Always Respect Your Host Country

Some time back, there was this expatriate that called Anton Casey who had to take an MRT ride because his car was being serviced... he jokingly (I think lah.. or perhaps he thought he was very humorous) posted a picture of his son sitting in the MRT with the caption, "Daddy, where's your car and who are these poor people?" And to add oil to fire, he afterward posted that he got his car back and that "Service can resume as normal...".. that is, right after he washes of the "stench of public transport".

That created an instant furor amongst Singaporeans who did not only find this NOT FUNNY, they also found it distasteful and rather offensive.  To add oil to the fire, his response to all this was a video that said something along the lines of.. "Why be angry at me.. blame your parents for giving birth to a wooz"

The end result, according to Mr Casey, was that he received death threats blah blah and his son was traumatized by people's reactions because some smart alec go and post his address and all that online...  Eventually his company let him go as they stated that his behaviour was not in line with the company's culture or something like that..

And then many started to wonder if Singaporeans were too harsh on Mr Casey.

As usual, I tried to share about Singaporean news with Ace and when he heard about this incident, he was really outraged... 

Since we live in Dubai and are for most part living in another person's country, Ace has been taught in school that they should always be appreciative and thankful towards Dubai as the host country. According to Ace, his teachers have told him this... "Who give you your job, who give you food to eat... cannot laugh at the people there. Because this is the country that his giving you what you are enjoying now.."

I cannot fathom how Mr Casey cannot understand this simple theory that an 8 year old can easily grasp... 

Anyway, Ace was really upset and told me afterward, "I wanna slap this *beeping* person.."  (he is not allowed to say the F word so he replaces with beep) I told him slapping Mr Casey is not at all helpful. It doensnt change anything and is also not helpful to Singapore.
Later when we heard about Mr Casey's dismissal, we were having a discussion about whether this was necessary...  On the internet, many people were blaming Singaporeans for reacting to strongly...  But hor, I dunno why they have to blame Singapreans since the company was the one who decides to keep or kick Mr Casey... we were merely voicing our unahppiness over what he said.

To my pleasant surprise, Ace was quite objective about this and he actually summed up the incident pretty nicely. When I asked for his opinion, he told me, "Well, if he is working for a company, he should represent the company and he shouldnt say mean things to other people and he should always be kind. If he is mean and not kind, then of course the company will not want him to represent them. Calling people names is a mean mean thing to do..." So Ace feels that Mr Casey deserves what he got.

Wahahaahaha...

But well, I really dun think if it will make a difference to him. He is a high network individual and will likely continue to make his millions and enjoy "stenchless car rides" elsewhere in the world. I do sincerely hope that he now understands that it is always courteous to respect your host country and that it is THE ONLY RIGHT THING TO DO. I wish more of the foreigners in our country can come to understand that too and understand that Singaporeans are a friendly lot... but that doesnt mean we take to meaness and rudeness kindly :)

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