Junus Tan asking why do Singaporeans seem to dislike people from the PRC?

TLDR it is a stereotype based on interacting with foreigners from PRC who (by our cultural standards) are loud, uncouth, have bad odour and simply just too different. The large number of China immigrants also make the locals feel like the foreigners instead, hence it feels like their home has been threatened…said Junus Tan.

Let's take the assumption that local Singaporeans dislike people from PRC. While it appears to be the case on social media, it is often the minority population who is the most vocal. Nevertheless, the root problem is due to negative externality of government policy.

Singapore has a very small population. To make the population as productive as possible, the government aims to train its citizens to become high-skilled labour. Thus, there is a shortage of low-skilled labour of which the government aims to solve by bringing in foreign workers - most of whom comes from China. However, the government allowed a huge influx of such foreigners, leading to a significant spike that can be felt by the locals.

Due to cultural differences, the way these foreigners behave in public areas tend to appear unrefined. They speak much too loudly than what locals are used to, hence they appear noisy. Also, due to the nature of their jobs, they will sweat a lot and have a bad body odour. Thus, their appearance and smell becomes very unappealing.

The key problem, however, is the sheer number of Chinese immigrants currently in Singapore. Hence, by coming into contact almost all the time, locals tend to feel that they are in China instead. To put into perspective, there was once I was at a food centre, and the Chinese immigrants greatly outnumber the locals. There is a fear that our local culture will be threatened and at risk of being overwhelmed by the PRC culture.

Despite Junus Tan's answer, I would like to clarify that majority of the people are friendly to the foreigners they know. The key to a peaceful multi-racial nation understands. Even as a local Chinese, I'm actually the minority in my office, yet all of us get along great.