The Problem with Rule by Fear

 

I’ve just finished a six-part Nollywood series called “Shanty Town” on Netflix. It’s been a wonderful experience. The series is a portrayal of human nature at its worst and it is wonderfully instructive on the topic of ruling by fear.

Talking about the rule of fear is an especially interesting topic in Singapore because our first Prime Minister, Mr. Lee Kuan Yew, once made the point that he would prefer to be feared that to be loved. The late Mr. Lee did a spectacular job in ensuring that the rest of us feared him and we did as we were told. Thanks to Mr. Lee, Singapore is everything a country should be – green, clean and rich.

Mr. Lee made no apologies for his use of the heavy hand and when you look at the state of Singapore, its hard to argue against what Mr. Lee did. As a Singaporean, you’re bound to get “what are you complaining about,” looks whenever you say something that’s less than perfect and these days, the people who will tell you off are not from third world countries.

Mr. Lee was so effective at being feared, his successors decided to copy his play book. Hence, Singapore, despite all the glitz, remains a place where one treads of the side of caution, particularly if you’re in the business of promoting opinions. Let’s remember that POFOMA and FICCA are very real things that can be used against people who step out of line.

In a way, I get the government’s point of view. The argument is that the heavy hand of the law has kept us green, clean, rich and safe. However, there are issues when the “rule of fear” is the only thing that you have to keep people under control and these issues are all on display in Shanty Town.

The series focuses on a group of prostitutes who are controlled by a Pimp called “Scar,” who is pretty much the central character. He is, to put it mildly, a disgusting specimen of humanity. He rules the girls through fear and deceit. He has no qualms slapping them around and groping them at his whims and fancies. He is wonderfully unpredictable. He can turn on people as and when he feels like it and everyone around him is understandably terrified of him. In one scene, we actually see him chopping of the head of a girl he has “set free.”

However, the truth is that despite his fearsome appearance, the guy is a snivelling coward. While he terrorises people around him, he himself gets terrified whenever his boss, who happens to be a politician shows up. The politician or “Chief” doesn’t need to say or do much. He never raises his voice at Scar. However, whenever he enters the room, Scar gets up and prostrates before him, kissing the proverbial ring:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvObfRmx5cg

 

 In another scene, he gets kidnapped and starts making all sorts of threats when he hears that it’s a woman who has kidnapped him (Scar being the guy who terrifies women). However, when he sees that it’s a woman of great power (another politician), he grovels and begs forgiveness.

So, the point here is that people who try to use fear into intimidating “subordinates” are themselves terrified of their superiors. Scar may have no qualms about terrifying the girls under him but when it comes to the politicians, he’s a snivelling little thing.

Then, there’s the fact that when the girls finally get the courage to deal with him, they end up taking turns to stab him to death. You can feel each stab he receives is personal and he’s left to bleed to death.

Scar is not only prone to using violence against the girls. He’s happy screw them in more ways than one. His usual take is 60 percent and then charges them for protection and rent, which means that they end up with nothing. On top of that, he expects to be serviced. So, not only does he beat them for fun, he robs them.

So, once they find the courage to break free, they do so in a violent manner. Freedom from him is freedom from fear, poverty and exploitation and once they cross the line, its legal niceties be damned.

It’s ok to have people scared enough to do as they’re told. However, there’s got to be a trade-off, in as much as the people need to see that you deliver the goods and make life better for them. If you only use fear and intimidation to screw people over, you got to be prepared that one day, people will lose their fear and their vengeance will be terrible.

Whilst I can understand using fear and heavy handed techniques initially, I believe that you got to move on to other things to sustain what you are trying to create. Heavy fines stop people from littering in Singapore. However, whilst the fines may make Singapore a clean place, it doesn’t make us a clean people. Just take a trip to Johor and trust you me, you will find Singaporeans littering like there’s no tomorrow because – well, suddenly they can. I’ve known educated people telling me that they like littering in other people’s country because they can’t in their own.

Having people fear you can be useful in the initial stages. However, if you don’t use that to make things better, you have to be prepared for the day you will fear them.