Onward Singapore

It’s National Day tomorrow and I thought I would try and find a “patriotic” spirit to discuss what being a Singaporean means to me. Although I didn’t “grow-up” in Singapore (my formative years being spent in the UK), Singapore has been home for nearly two-decades. It remains the only country that I have a legal obligation to die for (OK, they did send me a letter discharging me from reservist duty a few years back, which came with a yearly $1,500 tax break for life) and it’s the only the country where I’ve started my family (Huong is determined that we’ll stay implanted in PAP lead Singapore forever).

I will never get tired of repeating the mantra that in so many ways, I’m lucky to call Singapore home. It’s become even more true in the age of the global populist, where you get the likes of Trump and Johnson stirring up “us – versus-them” sentiments in their respective countries. While there are people who are unhappy with the influx of foreigners, Singapore’s government keeps the place open to doing trade with the rest of the world. Although I’ve taken issue with the inherent racism in many aspects of life in Singapore, we are, for the most part a decent enough place where people can mix together regardless of race or religion.

As a father of a teenage girl, I am grateful that the place is pretty free of violent crime. Every area of Singapore is accessible to me. I can walk into Little India and feel right at home. I wouldn’t be able to do that in Harlem (I think of the movie “Live and Let Die,” when Bond’s entry into Harlem is described as “like following a cue ball.”) When Kiddo sends me, a late-night text saying she just left work, I don’t panic and worry she makes it home.

Then, there’s the topic of government. While the Singapore government has taken a beating in the online space, one’s daily interactions are pretty civil. Cops don’t take it a point to shake you down for bribes and most government agencies (including the tax department) make a show of being “customer-centric.”

Let’s not kid ourselves but material comforts matter and when you’re comfortable, you tend to forgive many things. I’ll never stop saying it but Singapore has excellent infrastructure and that makes it a great place to live. I’m not so much “proud” of being a Singaporean but I’m grateful for the things that the place provides me and the people that I’ve brought into my life.

Where Singapore falls grossly short is in its moral compass. I am aware that one should use the word “moral” sparingly when discussing a “geopolitical” situation in as much as things work on a “greater-good” principle – ie, if you have to kill one to save thousands, you got to do it. However, there are things about Singapore that enrage me because they go against what I believe a normal person would consider immoral.

My biggest bugbear about Singapore is the treatment of dark-skinned workers from poorer parts of the world. OK, I admit that people from what the Trump calls “Shit Hole” countries get a raw deal. However, in Singapore it seems like treating people from “Shithole” countries is an acceptable practice.

I think of an Englishman I once knew who asked me about what I missed about the UK. When I said, “The intrinsic decency of people,” my reply was “That’s because you’re white, try being a dark-skinned laborer.” True enough, we met up six -years later and he couldn’t stop talking about how Singapore was living off “slave labor” and told me about how a Bangladeshi worker in the shipyard he works at was only paid $2,000 a month (I didn’t have the heart to tell him that the man was lucky to be earning $2,000 a month).

Talk to enough of “my-people” about the plight of the “dark-skinned” from poorer parts of Asia and the answer is inevitably “they’re earning a lot of money compared to where they come from.” OK, a few Singapore dollars is equivalent to a handful of Rupees or Pesos but we have to remember the guy is not living in his home country, he’s here.

Actually, it’s OK, when there’s work. The unspoken contract being that these guys are earning more than what they could back home and the local economy gets people willing to do the dirty but necessary jobs that need to get done. So, even if the guy is paid less than a local to do more, its not a great moral issue.

What I do have an issue is when things go wrong such as in incidents where employers don’t pay or when the Company goes belly up. The hoops that these poor guys must go through to get what is due to them is ridiculous. The system seems to treat their request for what is rightfully theirs as an irritant. This being the same system that rushes to see high flying politicians, bankers and lawyers get more than their fair share, I think the phrase is “talent retention.”

I take the 2013 riots in Little India as an example. This was Singapore’s first riot since the 1960s and the only thing that officialdom could come up with was to ban alcohol (because dark people can’t hold their booze) and some comments from a high ranking official about “Migrant Resentment.” Nobody talked about how a migrant worker (who was admittedly pissed as a newt) got run over and the police was more concerned about protecting the guy who ran over the worker from the angry darkies than in enforcing justice. The bus driver who ran the guy over didn’t even get a slap on the wrist – apparently, he’s a victim. Talk to enough Singaporeans, particularly the Chinese variety, and there’s indignation that the darkies had the gall to riot. I’m with my favourtie Englishman who said, “In that situation, I’d bloody riot too.”

We are a rich nation but we need to remember that we also need to be a “respected” nation. We are respected in as much as for the most part there is “fairness” in the system. I am not sure how one can be proud of situations like this and having people shrug off those incidents as being due to the poor not being grateful for their lot?

We have many beautiful things but we need to remember they were built by the sweet of the labor. We need to remember that labor can only be good for the country if the country shows it respect. Nobody is asking for Bangladeshi, Indian and Pilipino workers to be paid on par with bank executives. What we should ask for is that their gradiences are treated with sincerity and respect.

I also concur with my Dad’s former neighbor, Professor Tommy Koh, who has come out to state that we need to develop a culture that respects different views.

This is unfortunately very true in our local politics, where people who differ from the main stream get jumped on. I take the example of a former Presidential candidate, Dr. Tan Cheng Bock, who set up a new political party recently.

Before you know it, you had the former Prime Minister launching an attack on the man. While Mr. Goh Chok Tong was perhaps not as vicious as it could have been (Mr. Goh’s predecessor was famous for using every trick in the book to crush his opponents) but it still reflected the inability of the powers that be to understand that ideas are not a monopoly but a market place. If only one played the video of the late Senator John McCain describing his former senatorial colleague and rival for the presidency as “A decent man whom I happen to have disagreements with.”

On National Day, I will sing Majullah Singapura in its only acceptable language (Malay) with pride. I will thank the divine for all the good things that this little red dot has brought to me and my family. At the same time, I will look for every way I can to combat the things about this country that I find so abhorrent. I am a Singaporean and I have an obligation to make my country a better place.