“Very fine people on both sides”

One of Donald Trump’s greatest moments came on 15 August 2017, when he was asked for his thoughts on the clashes in Charlottesville, Virginia between Neo-Nazis and normal people. The Donald proceed to stun the world by telling reporters that there were “very fine people on both sides.” The remark stunned the world because this was the leader of the nation that saved the world from the Nazis describing Nazis as very fine people, especially when its questionable if Nazis are people let alone very fine ones.

However, in fairness to Donald Trump, his words were only shocking because of the context in which they were used in. Take out the context and Donald Trump’s words would actually be an ideal of what most civilized societies should be about – very fine people on both sides of any issue. The highlight of what a civilized democracy came int 2008 when John McCain defended and praised his opponent, Barak Obama as a “Decent man, whom I happen to disagree with.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0u3QJrtgEM 

While McCain would lose the election, he has ended up winning in the hearts of people for doing the right things. Instead of trying to divide the nation, he united it and refused to go down the road of playing up to the fears and prejudices of the mob.

Unfortunately, 2008 is something of a memory. From 2016 onwards, the world entered an age of wild populism, which centred on a wonderful concept of blaming your problems on people who cannot fight back. In the words of an American customer at the Bistrot, “There is no neutrality.”

Singapore has seemingly escaped the most extreme forms of populism and in a world where calls for unthinking jingoism have become the norm, Singapore seems like an island of sanity in an insane world.

However, having been around Singapore’s “arty” and “journo” types for a good portion of my functioning life, I would argue that it’s not exactly a case of Singapore avoiding wave of populism that is sweeping the world but more of a case of Singapore’s politicians being more subtle and clever about harnessing the raw emotions of the masses.

The simplest tactic, is to label anyone who publicly questions the established way of doing things as “Anti-Singaporean.” As anyone who works who deals with any form of media will tell you, there is an art form to questioning the system in public without being labeled “Anti-Singaporean” or getting a nasty letter from a politicians solicitors and having your family’s dirty linen rolled in the mud and then washed out in public. The stories of the people who have tried to do it on a regular basis can be found at:

 https://coconuts.co/singapore/features/singaporeans-step-outside-lines-take-center-stage-naysayers-book-club/

In the old days, it was a case of being sued into bankruptcy and facing a number of potential charges on a variety of laws. I’m old enough to remember the General Election of 1997, which was a particularly good one for the ruling party. They managed to reverse a trend of a declining share of the popular vote and won a mere 81 out of 83 seats available in parliament. While a lot of credit was given to generous upgrading programs in the heartland estates, another was to target an unknown politician from the Workers Party called Tang Liang Hong (No relation) by labeling him an “Anti-Christian Chinese Chauvinist.” 

The internet has made things more interesting. Online media sites like the Online Citizen and TRemeritus (as a matter of disclosure, my blog pieces are picked up by TRemeritus) have given a space for alternative voices. However, the ruling party has also found ways to deal with this. Why label anyone “Anti-Singaporean” when you can get someone else to do it for you. It’s especially effective when that person happens to be a Pink Blotchy – the Fawning Follower comes to mind. Unfortunately, Pink Blotchies have a tendency to be listened to, even if they’re speaking gibberish. As a friend of mine noted, otherwise intelligent people actually bought into the arguments of the Fawning Follower on why it was a sign of success to keep dark skinned Asians in cages (ooopps, I mean dormitories) and how the government supported the rule of law by a law on the statute books but not enforcing it.

The Fawning Follower has been a particularly useful pawn in labeling people who disagree with the government as Anti-Singaporean or worse – Traitors. He’s labeled Kristin Han as having “a career in treachery” and his next favourite target is the play write Alfian Sa’at, whom he describes as symbolizing the egotistical rebellion of the no problem generation. 

While Kristin and Alfian have questioned things, neither have done anything that would count as “treachery” by any definition of the word. There is no record of either having said or done anything that called for violence in the streets or for a foreign nation to invade and so on. Neither have been picked up by the Internal Security Department, which would indicate that the government is well aware that the its “critics” are traitors or “anti-Singaporean” or dare I say “rebels” by any definition.

Why do these things when someone else can do them for you? You stay above the fray and the Fawning Follower and his ilk do it for you. So, when the likes of Dr. Tan Meng Wu start talking about how ethnic minorities should be grateful that they can get jobs and send their kids to school, there’s no outrage at the underlying but blatantly racist tones. The trolls have laid the ground work for you and whatever prejudices people might have become justified because, well, a member of the ruling party said so in public and it was OK.

Thankfully there are some signs of progress. I take my hat off to Professor Tommy, one of our most respected diplomats, who has stated that Singapore needs “loving critics.” Professor Koh has argued that as a strong society, Singapore needs to accept a diversity of views. Crushing the views of “loving critics” instead of accommodating them, can be bad.

Mr. Wham spent years campaigning for migrant rights. He was labeled a trouble maker. Well, surprise – surprise, Covid-19 proved Mr. Wham right (1,000 cases a day, contrary to the Following Follower is not success). Had the authorities engaged Mr. Wham earlier, they may have found the problem much earlier and instead of being with the likes of Ukraine on the list of most infected nations, we might be closer to the likes of Hong Kong or Taiwan. 

If there’s anything that we need to move away from in this General Election, it is this automatic, “If you’re not with us, you’re against us” mentality. This isn’t about who wins the most seats but whether we can move away from “Me teacher, you student” (or as my mother says “me right, you wrong) mentality in politics and more towards the politics of “You’re a good man that I happen to disagree with.”  

There is a hope for this. Two of Singapore’s better leaders from different sides of political divide have chosen to step out of the ring in this election. Apparently, both men have stated their respect for each other. Here was the message that our former Prime Minister, Mr. Goh Chok Tong left on his Facebook on veteran opposition leader Low Thia Khiang:

https://mothership.sg/2020/06/goh-chok-tong-low-thia-khiang-retirement/

Mr. Goh was labeled a “seat warmer” for our current Prime Minister. Despite having the pressures of the Old Lee above him and the Current Lee below him, Mr. Goh managed to do a few of his own things (As a long-term resident of Marine Parade, I have Mr. Goh to thank for getting MPs to try and beautify their estates. He was the first one to do so. As a beneficiary of Saudi-Relations and the Indian Business Community, I have to thank Mr. Goh for opening these markets up. – Lee Kuan Yew was quite open in his disdain for India after Indira Gandhi snubbed him). As such, I believe everyone contesting this general election should take note of his words and I think his final gift in politics is showing Singaporeans that it is possible to agree to disagree.  

God’s Virus

Although I’m officially a Buddhist, my intellectual framework is based on Christian Theology. This was a subject that opened my eyes and challenged many of our long-held assumptions about faith. It was a subject that I excelled at and the two teachers I had, had high hopes for me. My last teacher, David Pook, in particular, had high hopes that I’d get an “A” at A-level and go onto read theology at university. Unfortunately, I got put off by the idea of having to learn ancient Greek (can’t even speak to Greeks), Hebrew and Sanskrit, which were all part of the theology courses in British universities. David did take it personally that I didn’t go onto read theology.

It’s been nearly two and a half decades since I’ve looked at a Bible with an analytical mind. However, I still find the way man relates to the higher powers, fascinating. I think that its probably no coincidence that I ended up back in Singapore, which has a shockingly high number of “religious” people and the societies that would provide most of my benefactors would be India and Saudi Arabia.

I would also add that my personal religious beliefs have been shaped by encountering people of many faiths and life is such that I’ve found beauty and horror in all religions. I am a Buddhist who loves the teaching of the Abrahamic God. My guiding principles on faith come from a Malay taxi driver who told me that “Salaam,” the shaking of hands and building of friendship is the first real religion and a Malay bus driver who told me that “Too much emphasis is placed on the word of the book and not enough on the spirit.” Whenever I post anything on religion, it’s always based around these two principles.

Covid-19 has been a particularly interesting time for anyone who observes man’s relationship with God and one of the fault lines in theology has become very clear – namely that its “human” centric. Our beliefs have always been shaped around the principle that God has given us the human race “mastery of all other beast” and we behave as if God only deals with us when it comes to planet earth.

Think of all the things that we pray for. It’s all about us and us alone. We ask God for wealth, good exam results and so on. Praying for the rest of our planet doesn’t even cross our minds. Human nature is such that we’re now fighting over our right to worship in places where we want to worship rather than what we’re worshiping. In the US, the debate is about “Church” being an “essential” service. In places like Indonesia people hold up placards saying “Don’t Fear the Virus, Fear Allah.” People still insist on their right to gather to worship God despite the fact that such gatherings have already struck down enough people with the virus.

From a theological perspective, I’m starting to think that the virus was sent by God to set us straight. The human race is now being forced to look at the world beyond itself and God, for want of a better word, is now getting us to think of the rest of the planet.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the virus started in Wuhan, China, the world’s worst polluter. While China has achieved something amazing from an economic perspective (Third world shit hole to second largest economy in a generation), it has done so at huge environmental costs. While the average Chinese has more money than his or her parents could have dreamed of, they live in a world where breathing is dangerous.

I also don’t think it’s a coincidence that the world leader in number of cases and deaths is the USA, which under the Trump administration, has become the world’s most arrogant nation that tries to use its clout to get its way. Trump Administration had plenty of warning and time to act and continues to live in a state of denial. To add to this point, its no coincidence that Brazil under Bolsonaro, which has allowed vast destruction of the Amazon, is now in second place in terms of number of people infected and killed.

I think of the virus as God’s way of reminding us that there is something greater than our own materialistic pursuits and that we have to look out for the rest of the planet. The human race is being forced to understand that the divine gift of “mastery” over the other beast, also means looking after the eco-system as well as taking from it.

As the human race is forced to halt “usual” activities, nature has had the chance to heal. In Singapore otters have been seen wondering our streets. The air, which was unbreathable in places like Delhi, Shanghai, Mumbai and Beijing is suddenly clear.

I actually had the privilege helping a client get the point across in a public forum that the human race cannot continue as before and that economic development has to work hand in hand with looking after the environment. The client in question is organizing a business accelerator program with a focus on businesses that help preserve the environment. The article can be found at:

https://www.todayonline.com/voices/why-cant-cleaner-air-last-beyond-circuit-breaker

For the better part of a millennium, the human race assumed that God gave it an exclusive to do as it pleased. I hope that people look at Covid-19 as God’s way of reminding us that we got to look after the state of the world. Rather than asking for God’s protection, perhaps its time to see this as God’s way of getting us to be more reflective and less selfish as a species.

  

Do You Have to be the Smartest Guy in the Room?

One of the key features of the coronavirus for many journalists has been the White House Briefings on the coronavirus. These briefings were supposed to be an opportunity for America’s federal government lead by its president to update the nation on the efforts against the coronavirus.

Unfortunately, the briefings have not been briefings. Instead, they were opportunities for comedians to gather more material. The most recent one was when the president openly suggested that a possible cure for the virus was to inject bleach into the body. That moment can be found at:

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

Every comedian pounced on this moment and the resulting outcry ensured that future briefings were put on hold. What happened?

The answer is simple. The man in charge had a need to show that he was doing something. This was a man who had come into power by telling the world that he had been given a very special brain. The public looked at the image he had presented of himself and agreed. He was then put into office.

Donald Trump is correct. He has a very special talent, which propelled him from being a successful reality TV star into the oval office. Mr. Trump has an instinctive genius for attracting attention and arousing passions. As one American customer at the Bistrot said, “There is no neutrality on the man.”

While he has a talent for drawing attention to himself, he’s not a medical expert and in a situation where medical expertise is of the most important variety, one has to question why he’s even suggesting any form of medication (and the bigger question being why people believe him). One suggestion is that he genuinely believes that he’s the smartest person in the room.

Unfortunately, being smart or the smartest person in the room isn’t the best thing to be. Some of the most successful people in the world, like Robert Kuok, the founder of the Shangri La Hotel chain, have said that one should always look for people smarter than yourself to do the job. Mr. Kuok, who survived the Japanese Occupation of Southeast Asia to build a fortune of US$12.8 billion (nearly four times that of Donald Trump) is clearly correct. Mr. Kuok, who started out as a sugar trader, has built a large and diverse empire beyond his core competence in commodity trading. How did he do it? The answer was allowing people who knew better than himself to do the job.

While the human brain is capable to thinking of many great things, it has certain limits. One of those key limits is that human beings tend to focus on certain things that they like and are good at and the saying “You can’t be good at everything,” rings true. This is especially true in leading large organisations and even nations, where the person at the top has to deal with a wide variety of issues and he or she simply cannot master every one of them. As such, one of the key skills of leadership is to know when you’re not the smartest person in the room and letting that person take the limelight with your encouragement.

This is seen most clearly in military situations. Mrs. Thatcher in the UK, knew she was not a military expert. So, when the Falklands War broke out, she set the objectives for what she wanted and then allowed the military to get on with the job. Likewise, George Bush Senior, did the same when booting Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait. In comparison, the attempts to rescue the hostages in Iran under Jimmy Carter was a total disaster.

The entire professional services industry is based on the principle of getting smart people to do the job. As my favourite liquidator often says, “We’re hired for our knowledge.” Yes, the client or the main businessperson has to make final decisions because only he or she knows the overall business objective, but you as a consultant must provide advice because what you’re selling is the fact that you’re smarter at that particular aspect of the job.

Humility beats intelligence in leadership. Here in Singapore, we are led by highly qualified people (all with excellent credentials). Unfortunately, during this virus, we got so busy celebrating being hailed by the international media as the “Gold Standard” in managing the virus that we forgot about are vast underbelly of migrant workers. Then, there was a scramble when the infections exploded in the dormitories

A wise person does not need to know everything. He or she needs to recognize the fact and then look for the best person to do that aspect of the job. Allowing someone to be the hero is sometimes the most heroic thing to do. Let’s go back to America’s numbers. You have a president who is not a medical doctor prescribing unproven medication from the presidential bully pulpit. According to him, he is doing a fabulous job. At the time of writing, America has 1,160,774 cases, which is more than next six nations combined and in five months the virus has killed roughly ten thousand more than the Vietnam War in 14-years.