“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.  

Why Are You So Dark?

I’ve often argued that the human race has an incredible talent of finding areas of differences, there is one unfortunate factor that seems to unite the world. That unfortunate factor is the inability to view anyone of a darker skin tone as a normal human being.

Racism, particularly in the West, is currently a “Black-versus-White” issue. The murder of George Floyd, an African-American at the hands a “white” police officer on video ignited many years of pent-up anger that the Western world’s “black” population has had from years of laws that were designed to keep them down and when those laws were abolished, the fact that prejudices that lingered were for many parts accepted.

Unfortunately, the issue of racism is neither limited to a case of “blacks-versus-whites” nor is it limited to the Western world. In America, there is the undiscussed issue of “Asian-Black” relations. This was first seen in the 1992 LA Riots (caused by the beating of a black man by White Police officers and the subsequent acquittal of the police officers despite the evidence), when the city’s black population tried to loot stores owned by America’s Korean population. In the most recent incident, it was a cop of Asian decent who looked away while his “white” colleague murdered Mr. Floyd. More can be found at:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/officer-who-stood-george-floyd-died-asian-american-we-need-n1221311

Like it or not, Asians who have settled in the Western world have not been helpful to the issues faced by the black communities. The reason for this is simple, the Asian inability to see the suffering of other minorities in the West is the very thing that makes Asians valued immigrants – material success.

In America, they’re known as the “model-minority,” or the poor migrants who arrive with nothing and within a generation are part of the educated professional class (so much so that the Old Rogue, used to say “If American universities really admitted by merit, there wouldn’t be a single round eye). In Britain, Asians, particularly the Chinese were well regarded as the group that stuck to its corner, prospered (no state handouts) and avoided contentious politics. My stepfather, who works in a hospital in Germany says that unlike many of the other minorities, the “Yellow People,” never went onto German welfare. This same sentiment was echoed by Finnish friends who stated that Japanese and Vietnamese were welcome because they worked hard and kept to themselves.

As an Asian, who grew up in the West, I felt proud that “my people” came to the West with nothing and built something. While this achievement of Asian communities in the west is a good thing, it blinds “us” to the realities to the harsh realities of other communities. When the Black talk about social justice after screwed by the history of slavery, the Asians shrugged with the “so what, we were once poor and made it out – what’s wrong with you,” mentality. Yes, we were fresh off the boat but we didn’t have the conditioning that many American blacks suffered. Contrary to what Ben Carson would argue – slaves were not immigrants.

Being a “model minority,” has given the Asian communities a false sense of security in the status quo and many Asians forget that they too once benefited from the struggles of the African American Community as this clip from the comedian Hassan Minhaj explains:

https://etcanada.com/news/652740/hasan-minhaj-calls-on-fellow-asian-americans-to-stand-with-protesters/

The situation that “dark-skinned” people face is not exactly prejudice free in Asia too. One of the biggest examples of how Asian people are proving to b as awful was from an infamous ad from China, which showed a black man approaching a Chinese girl, who then shoves him into a washing machine, where he emerges Chinese and therefore desirable;

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/28/china-racist-detergent-advert-outrage

With attitudes like these, it’s not surprising that the Chinese in Africa are often regarded as arrogant arseholes (sure, unlike the Western Colonial powers before, there’s no lecture on human rights, but the Chinese are far from liberating heroes).

Over here in Chinese majority, Singapore, we claim to be “multi-racial.” Unfortunately, beneath the lovely exterior, it is politically acceptable to endorse racism. The official line is that, “Singapore’s majority Chinese population is not yet ready for a non-Chinese Prime Minister,” even if the one politician with global credentials and accepted by all races is a non-Chinese.

While it was heartening to see many Singaporeans (including the Chinese ones) open up their hearts and wallets to foreign workers as cases of Covid-19 erupted in the dormitories, an unhealthy number thought nothing of denigrating dark skinned labourers who were doing the work they wouldn’t do.

The only salivation for the Chinese race in this respect is that it’s not the only race in Asia with an issue with the dark skinned. The Indians (many of whom are dark skinned, particularly in the South) also have a strange fixation with trying to get fairer. Take a look at this commercial, staring Bollywood icon Shah Rukh Khan, which while not as obvious as the Chinese detergent ad, isn’t exactly subtle in its messaging:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yl7pa4PPqp8

The message is clear. Fair equals handsome, hence if you’re a guy who wants to pick up girls, you invest in skin whitener. I think of one of my best friends, who is a good looking Nepali, who takes great pride in the beauty of his kids because ….they’ve got his colour.

I’d go as far as to argue that it’s almost worse than in the West. While the Western worlds are erupting into violence on the streets, the problems are clear cut. Blacks are clearly being screwed over by the system, particularly the police force. While America is the focus, I’m old enough to remember when the Algerians rioted in Paris and when the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry Found Police forces in the UK to have major issues with race. Sure, current leadership hasn’t helped. However, these are problems that can be solved with the obvious – i.e. legislation, money and so on.

In Asia, its almost as if the prejudice against the dark skinned is part of accepted culture. Let’s go back to “fair and handsome.” Think of it, it’s probably not meant to be racist against dark skinned people. It’s just an accepted fact that fair automatically gets equated with handsome. I remember my late grandmother telling me, “These Indian girls are actually pretty – it’s just that they’re dark.”

Changing culture will take time. I think the obvious is to encourage mixed race marriages (or as one Jewish guy said “My dick is not racist”). This will be particularly tough, especially when you consider that most Asian marriages are about families as much as the individuals. Yet, as the Western situation has shown, the prejudice against dark skinned people has to be eradicated to a level where dark skinned people don’t feel that it’s the natural order of things for them to be screwed.

Both the West and Asia need to re look at the way they treat the dark skinned. It’s not just a black and white issue but a human issue that needs to be addressed. Racism and ancient prejudices don’t have a place in the modern world.   

What is the problem exactly?

The Singapore Government, which was praised as the gold standard in managing the coronavirus has been struggling to show that it has grip on things. The dramatic spike in cases of coronavirus has come from the one area that was simply ignored – in the areas that were housing Singapore’s vast number of foreign workers.

In fairness to the Singapore Government, it has scrambled to take care of this sudden nightmare, offering to house and feed the workers. Unfortunately, this has placed the government in the cross hairs of two conflicting groups. The first group is the group that thinks the government is doing too much for the foreign workers and pampering them. The other thinks that the government is making a royal hash of things. This conflict is best exemplified by the recent outcry over the provision of meals to the workers, which can be found at:

http://theindependent.sg/photos-of-govt-provided-meals-for-foreign-workers-thrown-in-trash-explained/

The outcry over meals provided to the foreign workers has gotten the Minister of State for National Development and Manpower, Mr. Zaqy Mohammad (as a matter of full disclosure, I know Mr. Zaqy on a personal basis and once organized a training session for his grassroots leaders), trying to explain the logistical issues in providing food for over 200,000 workers. The story can be found at:

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/dorm-meals-are-getting-better-zaqy

Reading these stories makes me ask, “What exactly is the problem that we have when it comes to dealing with dark skinned people from poor countries?” Singapore is a wonderfully efficient and comfortable society in so many ways. I remember a young Englishman who is married to one of my favourite reporters from the BBC Asian Business report, telling me that his life is actually pretty good. He pointed out that Singapore, while small, is in the centre of so many things and unlike England, you actually start dealing with things at a national and international level as opposed to having to go through counties and so on.

Unfortunately, its very different when you it comes to dealing with the guys working at the bottom of the proverbial heap. This isn’t the first time when our society has had problems coping with the idea that people from third world countries doing menial jobs are entitled to the same things like food and rest like the rest of us.

Think of the time when the government had to step and mandate that domestic workers get one day a week off all the way back in 2012:

https://www.mom.gov.sg/passes-and-permits/work-permit-for-foreign-domestic-worker/employers-guide/rest-days-and-well-being

Apparently, giving a maid a day off was a challenge for some people, who reasoned that if they allowed their maids to have a day off, they would end up in “bad company:”

http://twc2.org.sg/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Madetowork-Dayoff-Report-2011.pdf

Now that the maids have a day off, the visible sight of maids and dare I say, construction workers “chilling out” in public places like parks offends the sensibilities of our local population:

https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/2155193/singapore-domestic-helpers-day-park-rankles-some-residents-who-complain

The most prominent example of how the sight of poor people having a good time offending our local population came from my favorite young pork guzzling on a Ramdan day Muslim Politician from Pasir Ris GRC, who once exclaimed, “The workers are terrible, they have sex with maids.” I had to explain to him that workers and maids had urges too and just as nobody complained about his sex life, there was no reason why he should complain about the sex lives of workers and maids. I’m glad to report that a spell at university in Australia has helped him understand the human perspective and the fact that idea that workers in menial jobs are also humans is not a leftist conspiracy.

Seriously, why is it so difficult for us to understand that construction workers and maids are human beings too and worthy of basics like having a day out to chill and being fed a decent meal after a hard day of work? It’s that simple. I cannot stress enough times that nobody is asking for “special treatment.” Let’s note that with the exception of the 201s strike by bus drivers from China (which was a justified protest against race based pay), none of our foreign workers have actively protested and demanded higher wages (though they have protested not being paid for work done, which, contrary to what a few members of our local population may think – is not a strange thing to protest.)

If we can get around the idea that people from third world countries are as human as we are, we may solve a lot more issues. If for example, we understood that cramming a group of grown men into a small room, after working 12 to 15 hours a day in the hot sun paying $10 per person per day for the bed space was not an acceptable way of housing people, we wouldn’t to quarantine them and have the logistical issue of feeding them.

Again, nobody is asking to be pampered. Nobody is asking for extra comforts. They are just asking for some basic rest and nourishing meal after a hard day of work. Letting them have these simple things in our self-interest as it allows them to work more energetically and productively for us.