Today I read a news report that simply announced that the government were finally going to build a dormitory for foreign workers in Serangoon Gardens. It didn't really have much of an impact on me, because I visit that place only occasionally, and even then, only to eat, so I guess I didn't really feel the impact of such a decision.
I would even go on to say that those workers probably can't afford to eat gourmet cuisine at Serangoon Gardens anyway so I probably won't see them around much although they live there.
Which reminds me of this rather weird incident. A foreign worker once queued behind me at Sweettalk and asked if they sold kopi. Well, I said yes because technically they did sell coffee, although its not "coffee" coffee. There was a Starbucks next to the Sweettalk but I felt it would be more than a little unkind to refer him to Starbucks. I was afriad that he would have no money to send home after that.
Of course, he went right up to the Chinese lady and asked for "kopi". I mean, who goes to Sweettalk to ask for "kopi". Obviously she was like "No we don't sell kopi here." I immediately took my honeydew milk tea and stealthily sneaked off like really really far away in case he tried to find me again.
I really have nothing against these workers, although you probably couldn't tell from the last few paragraphs. Most of them are here to make a good honest living, and we need such people because no one in Singapore wants to do the same work for such low pay.
So when I read the report, it went straight to the back of my mind, until one of my friends raised this topic later at night. He went like "Shit why are these foreign workers staying so near me. I am damn sad you know. The value of my house just dropped."
Of course, with me being me, I just had to rub it in. "Don't worry man, it probably only dropped about half a million dollars. Your house is easily worth 10 times that. You'll survive."
I find that nowadays my friends even have a name for such behaviour. They are like "That's such a weili thing to do." So, I would be like "Eh why you say until like that!" And their reply? "Because you're weili." I guess I sort of had it coming, what with all the karma I've picked up with my brand of humour.
But, back to the topic, I'm actually a little sad that a very unique corner of Singapore is about to be changed in a way that would make it lose some of its charm. In this garden, it's like a place where time stops, a reminder of a time when life was more laidback, kind of like Dempsey but a little less commercial. It's a rustic little corner, one of the few places in Singapore where you don't really see high rise buildings around. I wouldn't go so far to say that the garden is being defiled, but it certainly will change, mainly because the area will suddenly have many more people living there.
I really wonder, like why this place, when there are so many others around. Perhaps they have some stupid agenda, or maybe the people doing city planning became blind overnight. Or more scandalously, they were looking for a centralised location in a residential estate to house the workers, so it was either this estate or Bukit Timah, and too many politicians stay in Bukit Timah. I bet that's it.
It makes little sense to me, how they take what makes Singapore unique, and destroy it in the name of city planning. One day, Singapore will become little parcels of the same city units repeated again and again, kind of like Sim City where you build everything in unit clusters to maximise city efficiency. It looks like some politicians have been playing too much Sim City. The product is certainly efficient, neat and pristine, but also devoid of vivacity and life.