How do you feel about having foreign worker townships in your estate?

There was an uproar over the weekend when plans to turn the former Serangoon Gardens Technical School in Burghley Drive into a hostel for 1,000 foreign workers met with protests from the residents. Would you be able to accept foreign worker townships in your heartlands? Which parts of Singapore do you think will be suitable to build such townships?

Our main concern will be security and unwanted behaviours
i believe setting up a course for these people to teach them the Singapore lifestyle before bringing them into the community. Eg Don't hang water dripping clothes out to dry. Don't litter.Loitering in big groups is not welcomed, policemen will check on you and you don't want that to happen to you.Flush the toilet after use(Don't be surprised, i knew many of the China Chinese(men and women alike)don't do that) Let them know the Dos and Don'ts.
Singapore is a FINE country i believe the Government can work things out.

I would not mind, as long as they do not cause any trouble or grief. Because honestly, after a hard day's work,they need a nice and proper place to rest like any other people. If the people are still worried, maybe they could filter out the better workers to stay at certain areas?

why not treat them as a human to if is not at serangoon garden find a better place for them pleas don't discriminate our fellow foreign worker....

No i dont tink they should be allowed living in my area.. they should be cluster in just one area for them to stay. as now Foreign workers are overwhelming in singapore..Even mrt and buses are alwaes packed with them.. In addition some of them are lacking in manners just like some singaporeans when they take public transport..
Goverment should create a quarters for them to stay and company should arrange transport for them to n fro from their work this will reduce the congestion off public transport as around 20% of the people using public transport are the foreign workers..

u say 'no' is a descrimination, and say 'yes' then u have to face wth problematic foriegn worker. coz if u allow this and not look at the problem than there's nothing wrong, but if u look deeper into it there's a lot of matter to look into. most of all is over crowded where agent and management will stuff in as much people as possible thus make the place cramp and noisy. and second of all is drinking problem where most of them have this problem and police have to step in. so basically there no saying in this matter. as for my opinion is very easy. U HAVE MONEY U RENT and solve all the problem

I will disagree with that. They can't even behave themselves. Is hard for us to accept them around that area.

no way any housing areas or housing estates will be allowed for this troubles makers or foreign workers to be contained.

these people should be housed in area like kranji or neo tiew areas. where there's workers are staying there too.

they can contribute their work on constuction and create alot troubles for us as well.

as i say before these are contract workers who comes to singapore to earn a living and they are paid to do so.



if the goverment insists of housing them in burghely drive, it will means endless troubles for the citizens there.

I think its crap from the govt. Will they allow the building to be build near the istana, parliament house or PM Lee's house? If it is so, then true Singaporeans will accept it. Otherwise do not talk about it.

Its not a matter of accepting them into our heartlands, its a matter of whether we can accept their behaviour. Unless you are in denial, most Singaporeans would have already witnessed some of their less desirable qualities. Admittedly, not all of them behave the same way but the truth is that most of them do.

Alot of them are already housed within our heartlands. The consequence has been that our once safe heartlands are no longer as safe anymore. After its turns dark (esp on the weekends), they sit under the block and drink. And if that is not bad enough, they leave their glasses behind. I once asked a policeman if they could do anything about it and his reply to me was that we invited them to work in our country so we cant really chase them away as long as they dont turn rowdy. That is RIDICULOUS! Yes, they are here to work and yes they can drink but they cant do it at the void deck! What ever happened to our laws? Since when has sitting at the viod deck and drinking as a group considered legal or even acceptable? The neighbourhood policeman would be able to give you statistics on how many of the cases he sees a day are related to a foreign worker...and yet we are considering putting them in the heartlands?!!?

I understand that its not the culture of the workers that makes them behave this way, its their situation. They are in a foreign country, away from their family and with friends. So, they tend to party on the weekends. But they have no concern of the effects of their actions in our community bcos they dont consider us to be home.

Even if they are housed in SGTS and there are rules to prevent them from drinking there, they will move to the nearby areas to drink. And then, there would be no conducive environment to raise a good family. The safety of the citizens surrounding them would be affected.

The best place to place them would be in the non-functioning factories in the Tuas and Ubi area. This would be best for them and for the community at large. There is no point in forcing them into the heartlands and making the community accept them when there already has been such an obvious uproar against it.

I notice that some foreign workers like to gather in big groups and sit around void decks or staircases leading to flats. After they left, they will normally leave behind a lot of rubbish and empty beer cans which I think is creating a bad environment to young children who live around the area. Foreign workers also brought with them their cultures which not many can be easily accepted by locals. It will be a big challenge for locals to live peacefully with them.
I will accept them only if they can behave themselves. As for which part of Singapore is suitable for such townships, I think it should be some offshore islands.

1st of all, I'm a very family man. I'm in the SAF and i need to go overseas training often, leaving my young son and my wife in singapore which to the world is the more safe place on earth.

Now come to think of it, when there are alot of ill- manner and ill- discipline foreign workers wondering under my void deck dead drunk and will peep anywhere any time! Would i still feel safe leaving my family behind and be fully committed to my work? Lets all think about how many time have you seen police patrol car in your neighbourhood or multi storey car park or police man patrolling on foot/ bicycle?

I believe people in serangoon gardens had already thought about this security issue. Beside this issue, looking from the money sense, the housing price around that area will be affected too (I remember reading in the local papers about someone wanted a loan from the bank for his condo near geylang but was rejected by the bank because of the condo location.)

I will not accept foreign worker townships in my heartlands because of my family's security reason. Because of what i had seen and heard of foreign workers disturbing the youngs and women under void decks.

In tuas industries, i have seen workers hostals near industry park, i believe this might works.

No, foreign worker townships should not be built in the heartlands. There has been numerous complaints by other Singaporeans against foreign workers but it seems like all these complaints have not been heeded by the authorities.

These foreign workers come from a different culture from ours. Drinking, fighting and other types of what we deem anti-social behaviour is quite common in their country. We cannot blame or change them instantly, but we should not put them where they can influence our way of living.

The heartlands is where our children are brought up. Do we want them to be influenced by such behaviour? Do we want to expose them to the dangers of fighting or worse? I think the answer is a definate "NO" for all parents.

I agree that foreign workers should also be given a decent living standard and am all for building townships for them. However, these should be located far from the heartlands. Perhaps in the industrial areas like Tuas or Kranji.

No is my direct answer. they can be a nuisance when they are in a group regardless from where they come. our luv ones will be affected by their activities

No, not me.
Not all these foreign workers are bad, I have worked with some of them. Some are hardworking, friendly and smart. But it only take one bad apple to cost a massive disturbance in the estate.

I stay somewhat near a place where foreign workers gather, they drink, make noise, spit and leave their rubbish everywhere. And they pee at corner of staircase.

So who is gonna tackle these problems. The same people that want to have a open heart ? What if something worst happened ?

To house so many foreign workers together will cost problem among themselves. As they are from different countries, working together sometime create friction, not to mention staying together.
Who want a big gang fight to be happening in their neighbour ?

yes, i will allow foreign worker in my estate.

The only people that would welcome these township is those that can make money from these workers eg Seven Eleven and food stalls that sells their type of food. It is strange that these workers are not allow to drink inside their dom , but is release to the nearby blocks of flats to do their drinking and partying. Dont even considered township , having a table and chairs under one block is already bad enough , Can you see the amount of rubbish left behind esp after a week end. And worse urine inside lifts or at some corner ,as there are no toilets avaliable. I used to live in a block that have a old age corner , after the old people leave the center , the young ones comes and make a mess of the place. Concept is good but need proper monitoring. I am still washing the lifts in my block every weekend and holidays when ever I see/smell urine.Dont give me extra work to clean up after these people. One more point , the increase of bicycles chain up at land landing is an indication of the amount of foreign workers in my block.At present I can see 9 bicycles?. Our lifel anding is not built to accomodate these amount.

No, I do not think having such a township is beneficial for Singapore. Instead of looking at short term; One should weight the long term effect too.

Such township would give rise to polarization in the country and 'status' etc. In time of unrest..it may give rise to riot which will be more difficult to control. Once such township is given, it is not reversible.

It is best to leave it as it is. It has been like this for many years with no issue and accepted by all including foreigners who are working in Singapore. Emotional long term effect should be a sense of 'belong to Singapore" not 'Group' etc. Do we want such group such as 'Tamil Tigers' etc?

pls bear in mind, most of these foreigners are here for short while with no committment to SG. there are culture and social differences ih which the govt must understand and needs to be balance. it will cause inconveniences to the residents, currently there are no regulations, enforcements and committments to control possible crimes and issues.

we hv to understand no one wants to take uneccessary risks. And the main beneficial are the govt and corporations, not the residents staying there.

No Way! These workers are supposed to be housed away from housing estates. Their behaviour sometimes is very annoying. They sometimes dressed indecently when they are at home (near windows / corridors) or going for bath. And when they start hang around outside, they always stares at girls. Their lifestyle is different from that of Singaporeans. Therefore they should be housed away from our Singapore residents to protect our privacy!

I don't mean to discriminate foreign workers. My own estate is located near their quarters and its getting kind of annoying when they hang out at our estate's void deck or sitting at the park grass patch drinking and chatting loud (its quiet at night.. surely their voice sounds loud). We all need a good rest after a long day and definitely want to feel secure enough to reach home safely. They just stared as we walked past them (I mean how else am I going to walk towards my block)

Not to mention the way they crowd in groups around the staircase of the MRT and blocking our ways. Talking so so loud on their handphone. Its just something about our culture and behaviour that clashes with them.

Once again I emphasize that I have nothing against them just that am not pleased with their habits at times. Wish they are located further away from housing estates or refrained from loitering without intent around housing estates that they aren't residing.

I wait for the MPs to lead the way and then i will willingly accept them...

I am truly saddened by the elitist attitude that has emerged from this whole "foreign worker" housing situation. What has sparked this "not in my backyard"mentality? Since when did one heartland are become more exclusive than another? Most of these people come here to work in areas we Singaporeans refuse to even consider, make miserable wages and yet we don't believe that they deserve decent housing and decent recreation? I am truly saddened by this.

Acceptable as long they behave themselves, as they also contribute in buildings and contructions, but I do prefer they live in those industrial areas rather than in residential areas. Some people prejudiced against foreign workers because they find them 'not safe' to live nearby with them.

Are we really such a shallow society that we can't even share an estate with these foreigners? Alot of it depends on perceptions and stigmas and i think its high time we take our heads out of the ground and realize that we need these people to help us in construction and so on.

To those who violently oppose, maybe they have a source of workers which the government should tap on. And furthermore, we fail to realize that these 'people' are human beings just like us. They too have dreams and aspirations and they too have families to care for. Yet the comments by some make it seem like we are talking about parasites as opposed to actual people. Why Singapore? Has our society forgotten the meaning of graciousness and the need for some humanity...

Yes. They deserve proper housing. If resident like Serangoon Garden residents are up in arms and think that they are too good to be living in the midst of foreign workers, I think we should charge such residents a very high fee in order to have the privilege of using facilities that these people help us create like roads, hawker's centers, etc etc. Maybe all the towkays who signed the petition should be barred from hiring foreign workers for their own companies.

Housing them within 2km of their workplace would be practical. And lets remember the pledge ...without ...

Btw , the school they want to convert to quarters... That's my school. Serangoon Garden Technical. I am ok for it being put for good use. but I don't think a quint town like Ser Grds should be the place for such quarters. It is not that all of them are bad people, but just a few bad apples will create a lot of inconvenience to the residence. If the Government thinks it is ok to build quarters there.. I suggest build one at Davly Estate and Rochalie too. that would be fair.

Yes, I would be able to accept as their contribution is instrumental to our nation building.
I think the townships should be to at the end of Singapore e.g. Tuas/Jurong, Pasir Ris. However, there should be constant checks on health/hygiene/security within the dormintory.

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