sadin, 47, enjoy a Sunday picnic. For many foreign workers in Singapore, it is difficult to find a safe and comfortable space to spend their day off. Photo: Kok Xinghui

A crash at Lucky Plaza, in which two Filipino domestic workers sitting on the pavement were killed, has highlighted the lack of social spaces

These workers, who make roughly S$700 (US$518) a month and send the bulk of it home, cannot afford to sit in cafes where a cup of coffee costs S$6 (US$4)

Kok Xinghui

Indonesian domestic workers Sofia Marsudin, 49, and Sadiam Sadin, 47, enjoy a Sunday picnic. For many foreign workers in Singapore, it is difficult to find a safe and comfortable space to spend their day off. Photo: Kok Xinghui

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Singapore's migrant workers crave a safe space to gather on day off

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The Wayback Machine - http://web.archive.org/web/20200108061127/https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3044897/singapores-migrant-workers-just-want-safe-space-gather Indonesian domestic workers Sofia Marsudin, 49, and Sadiam Sadin, 47, enjoy a Sunday picnic. For many foreign workers in Singapore, it is difficult to find a safe and comfortable space to spend their day off.

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Mothership and The Birthday Collective are in collaboration to share a selection of essays from the 2018 edition of The Birthday Book.

The Birthday Book (which you can buy here) is a collection of essays about Singapore by 53 authors from various walks of life. These essays reflect on the complexity of the future roads we must take, as individuals, and as a nation.

"Why We Should Care" is an essay contributed by Cai Yinzhou.

Cai runs Geylang and Dakota Adventures. He aims to develop ground-up models of advocacy for low-income communities and start conversations of equal power between migrant workers and Singaporeans.

Cai's essay is reproduced in full here:

***

By Cai Yinzhou

I've always lived in Geylang.

As a child, I wondered not about the roads we took, but why we had to avoid particular routes home.

I only realised many years later that my neighbours were a mix of characters ranging from regular families, to people engaged in gambling, prostitution and drug syndicates.

Left to free market forces towards the late 2000s, Geylang was a location of choice for migrant worker housing, which proliferated across a range of private apartments.

The neighbourhood of my childhood was a mix of shoebox condominiums for high wage expats and dilapidated, overcrowded apartments above shophouses for low-wage workers.

Lessons from the people of Geylang

Library? School? As a restless youth, my first love for my community came from discovering my preferred choice of study locale.

In the thirst for inspiration, beer gardens provided a safe and somehow appropriate space to synthesise and distill my thoughts- as I gazed and observed the dynamics across different groups.

Why do people drink? Individually, each held a story.

The lonely unmarried uncle lavishing gifts and sales commission to a beer girl, in hopes of a conversation or a touch of affection, even if from a stranger.

A beer lady hailing from a rural village in Vietnam, eventually marrying a 70 year old man, using her extended social mobility to earn more, and successfully sending her son to university.

The 20-year-old boy managing a small troupe of streetwalkers, who had lived without a fatherly figure and desperately wanted to help his ageing mother with her skyrocketing medical bills. With minimal education and friends, few things could earn him quick and relatively large sums of money like pimping could.

Watching all of them, I gradually realised that they were part of a delicate and diverse social equilibrium.

The messiness of the streets jived naturally with the dynamics between the groups, often unfortunately easily labelled as misfits in society.

Playing badminton with foreign-worker neighbours

I discovered my love for backalleys and their dwellers while playing badminton with my neighbours behind my house. Friendships blossomed; we shared hopes, dreams, family and views on things we cared for.

The largest contrast between us was our realities as 20-plus-year-old men.

I was a young Singaporean, at home in cosmopolitan Singapore, with an array of opportunities like other university graduates. They were low-wage construction workers, in a foreign place, separated from family for extended durations, with third-world standards of living, in search of a better future for the generation after them.

In comparison with my peers, the diversity in my neighbourhood entailed interesting conversations and new perspectives.

To be honest, it would have been challenging to "love thy neighbour" if I only had known them for their labels. But underneath the easy labels, the place of my childhood is teeming with living networks and informal relationships.

These aren't obvious to everyone, unfortunately.

Geylang and state control

After the 2013 Little India riot, Parliament's Committee of Inquiry referred to Geylang as a "keg of gunpowder ready to explode".

They compared statistics of crime in Geylang to Little India to justify why measures targeted at preventing a repeat of the riot were necessary in both neighbourhoods.

The rectangle of Geylang that was designated as a liquor control zone has two important characteristics:

1. Salvation and sin: It contains the only legal red light district in Singapore, but also the highest concentration of religious institutions, including some buildings housing as many as six religious groups.

2. Private lives: There is no public housing within the rectangle, with the majority of residents living in apartments and shophouses. The area is also home to the highest concentration of new condominiums since 2012.

This rectangle has experienced numerous changes in the name of development: increased enforcement, surveillance and lighting up of all backalleys, even the integration of smart lampposts in the near future.

Geylang as a nuanced space

I wonder sometimes how to reconcile these realities: the place that needs scientific security measures, and the "other Geylang" where I grew up.

A simplistic story is that Geylang is a sacrificial lamb for the rest of Singapore to be safe.

However, the real story is much more nuanced, full of conundrums and contradictions once we dig into the details of the community and the interactions within it.

And each story affects the other.

Unintended consequences of state control

In the short term, the post-riot measures have consolidated low-wage worker populations in purpose-built dormitories.

Recreation centres meet all their needs without having them congregate in social nodes like Geylang and Little India.

However, the unintended consequences of clamping down on vice has been to relegate prostitution activities to jungle and HDB brothels, online spaces and massage parlours, creating a cat-and-mouse game for enforcement agencies.

For playing badminton in the backalleys, we were even raided by the police.

The broad policy of clamping down on crime was both rational and well-intentioned, but has caused unintended consequences by disrupting the community's delicate equilibrium.

We do not need to travel for new perspectives

Geylang always reminds me that we don't always need travel to show us new culture and perspectives.

Places like Geylang are teeming with people bringing new insights to our society every day, their determination and sacrifices providing valuable lessons for our young.

I know I am not the only one constantly inspired by their generosity, despite how little they have: seen in small kindnesses like going out of their way to hold umbrellas in the rain, returning lost wallets, and more dramatic single-handed rescues of babies while scaling heights.

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So, why should we should care?

So why do I care about Geylang and the roads I've taken in it? Why should all of us care?

The strength of Singapore lies in our diversity - since our inception, early migrants came with the same sense of purpose, forming mutual help groups like clans and associations that contributed actively to our early nation building.

They formed communities, built public infrastructure like schools and hospitals, kept their eyes on the possibilities for a better future.

They were the first proponents of values like meritocracy and hard work, earning the right to call Singapore home regardless of wage or class.

Geylang, like Singapore, is an ecosystem

In contrast, today's segregation of low-wage workers, by built design or unequal social mobility, will continue perpetuating divides within communities - the necessary jobs these workers do shunned by local populations, the disinterest in mixing persisting while we ignore our mutual interdependence.

Geylang, like Singapore, is ultimately an ecosystem - a community of organisms with interdependent relationships. We cannot forget the need for reciprocal interactions, and to value one another beyond economic transactions.

This is why, we should care.
Top photo via Cai Yinzhou's Facebook and Wikimedia commons

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I am a 27-year-old Singaporean, & I've lived in Geylang all my life. Here's what it's like.

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Mothership and The Birthday Collective are in collaboration to share a selection of essays from the 2018 edition of The Birthday Book. The Birthday Book (which you can buy here) is a collection of essays about Singapore by 53 authors from various walks of life.

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These children have spent almost all their lives in public rental flats. What's been the impact?

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The programme Talking Point met three children and their families to find out how their living environment in public rental housing might affect their learning potential and mental health.

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Class – not race nor religion – is potentially Singapore’s most divisive fault line

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That is the finding of the latest, and one of the largest, surveys on this topic, raising questions on whether the society is still based on equality and meritocracy. The documentary Regardless of Class examines the issues.