I thank Mr. Ramesh Erramalli for giving me a topic to blog about. A month ago, Mr. Erramalli became the most famous Indian Expatriate when he was caught on video berating his condominium security guard for having the audacity to charge a guest of his, $10 for the right to park in the condominium compound (which was part of the rules of living in the said compound.)
Mr. Erramalli made some unfortunate comments about how much he paid for his property and then made the mistake of alluding to the fact that his property was not a “Housing Development Board” (HDB) flat (most Singaporeans, myself included, live in an HDB flat). As predicted, the incident went viral and overnight, Mr. Ramesh Erramalli became the most famous person in Singapore.
This isn’t the first incident involving a foreigner being caught in an unfortunate incident with a local. It isn’t the first time that Singapore’s cyberspace has exploded. But what is interesting is that for the first time, the “netizens” went to find Mr. Erramalli’s linkedin profile and after some research alleged that his qualifications were fake and we then had a protest on how the government needed to review the India-Singapore Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement or CECA. The more extreme part of cyberspace went as far as to say that the government needed to scrap CECA for the benefit of all Singaporeans.
The nicest thing you can say about Mr. Ramesh Erramalli is that he’s a self-entitled arsehole and his attitude towards an elderly and poorly paid person was horrible. I’m told that many Singaporeans (particularly the Singaporeans of Indian Decent) find the expatriate Indians to be an arrogant bunch.
I don’t doubt that Mr. Erramalli is an arsehole and I don’t doubt that there are many such arseholes in the Indian Expat community (which is incidentally the same thing that can be said for any other community -expat or local, in Singapore). I don’t see how we’ve made the leap from one arsehole to an entire policy. While Mr. Erramalli is an arsehole, let’s not forget that being an arsehole is not a crime.
Unlike Stuart Boyd Mills, a British citizen, Mr. Erramalli never physically assaulted anyone (Mr. Mills received a slap on the wrist of 6-months and didn’t even come close to getting the cane) and nobody made the leap from one impotent prick to wanting to ban British Expats (who have a far higher record of committing physical crimes against the local population than their Indian Counterparts).
So, how is it such that we’re angrier with the entire Indian expat community because of one particular arsehole than we are with other expats, who have produced people who have physically assaulted our locals?
OK, before I continue, I will need to declare my interest. I’ve always been saved by the Indian expat community. My first major client, the guys who paid me more for me than for being someone else’s subcontractor were Indian and two out of three of the major milestones of my working life (as in national level projects) are curtesy of the Indian Expat community. My fastest paymasters were inevitably Indian expats (defined as collecting the cheque a few hours after invoicing). As such, I do have a soft spot for the community.
I believe that the real issues at stake are not so much the Indians or the Indian expats as a group. The key issue should be the fact that Singapore is increasingly unequal. We had the classic case of someone who was very well to do berating someone who is less fortunate for merely doing his job.
Let’s start with the expat system or the system that involves taking someone and plonking them somewhere else in a very plush job. You throw money at him (they’re usually guys), or at least more than he’s seen back home, and you give him a load of freebies like the house and car he’d normally not be able to afford. You drill it into his head that he’s there because the locals would die without him and you also drill it into the heads of the locals that their livelihoods depend on this person from elsewhere. The guy discovers other juicy things like women throwing themselves at him for the mere fact that he’s him.
Now, I’m not disputing the fact that businesses will need people with skills from elsewhere and I’m not disputing that you will need to pay a bit extra for special skills. However, its very clear that in the system as I’ve described, you’re bound to turn otherwise nice people into arseholes. As a nephew by marriage (who happens to be Indian Expat) said, “We expats think we’re gods.” While the majority of expats (of all colours) I’ve met are nice enough, it takes a strong character to remain a decent person at heart when so much comes to you so easily.
Mr. Erramalli made some unfortunate comments about how much he paid for his property and then made the mistake of alluding to the fact that his property was not a “Housing Development Board” (HDB) flat (most Singaporeans, myself included, live in an HDB flat). As predicted, the incident went viral and overnight, Mr. Ramesh Erramalli became the most famous person in Singapore.
This isn’t the first incident involving a foreigner being caught in an unfortunate incident with a local. It isn’t the first time that Singapore’s cyberspace has exploded. But what is interesting is that for the first time, the “netizens” went to find Mr. Erramalli’s linkedin profile and after some research alleged that his qualifications were fake and we then had a protest on how the government needed to review the India-Singapore Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement or CECA. The more extreme part of cyberspace went as far as to say that the government needed to scrap CECA for the benefit of all Singaporeans.
The nicest thing you can say about Mr. Ramesh Erramalli is that he’s a self-entitled arsehole and his attitude towards an elderly and poorly paid person was horrible. I’m told that many Singaporeans (particularly the Singaporeans of Indian Decent) find the expatriate Indians to be an arrogant bunch.
I don’t doubt that Mr. Erramalli is an arsehole and I don’t doubt that there are many such arseholes in the Indian Expat community (which is incidentally the same thing that can be said for any other community -expat or local, in Singapore). I don’t see how we’ve made the leap from one arsehole to an entire policy. While Mr. Erramalli is an arsehole, let’s not forget that being an arsehole is not a crime.
Unlike Stuart Boyd Mills, a British citizen, Mr. Erramalli never physically assaulted anyone (Mr. Mills received a slap on the wrist of 6-months and didn’t even come close to getting the cane) and nobody made the leap from one impotent prick to wanting to ban British Expats (who have a far higher record of committing physical crimes against the local population than their Indian Counterparts).
So, how is it such that we’re angrier with the entire Indian expat community because of one particular arsehole than we are with other expats, who have produced people who have physically assaulted our locals?
OK, before I continue, I will need to declare my interest. I’ve always been saved by the Indian expat community. My first major client, the guys who paid me more for me than for being someone else’s subcontractor were Indian and two out of three of the major milestones of my working life (as in national level projects) are curtesy of the Indian Expat community. My fastest paymasters were inevitably Indian expats (defined as collecting the cheque a few hours after invoicing). As such, I do have a soft spot for the community.
I believe that the real issues at stake are not so much the Indians or the Indian expats as a group. The key issue should be the fact that Singapore is increasingly unequal. We had the classic case of someone who was very well to do berating someone who is less fortunate for merely doing his job.
Let’s start with the expat system or the system that involves taking someone and plonking them somewhere else in a very plush job. You throw money at him (they’re usually guys), or at least more than he’s seen back home, and you give him a load of freebies like the house and car he’d normally not be able to afford. You drill it into his head that he’s there because the locals would die without him and you also drill it into the heads of the locals that their livelihoods depend on this person from elsewhere. The guy discovers other juicy things like women throwing themselves at him for the mere fact that he’s him.
Now, I’m not disputing the fact that businesses will need people with skills from elsewhere and I’m not disputing that you will need to pay a bit extra for special skills. However, its very clear that in the system as I’ve described, you’re bound to turn otherwise nice people into arseholes. As a nephew by marriage (who happens to be Indian Expat) said, “We expats think we’re gods.” While the majority of expats (of all colours) I’ve met are nice enough, it takes a strong character to remain a decent person at heart when so much comes to you so easily.
So, the first thing that we need to look at is moving our psychological focus away from multinationals being the source of everything and our education system has to move away from training people who merely follow orders to people who can think and lead in the global system. Our local people need to get used to doing things for themselves rather than waiting for someone from elsewhere to do it for them.
Secondly, we need to move to building up our entrepreneurs. I stress that not everybody is meant to be an entrepreneur and being an entrepreneur is often tougher than being an employee. However, entrepreneurs think differently. Instead of seeing new arrivals as competition for scarce jobs, you see new customers. The mindset of the people must change.
I was asked, if I felt threatened and displaced in my own land. The answer is that I don’t. Each new arrival is a potential new customer to me in one of my various gigs. I didn’t get the corporate job that people assume that I should get. It didn’t occur to me that it was someone else’s fault and it never occurred to me that I should blame other people – I merely tried another path.
I’ve never felt bothered by “fake” qualifications, which is a topic that many of my fellow citizens get irked when it comes to the Indian Nationals. I don’t doubt that India faces such issues but its not unique to the Indians and I work on the principle that if I can gets into a multinational and survives more than three-years, its clear he can do the job, so gives a shit if he went to a real university or not. University was a lot of fun but who really cares what happens beyond that.
The other issue we need to face is the fact that in Singapore, jobs like security guards are often for the lowly educated and worst of all – the old and feeble. Now, I don’t have anything against old people working (I am probably going to be one), but why is it such that our society consistently makes it such that the old and feeble always do the most physically demanding and poorly paid jobs. And in the case of the security guard, he’s doing something potentially dangerous – he’s looking after the security of the residents like Mr. Erramalli.
Unfortunately, the security guard is in Singapore speak, “Uncle,” thus probably not likely to get a job elsewhere and dependent on the pittance paid. As such, he’s the perfect target for bullies like Mr. Erramalli.
Isn’t it time we look into “upgrading” jobs like that of the security guard? Surely something can be done to give the industry more professionalism and to give people a greater sense of pride and let’s not forget, better pay.
People like security guards shouldn’t be regarded as just the old man in the corner who needs a job. They should be regarded as professionals offering a valuable service and people like Mr. Erramalli should be made to pay fairly for someone to look after their valued possessions.
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