Right after work, when I noticed that I was copied in
an email between Mr. Kumaran Pillai and someone from the Infocomm Media
Development Authority (“IMDA’). As mentioned in previous postings, the
Independent Singapore does pick up a few of pieces that I publish on my
personal blog. The piece that the Independent picked up has the headline “OPINION | The Right Type of Darkie — The
Perfectly Electable Prime Minister” and
the story can be found at:
https://theindependent.sg/opinion-the-right-type-of-darkie-the-perfectly-electable-prime-minister/
The premise of the article was simple – it was
heartening to see so many ethnic minorities in contention for the top job from
a political party that has screamed “White Male Dominance” for the last few centuries,
and nobody was making it an issue. I did, however, make the point that the ethnic
minorities were not just born and bred in the UK but at the elite social strata
as one could get without being born into royalty. The only thing Indian about
Rishi Sunak other than his name and complexion is his wife’s family. The same
was true of Barak Obama who, while a little tanner than most of Middle America
was not actually black. Just as Mr. Sunak and Mr. Obama are effectively “Whiter-than-White,”
I did argue that Singapore would only have a Non-Chinese Prime Minister if the Non-Chinese
was actually more Chinese than the Chinese.
I am fully aware that the term “Darkie” can be
offensive to some, the truth is the fact that for all America talked about its “First
Black President,” and the UK talks of the possibility of its “First Indian
Origin Prime Minister,” the truth is that Mr. Obama and Mr. Sunak are only
there because they are the “dark-skinned” people that the “White Majority” societies
accept and for that to happen they have to be at the elite. What is true of
America and the UK is in many ways true of Singapore.
What I find particularly interesting here is that when
the Independent first put this up on their Facebook page, there was a comment
from a Caucasian fellow who said that “there were many offensive terms used and
the post had to be taken down.” An Indian fellow replied “Why – it’s true.” Unfortunately,
both comments have been taken down.
The person from IMDA stated that a member of the
public had provided feedback to IMDA that the term “Darkie” was inappropriate.
Whilst I had not broken any rules, IMDA did state that the term was “insensitive”
to ethnic minorities. In his defense of my piece, Mr. Pillai stated that he as
an ethnic minority did not find what I wrote offensive and had himself
experienced racism in Singapore.
So, the question here is what exactly is offensive here?
Is the term “darkie” offensive or is it the fact that ethnic minorities,
particularly those of a darker skin tone have to effectively become “lighter”
if they are to make headway in a society where the majority is of a lighter
skin tone. Sure, I understand “darkie” can be an insensitive word but let us be
honest – that’s what “light” societies see darker skinned people as.
I have had this argument with my mother, who lives in
Germany. She has told me that I am too conscious of race or that living in Asia
has given me a “chip-on-the-shoulder.” In the Europe she lives in, you are
German or French or whatever if your born there, speak the language and hold
the passport, regardless of your skin tone.
However, she once got the shock of her life when she
came back for a visit and saw how immigration decided to give two people in
front of her a hard time. They happened to be black, but the only thing Mum
could say to me was “Excuse me – they have French passports.”
In fairness to Singapore, there are some controls on
the worst types of behavior. The Singapore Government’s DNA has been programmed
to remember the racial riots of our early years and so anyone even thinking of
inciting a riot based on racial grievances ends up in jail.
However, that does not mean that racism does not exist.
It merely does so in subtle forms and one of it can be found in the way ethnic
minorities try to be mainstream at the expense of their ethnic routes. I
actually go very upset when an Indian Muslim friend of mine insisted on using a
Western name when talking to a Malay girl – For God’s sake he had perfectly
good name. I think of the number of Tamil fellows who crack “dark jokes” to fit
in and as members of the ethnic majority, we tend to assume that because they
are cracking those jokes, we forget to ask ourselves if they are merely trying
to be part of us and will they have limits.
I mean I remember kicking a small kid in the school toilet
floor because, well I got tired of “Ah So – Mr. Miyagi,” jokes (I did tell them
that I was happy to laugh along but the day I told them I wanted them to stop
and they didn’t I would have no qualms kicking the crap out of them even at the
risk of being expelled for bullying.) Here is a clip by Hassan Minhaj on what
it was like growing up as a darker skinned minority migrant:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3RyCtbwBDA
What is particularly interesting in this clip is that Mr. Minhaj mentions that his dad, who was born in India was willing to take a certain amount of racial abuse because he believed this was the “tax” he had to pay for the privilege of being in the USA. However, Mr. Minhaj says, he’s from a generation he was born and bred in America and the values of “equality” were in him. Hence, he was less tolerant of racial abuse.
So, the question that we should ask ourselves is
whether this something we are going to see here. There is a generation of ethnic
minorities that will suck up things like the “dark” jokes or the implicit
understanding that the Prime Minister can only be Chinese because it’s a small
price to pay for the social stability that we enjoy.
However, what do the generations who do not have memories
of the racial riots of the 60s feel? Yes, they can laugh at the dark jokes as
their parents did, but will they also accept that someone from their community
having an equal chance of the top jobs without having to become more like the
majority than the majority?
In a way, the recent influx of migrants (since 2004)
has delayed our need to ask this question. We now have local born Chinese versus
Mainland Chinese. In Singapore, “Indian” automatically meant Tamil – this is no
longer the case (which was unfortunately brought home to me at press conference
when our 6th President refused to give Tamil soundbites to Vasnatham
because it was an “Indian” and not a “Tamil” event.) Have a look at the following
clip from Hassan Minhaj:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_FE78X-qdY
Delaying real unity has delayed having to question to the status quo of the 1960s. Will that, however, be something that can be done forever?
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