Tuesday, August 17, 2021

You Can’t Win – Why Fight?

 

Call it a series of coincidences but several things happened that led to this blog post. First it was a WhatsApp conversation with my favourite Young Pork Guzzling Muslim Politician (“YPGMP”) on why people in Myanmar should not have been protesting military rule. Then, over the weekend, India celebrated 75-years of Independence from British Rule. Say what you like about India and Indian nationals but as anyone who has seen the movie Gandhi will tell you, was a hard-fought battle and despite the attempts of being “non-violent,” you had some unforgettably violent moments like the partition between India and Pakistan. Without the struggles of Mahatma Gandhi and Nehru, Lee Kuan Yew and his Gang would have had a much harder fight on their hands. Then, I started binge watching Fauda, an Israeli drama about a unit that infiltrates the Palestinian territories and finally, there was the conquest of Kabul by the Taliban.

All these events got me thinking of one key question. – Why do people fight and protest, particularly when they’re on the side that will most likely lose? As the famous military saying goes “God is on the side of the Big Battalions,” which meant that the bigger force inevitably wins the wars. In a confrontation, the bigger guy inevitably crushes the small guy. Size, as they say matters. Hence, big animals like elephants don’t have predators and combat sports like boxing are inevitably separated into weight categories. The only time in recorded history when a small guy went ahead to take on a giant was when David took on Goliath and he only did so because he had someone bigger in his corner (God).

Nature has shown consistently that the guy with the greater force inevitably wins and the small guy either flees or learns to cooperate with the big guy. Take the basics of Singapore politics. We had Lee Kuan Yew who branded himself as God within Singapore. However, if you read his biography, you’ll notice that the late Mr. Lee’s greatest skill was being an insect that could work with bigger animals. In the early days, he was careful to stay on the good side of the British. Then as the Americans became more prominent, he’d rush to Washington to be the regional consultant to US Presidents. When China started coming up, he ran off to Beijing to become their development consultant. The plan was simple, it was to ensure that all the big animals of the geopolitical jungle had a stake of sorts in keeping Singapore safe and sound.

However, Mr. Lee made one crucial mistake. Whilst he was busy showing the beast of the geopolitical jungle that Singapore was a valuable insect, he also went out of his way to remind his people that they were nothing more than insects that could be crushed should they get  any pesky ideas. Mr. Lee then sold the Singaporean worker to the multinationals as being wonderfully compliant. The selling point was not so much the fact that our workforce was well educated but that it would never go on strike. In his book, Mr. Lee attributes to fall of the British to strikes.

To be fair, Mr. Lee’s initial strategy was successful and made Singapore a wonderfully prosperous place. However, there was one problem. Mr. Lee drilled it into us that all forms of protest and civic participation was bad. If you talk to enough Singaporeans, you’ll notice that they have a chronic inability to understand why people from other parts of the world would ever risk things like protest and confrontation, particularly against a more powerful force. 

The YPGMP brought this home to me when he started telling me about why he felt that his employer’s workers in their Myanmar outlet should not protest:

 

He dismissed it as people getting involved in things that didn’t involve them. I tried to explain that whilst this may be the case in Singapore, it’s not necessarily in the case elsewhere. He argued that it was the protesters against military rule that were ruining the country, as opposed to military rule itself.

 

According to a friend, who is the marketing director of an insurance company in Myanmar, this attitude is common amongst Singaporeans. He told me of a Singaporean who was the CEO of local Myanmar Bank who tried to explain how the killing of the first protestor was justified and how everything would be fine if people stopped protesting.

As far as the late Mr. Lee was concerned, all forms of protest were bad. I take myself as a sad example. I tend to avoid arguments with people like bosses. Answer is simple, what is an argument going to get me. The stress of confrontation is not worth it as long as the money is in my bank account when I expect it to be.

However, that’s because I live and operate in the Singapore context. Losing a source of income will be tough and as long as my various employers don’t get involved in dubious stuff, I’m OK. I take care of my family and myself as long as I have a job. So, what do I really have to fight against? Sure, I have difficult days at work and deal with difficult people but that’s about it.

This isn’t necessarily the case outside of Singapore. It’s definitely not the case in the Gaza strip or in Kabul or in Myanmar.  It’s a case of what is your life worth and an extent, who are you living it for. I worry about making a living and having money to help the kid make her life a little better. However, there are parts of the world where money isn’t the only issue. As much as I might complain about the Singapore government, I don’t worry that some official will one day decide to screw everything up for my kid and her kids. There are, funnily enough, parts of the world where people are screwed for the crime of being born. Parents have the option of trying to flee or trying to change the system even if it costs them their lives.

Singaporeans are lucky in the sense that we are nominally a democracy. Hence, we can get heard every so often. However, what’s to stop a rogue from coming into power and making sure that we live through the same situation that the people in Kabul or the Gaza Strip live in?

Nobody is asking for a revolution and as long as the people are willing to stand up for themselves and communicate with those in power and those in power are willing to listen, we can ensure that the scenes in Yangon don’t happen here. However, if the people are not heard and made powerless, then who is to say when revolutions become a necessity.

Insects when they gather together can make life very uncomfortable for the biggest beast.

 

 

Nasty Insects made the Elephant Flee in Kabul and Saigon – Copyright Al Jazera.

 

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Maira Gall