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Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Let's Go Dutch

Rotterdam, the 2nd largest city in the Netherlands, recently passed a bill, which encourages its people to speak only Dutch in schools and at work. Netherlands has historically been thought of as a tolerant society and has given its people the freedom to choose what they want. However, in recent years, many Dutch have realized that there is a big problem in assimilating its non-Western immigrants, who in many cases, have no desire to be or speak Dutch.

I for one, have no problems with this new bill, especially in schools and the workplace. People should really respect the Dutch culture if that's where they live. I'm not 100% sure if the new law to force people who don't want to be Dutch to feel Dutch will work, but it's definitely worth a try. And since 35% of Rotterdam is considered non-western, it'll be a good test case.

The reactions of most immigrants seem to be typical. They don't like it. Hey, if people don't like where they're living, they can always move back to their country of origin. That's freedom.