These People Are…..

 

As someone who writes commentaries, it pains me to admit that one of the best things about the “Age of Trump,” was the discovery that comedians were more often than not the best social commentators. I found that people like John Oliver and Trevor Noah, often made their points better than the people in the news.

That discovery remains true, even after Donald Trump left the White House. For example, the most effective comment on the Russian invasion of the Ukraine comes from John Oliver, who described Russia’s events as “inexcusable” and he made the point that you know things aren’t quite right when the reply to the question “Why should we let you stay as an apologist for slaughter,” is “Good question.” The clip can be found at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JRs4ColOMo

Mr. Oliver has hit the nail on the head. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has caused bloodshed and devastation. There is no excuse for it and the fact that the Western Powers (specifically the USA) do equally bad things (invasion of much of the Middle East and South America) doesn’t make the Russian invasion any better.

So, as Trevor Noah argues in his sketch of the Ukrainian crisis, its actually quite heartwarming to see the European nations step up and provide assistance to Ukrainians fleeing the war. However, as Mr. Noah observed, the Europeans who are now welcoming Ukrainian refuges, were less welcoming when it came to welcoming Syrians fleeing a war. The reasons as, Mr. Noah has observed, were essentially racist and the efforts to disguise it have not been exactly subtle as can be seen by this quote from the Bulgarian Prime Minister:

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

 

 The double standards on display are awful. Why are Syrian’s fleeing war less worthy of compassion than Ukrainians fleeing war? In an ideal world, we should work on the principle that all human life is worthy of compassion.

However, modern politics isn’t an ideal, particularly when it comes to problems. More often than not, a problem is only a problem when it happens to people like you. As far as Europe was concerned, the war in Syria was about brown people killing each other in a far away place. As far as politicians in Europe were concerned, Syrian refugees were Middle Eastern problems brought to Europe. Solution – keep them out.

Ukrainians on the other hand look like the average EU citizen and they happen to be right next door. Hence, what happens in Ukraine is not far away problem coming to the neighbourhood – it’s a problem in the neighbourhood.

Let’s put it this way, if you live in Europe, the problems in the Middle East that you read about are just that – they exist only in news print or on the TV. You can condemn Bashar Asad for doing what he does in Syria as long as the results of his work don’t end up on your door step. It’s a different story when the war is in the country next door. One only has to look at a map to get the idea that the Poles and Hungarians must be wondering if they’ll be next on Mr. Putin’s list. Ukraine, for Europe, isn’t a problem that exists in the news. It’s a problem that exist in reality.

Singapore, as an island, is blessed in certain respects. Our branding as the stable hub for the region has been strategically as well as economically sound. Indonesia, for example, has less incentive to seek a destabilizing armed conflict with us when Indonesia’s power elite park a portion of their funds in Singapore’s banks.

Hence, we often take a more commercial view of things like poor people from elsewhere. The one time the SAF got some “active experience” was in the 1970s, when we sent gun boats to keep out Vietnamese boat people. I remember, a former OC from my SISPEC (now known as SCS) days talking about how he was sent to deal with them in the 1970s as part of the Commando unit and ended up wondering why “these people never stayed to fight” (erm, they had just seen the world’s strongest military run away).

 

 Here's what an active threat to Singapore Looks like – Copyright South China Morning Post.

The government of the day regarded the boat people as a “threat” and that they would somehow crowd out the natives of Singapore’s limited land space.

Whilst the government felt threatened by poor people with nothing to lose and everything to gain from being in Singapore, it has taken a very different policy when it comes to opportunist from the more refined but not less unscrupulous parts of the world. Like the first group, this lot take up space in land scarce Singapore and they use valuable resources (oxygen) which might otherwise have done to people in need. However, whenever this point is raised, the government inevitably states that these people are a “necessity” because they create wealth for Singaporeans by selling products made by Singaporeans or services delivered by Singaporeans to Singaporeans.

 

 The one on the right is a necessity to Singapore – He makes you rich by playing with your money.

Whilst you can decry Singapore for being commercial in how it treats people from the rest of the world, one can also argue that we’re not doing anything that other people aren’t doing. Why bring in “troublesome” boat people when you can have rich people buying up over priced alcohol on a regular basis?

However, whilst the tangible difference might be obvious, its actually the unseen intangibles that make the difference. People with money can always leave when things get uncomfortable. Just look at how Mr. Casey reacted when the locals expressed their displeasure with him on social media. He suddenly found the ability to make Usain Bolt look like a snail.

Its people off the boat or in Donald Trump speak “S**hole” places that stay because they don’t have elsewhere to go. They have the hunger to make the host country succeed. Let’s remember, skills can always be trained. The heart to stay and fight is a different story.