A Singapore Terrorist or a Singapore Patriot?

One of my favourite internet friends, Mr. Gilbert Goh was called into questioning by the police recently. The reason was simple, Mr. Goh made the unfortunate mistake of allowing a “foreigner” (defined as not a citizen or permanent resident) to speak at a protest against “CECA,” a treaty which many Singaporeans feel puts them at a disadvantage when competing for jobs with professionals from India. Details of the story can be found at:

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/police-gilbert-goh-ceca-rally-hong-lim-ramesh-foreigner-12161404

I first met Gilbert back in 2012 at the launch of Publichouse.sg, a website that I worked for. While we’ve not met in person since then, we’ve followed each other’s posts. What I find particularly interesting is the fact that Gilbert had a fairly high-flying career in sales and when his career took a nosedive, he then switched and started helping those who had “lost” jobs and careers.

I don’t agree with all of all of his positions. I avoid viewing foreigners as a problem or blaming “too many” foreigners as a cause of social ills. I spent the better part of my life as a “foreigner” in someone else’s land and many of the opportunities I’ve had have inevitably come from someone from somewhere else. So, I don’t support things like the “Anti-CECA” movement that Gilbert champions. 

The problem for me is not the number of Indians or other people coming here – it’s the fact that our system has not trained people to find opportunities even in the bleakest of situations.

Having said what I’ve just said, I think Gilbert Goh is a good man, who is devoting his life to making life a little bit better for the less fortunate. He doesn’t limit his activities to Singapore. The man actually travels to Syrian refugee camps and does his part to make life better for the displaced. While I talk about things through my writing, Gilbert is actually on the ground trying to make things better.

Needless to say, this annoys the powers that be. My favourite Young Pork Guzzling Muslim Politician once said, “What is he trying to prove? The government is there to take care of the people and he’s just being a nuisance.” If you want to spoil the day of anyone overtly pro-establishment in Singapore, just mention Gilbert’s name and talk about the good things that he’s doing.

Personally, I don’t understand why this man frightens the powers that be. He is essentially a “social-entrepreneur,” whom instead of creating a profitable business, he’s creating alternative venues for social help. Take his most recent cause of raising funds for students whose parents could not pay school fees and thus their kids were not issued the original copy of their exam certificates. Sure, it didn’t make the Ministry of Education look good (a case of whatever they say, they’ll look heartless) but he did help put money into the system and helped the less fortunate get to the next stage of life.

Gilbert Goh is, as they say, a good man trying his best to make the world around him a better place. Some of his tactics may not be refined but his heart is in the right place and he is trying to help make life a little miserable for the downtrodden. Rather than trying to suppress him, the powers that be might well do to find ways of working with him and people like him.