点解你娶个中国人呀?

Been neglecting my blog. I think this is a record. Longest in 8 years.

Remember the earlier incident where some ah pek on his bicycle mistook me for his PRC wife's sister and spat at me? Or the even earlier incidents where taxi drivers insisted that I was PRC who had refused to own up to my nationality?

Apparently, I keep giving fellow Singaporeans the impression that I am from the great land of PRC, and that doesn't attract positive attention.

Sometime last year, at a Chinese family restaurant in Singapore and amidst placing orders, the middle-aged waitress asked 'Good Fren' in Cantonese,

"点解你娶个中国人呀?" 

(Why did you marry a Chinese Mainlander?)

I was like,

"AUNTIEEEEEE!! 我是新加坡人! KK 医院出生的!"

(AUNTIEEEEEE!! I'm Singaporean! I was born in KKH!)

'Good Fren' didn't stop laughing for quite a while. =_=

Just a couple of weeks ago, we went to the former Katong Mall, now known as 112 Katong. I was in the women's toilet, at the start of the toilet queue.

Almost immediately, 2 elderly ladies joined the queue behind me, and were chatting in Cantonese. A couple of minutes later, a pair of mother and daughter joined the queue. By then, the queue had taken up most of the circulation space in the toilet, and the conversation started:

SG Auntie: (To the mother with daughter) Hey! Hello!

Mother: Hello!

SG Auntie: You know, us Singaporean Chinese must stand together. Must be united. She (points to her friend) is Malaysian Chinese. Still quite same like us. But us Singaporean Chinese must stand together. Must stand up for each other.

Mother: (smiles)

SG Auntie: (to the little girl) You high tide or not? Urgent or not?

Little Girl: Huh?

SG Auntie: You need to go toilet now? Can jump queue. I ask for you! No need to be scared. Us Singaporean Chinese must stand together, must be united.

Little Girl: (shakes her head) Not urgent.

SG Auntie: Yah... Us Singaporean Chinese must stand together. (turns to her friend and mutters something in Cantonese)

My interpretation was that the SG Auntie thought I was PRC, taking up the first spot in the toilet queue. What do you think?
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Related thoughts:

Such encounters make me wonder what it is like to be a PRC in Singapore.
I also wonder about the social dynamics between Singaporean Chinese and PRCs. Obviously, there is animosity, even in public spaces, and this has gone beyond silent displeasure. Is this the worst it can get? Which direction will it take in the future? What can we do ameliorate the situation?

What about Indians? What are the social dynamics between local-born/bred Indians and Indians from India?

What about local-born/bred Malays and non-Singaporean Malays?

This is an uber fertile space for social research.