Category: Rants

Random Discourse – Resentment Against Foreigners and Bogeyman

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” The person who contemptuously speaks about immigrants could also be capable of turning against the minorities here at home. ” – Vivian Balakrishnan

The above comment was made several days ago at the Sinda Youth Leaders Seminar last Saturday. It almost escaped my notice. I often consider myself to be a master in “talking cock” (i.e. saying things that is full of nonsense), but this really takes the cake. If it isn’t “cock”, it would be propaganda from some long gone fascist regime, which often vilify certain groups and prop them up as a bogeyman.

As an ethnic Chinese, I felt threatened by the above comment in two ways. First of all, the Chinese community is the majority in Singapore as a result of history. The above statement gives me the impression that if anyone among the Chinese community speaks out against the immigration policies, this person is thus considered to harbor an agenda against the other communities in Singapore and is capable of turning on them.

How is this helpful to our nation building at all? After having come so far to build our little nation to the point whereby Chinese, Malay and Indians can sit and eat at the same table without fear of offending each other’s religious or cultural convictions, this comment has turn the clock all the way back to the 60s of the previous century. All the hard work the different races have painstakingly put in to live together in mutual respect and peace, if not in harmony with each other, has gone to waste.

Frankly, the prime suspects that would contemptuously speak out and hurt the sensitivities of our people (and not only against minorities), would be some of the foreign workers or new citizens that the ruling party has let indiscriminately into our country. Singaporeans wouldn’t even dare say something like that when they consider the Sedition Act hanging like a sword over their heads. These newcomers would have very little knowledge of our common history and the pains our grandparents and parents have all gone through. That is evident in a recent case where a mainland Chinese worker made derogatory remarks about one of our Malay brothers in a Chinese forum. If I recalled correctly, that chap was let off with just a warning. Now contrast that with the treatment of Lai Shimum, a poly student who lashed out against migrant workers and then got pounced on by a Member of Parliament [MP] from the ruling party. Further contrast that with us being asked by yet another MP of the ruling party to “reflect” when we are called “dogs” by a foreign student enjoying a scholarship given out by our country.

That brings up my next concern. Even though the Chinese are a majority in this tiny red dot, we are a minority in the Malay Archipelago. While I was born in the years after the last major racial riot in Singapore, my Malaysian Chinese friends have shared with me their understanding of the May 13 Incident in Malaysia which spilled over to Singapore. My mother spoke about the horrors of Maria Hertogh riots which she experienced as a child and how important it is for us to respect the other races. Thus, I have often cautioned my friends to be wary of the “anti-PRC” postings (i.e. postings that are hostile to those from mainland China) on shit-stirrer (if not downright xenophobic) sites such as “Temasek Times”.

There are two reasons why I do so. First of all, some of my friends often wondered if the people behind these sites have some nefarious agenda of their own. In one of the outrageous “conspiracy theories” proposed: these sites are actually run by certain “pro-government trolls”. Certainly, they deliberately cater to those who already have some grudges against the foreigners on their own, and they appear to voice the grumbles in some of our hearts. In short, these sites focus the irrational anger and hatred on certain groups of the foreigners. That amplifies the voices of certain extremists so that they drown out the reasonable concerns of those who wants a closer examination and re-evaluation of the immigrant policies. The ultimate objective would be to condition Singaporeans into believing these people to be harmful, fringe elements of our society so that we readily accept whatever law enforcement actions taken against them. In the end, all dissent against the immigration policies is put down once and for all because no one wants to be associated with these “extreme elements”.

Next, as a person of Chinese descent, to encourage or embrace “anti-PRC” sentiment is self defeating. There is only a thin line between Singapore and PRC Chinese (regardless whether they are new citizens, PRs or just migrant workers). We are different and yet similar. What happens if anger against the mainlander Chinese boils over and turns into anger against all ethnic Chinese as a whole? I would have sowed the seeds of my own destruction. Though most of us of age 40 and below would have experience any violence directed at the Chinese in Singapore, violence against the Chinese in this region is not unheard of. One of most recent happened in Jakarta in 1998.

While it may appear that I have a similar objective as the government in ending the anti-foreigner sentiments among Singaporeans, it is certainly not done to justifying the current immigration policies. I simply felt it has to be done because we are above that. A person of Vivian Balakrishnan’s brilliance should be capable of something better other than creating imaginary bogeyman in a vain attempt to justify the ruling party’s broken immigration policy. Unless his reputation is undeserved, just like some of his peers has been found wanting…

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A Singaporean In Australia: Vivian Balakrishnan – The Snake in the Cabinet

Random Discourse – Second Rochor Road Accident

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There are a number of things that irks me. Superstition is one of them. Now that there’s a second accident at the Rochor Road – Victoria Street junction, It disturbs me that some people are now saying that the junction is haunted. They argued that the reason why there are so many accidents is because an evil dead spirit (or spirits) is looking for a substitute. Frankly I wished I had a time machine to send some of these clowns back to the Dark Ages. Whatever happened to investigative, scientific thinking?

Let me put it straight – that junction is not haunted! The beauty of technology is that at times it even saves me the trip of going down to the place to take a look to back up my own views on why the things that has happened at that junction is about as natural as taking a shit in the morning.

Here are some pictures obtained on Street View on Google Earth. These pictures are dated March 2009. Notice the overhead traffic light facing Victoria Street towards Kallang at the junction. I have made the effort to identify them for those with the reverse of hawkeye. Before anyone scream about these pictures being outdated, just take a look at them first as I am not done making my point.


Looking back at the overhead traffic light on Victoria Street towards Kallang
View of overhead traffic light from Rochor Road

Bus Stop and overhead traffic light in the distance from the direction of Victoria Street
Click for full size

Now on to the point I am trying to make. Take a look at this recent picture which Michael Cheng gave me permission to use.

The overhead traffic light facing Victoria Street towards Kallang is gone. It has been removed. I recalled some comments about this junction being accident prone, and the newspapers even reported that they caught several people beating the light at that area when their reporters stationed there one of the nights. However, the newspapers failed to tell us whether the accidents were a really recent occurrence or something that has been ongoing for years.

Personally, I think it is a fairly recent occurrence. This junction has existed for years but it was only recently modified for the construction of the Downtown Line (if not also the Bugis Station for that line). Did the problems only start after this modification?

Now consider this. When a driver cruises down Victoria Street at night, there is enough distance between the Victoria Street – Middle Road junction until the pedestrian crossing at Bugis Village to pick up speed. If both the traffic signals are synchornised and “red”, the driver would have slowed down as he approaches. However, if the traffic signal at the pedestrian crossing (just a mere 50 meters or more before the junction) has been green when the driver drove past the Victoria Street – Middle Road junction, and there isn’t another overhead traffic light at the Rochor Road – Victoria Street junction, the driver may be misled into believing that all traffic signals are in his favor and thus step on the gas towards the Ophir Road – Victoria Street junction. There simply isn’t enough reaction time for him to react when he realised that his perception was in error after that.

If this is the case, all the accidents that has happened at this junction is hardly supernatural but rather a situation that is caused by an oversight of the Land Transport Authority [LTA]. While the LTA can argue that a driver should slow down when he approaches a traffic light (even when it is in his favor), it cannot absolve itself from the responsibility of ensuring that drivers are not misled by traffic signals into making decisions that could cause harm not only to themselves but also other road users. LTA should explain why the overhead traffic light at this junction was removed in the first place and whether its removal is the cause of these horrifying and even fatal traffic accidents.

In my opinion, on top of restoring the overhead traffic light at the Rochor Road – Victoria Street junction, the LTA can consider turning off just after midnight the traffic lights at the pedestrian crossing just 50meters before the junction since there will be few people using that junction after midnight. Even better, the LTA should just remove this pedestrian crossing permanently since it is a hazard to pedestrians anyway. Just do a search on Youtube for “Traffic Light Bugis Village” and take a look at the videos put up by concerned members of the public.

Next, relocate the bus stop further up to Illuma. Pedestrians can then use the overhead bridge between Bugis Junction and Illuma for crossing. Apart from the reasons mentioned above that would support the removal of this pedestrian crossing, its removal should also smoothen traffic and reduce congestion along that part of Victoria Street as well.

I sincerely hope the LTA will act promptly to do something about the traffic signals at the Rochor Road – Victoria Street junction, and also to evaluate the feasibility of removing the hazardous and problematic pedestrian crossing between Bugis Village and Bugis Junction and to move the bus stop further up the road. That should put an end to all that mentally unhealthy, superstitious views that are now making their rounds on the Internet.

Update:
From TODAYonline: “After two accidents occurred at the same spot in as many weeks, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) yesterday said it would synchronise the timings of the traffic lights in the area. The traffic signals at the junction of Rochor Road and Victoria Street, and the pedestrian crossing linking Bugis Junction and Bugis Village will now turn green at about the same time.”

*sigh* Cosmetic changes. What about the “human jam” problem at the pedestrian crossing linking Bugis Junction and Bugis Village in the day and the traffic congestion it caused?

Afterthoughts – Hougang By-Election

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Hougang voters celebrating
Photo of Rebecca Chin

Congratulations to the Workers’ Party [WP] and Mr Png Eng Huat for winning the seat of Hougang Single Member Constituency [SMC]. Mr Png has beaten his opponent by a majority of 5,237 votes. While the WP’s majority is reduced by 1548 votes, only a pathetic 145 (less than 10%) went to his opponent. For the ruling party’s candidate, it was like failing the exam a year ago and then doing just as badly in the sub-paper a year later. Has he actually been doing his home work? For starters, stop shamelessly saying that Hougang has fallen behind because of the opposition. If you really cared for Hougang as you have claimed and have any conscience left, the very least you can do is to resign from the very party which has deliberately punished everyone (even your own supporters) there for the past 20 years. Otherwise, there is no point even if you are capable of weeping yourself a new river in Hougang.

The courageous voters of Hougang have decided resoundingly to maintain the status quo of 6 WP Members of Parliament [MPs]. By electing Mr Png Eng Huat, they have not only resounding rejected the ruling party’s attempted character assassination, but also demonstrated that they accept (if not necessarily approve) how the WP has handled the indiscretion of Mr Yaw Shin Leong. Like I have mentioned, the WP deserved points for their political courage in expelling Mr Yaw from the party and going back to the people with a new candidate. As far as I am concerned, the outcome of this by-election simply indicated to me that when a political party diligent served the people and champion their causes, its candidates will always trump what those of the ruling party no matter how hard the ruling party’s leaders try to drag them through the mud. In this case, not only had the mud-slinging failed dismally, the very person who was the most enthusiastic at it has clearly been left in the mud pool himself. Just leave the scrutinising of the opposition candidate to the voters, alright? The ruling party can quit regarding the electorate with such low regard and contempt. We are NOT daft at all!

If there is one thing that made me remember this by-election fondly, it would be the rally at Hougang on May 22nd, 2012 (Tuesday). While I admired the WP speakers who stood in the rain until the rally’s end, what was more touching was the events that transpired among the rally attendees. A friend said that the elections always bring out the worst in people, but I beg to differ. In this case it has brought out the best!

There is courage – an old lady with two umbrellas kept them closed and stood in the rain along with the WP speakers. (For those who would fault her for not sharing her umbrellas, touch your heart and ask yourself whether you would share your own umbrella.) There is also a kampong spirit – people sharing their umbrella with those (even strangers) who didn’t have one, aunties tearing their plastic bags into 2 and giving it to others and some men taking off their shirts to shelter old folks and kids. And finally, there is also determination – where a family of 5 was observed gathering under a small umbrella. Many of the attendees that night stayed in spite of the rain and this was reported on social media fondly by those who were present.

What transpired that evening tells me that we can aspire to have a different Singapore. We can have a caring, non-elitist Singapore that cease to operate in a cold, selfish, calculative, ruthless, repulsive and inhuman logic where the people are made to believe that certain interests must be given priority. It shouldn’t be a Singapore where we believe that the people fell behind because of “their own fault”. Can you imagine that those with umbrellas kept to themselves and leave those without to suffer the rain because… “just who the hell asked them not to be prepared anyway”?

We Singaporeans can be better than that! That is perhaps why capable people who left Singapore never want to come back. Frankly, regardless of how many $4-million Singapore Day were organised overseas, no one would ever come back to a home that has turned into a hotel, and a country that is run like a corporation. While it is my regret that I wasn’t personally there to observe all that transpired at the rally that evening, it gave me the strength to drag myself to Hougang 2 days later in spite of my running nose, a nasty cough and a nagging back ache. Two other colleague went along with me, and one of them was similarly inflicted by the flu bug.

I was thankful the skies remained clear until the rally ended. After hearing them speak, I am convinced that Mr Pritam Singh, Mr Chen Show Mao and Mr Low Thia Khiang would have given any of the ruling party’s leaders a run for their money on a one-to-one stand up debate any time. Though it might appear on the main stream media [MSM] that the WP’s MPs were constantly rebutted and “beaten” in Parliamentary sessions, it merely convinced me that we need to further reduce the ruling party’s majority to put an end to these verbal “gang-rapes” that opposition MPs are subjected to in Parliament. Meanwhile, allow me to take this opportunity salute Mr Chiam See Tong and Mr Low Thia Khiang for having survived all those years when there were just two of them in Parliament. Special honor should also be given to JB Jeyaratnam, the first opposition MP since 1968. They have stood high with courage in spite of the jeers they received. Special mention should also be given to Anson, the birthplace of Singapore’s democracy.

MP-Elect Mr Png Eng Huat, I hope you will serve the people of Hougang faithfully and with all your heart and all your might. For it will be unforgivable if you or the WP let them down after bringing out the best of Singapore at the Hougang field next to Block 837 on the evening of May 22nd. It will also be as good as letting the rest of Singapore down. Good luck and all the best, sir!

Recommended Reads:
The Itch To Write: That spirit, the HOUGANG SPIRIT!
dk.sg: The day after Hougang By Election

Current Affairs – Hougang By-Election

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Crowd at the Workers Party Rally 22-5-2012 in spite of the rain
Photo obtained here

The hottest news this month has got to be the Hougang By-Election. This was the result of the Workers’ Party [WP] Expulsion of Yaw Shin Leong, who was the previous Member of Parliament [MP] of Hougang Single Member Constituency [SMC]. Whatever I had to say about the WP’s handling of Mr Yaw, I have already written it down in an old post here. The only thing I had to add on is that even though I didn’t like how the entire matter was handled, I would still give the WP points for the political courage to put its future in Hougang on the chopping block by coming back to voters with another candidate. I can’t really say the same about the ruling party when I consider the failures of a few ex-ministers who suddenly retired only last year – and probably enjoying their pensions.

I chuckled when I saw Desmond Choo’s slogan – “Always there for you”. Indeed, the ruling party has always been there for Hougang. It has always been there to ensure that the lives of Hougangers are as miserable as possible in a vain hope that Hougang voters will repent their decision for the past 20 years since Mr Low Thia Kiang was elected as the MP of Hougang in 1991. Lest we forget, before the General Elections [GE] last May, an ex-candidate of the ruling party who lost twice to Mr Low Thia Khiang even had the gall to call Hougang a slum. It doesn’t matter that on the HDB’s website, the resale prices of HDB flats in Hougang SMC weren’t very much different from those of Aljunied Group Representative Constituency (then under the ruling party) across the street. I cannot imagine why anyone who pay that kind of money for a HDB unit in Hougang had it been a slum!

Even if Hougang had been a slum, it certainly wasn’t the fault of the WP that Hougang has fallen behind in terms of facilities and upgrading. Mr Low Thia Khiang has said as much and those who had attended the rallies would have some idea what the WP had tried to do, only to see those requests rejected when the flats are older and should have higher priority than some of the newer flats in a constituency won by the ruling party. Simply put, it is not only the WP voters of Hougang that were punished for exercising their democratic rights, even those who voted for the ruling party were similarly punished. Is it a surprise that votes for the ruling party had constantly diminished in Hougang over the last 20 years? After all, why would anyone vote for a party that holds him in contempt even though he did not vote for the other side? It also goes to show that not only did WP serve the people, it is also doing something right that the voters found it worthwhile to keep the WP candidate elected in spite of the pain!

As the campaign progressed, I sometimes wondered whether it was Desmond Choo who is contesting for Hougang, or the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Teo Chee Hean. After all, Mr Teo appears to have the most to say about Mr Png Eng Huat, the WP’s candidate for Hougang. He started his attacks on Mr Png by suggesting that Mr Png wasn’t the best man WP has to offer because it was Mr Gerald Giam and not Mr Png that was selected for the position of Non-Constituency MP [NCMP].

Frankly, the fact that Mr Giam was selected as NCMP wasn’t because he was the best, but because he was young. The leaked memo clearly showed that to be the case as it stated that the Secretary General (Mr Low) and Chairman (Ms Sylvia Lim) “explained the situation and to impress upon Eric Tan the critical situation WP faced in the future regarding leadership renewal.”

As such, sending Gerald Giam as NCMP into Parliament was a sound strategic decision by the WP’s Central Executive Committee [CEC]. In fact, when we consider that the WP had no ministers which coat tails new blood can ride on to sneak into Parliament, this was the best way Gerald Giam can receive his baptism of fire and hone his debating skills in Parliament. His dismal performance during the ministerial pay revision debate would have taught him some valuable lessons. Just like training soldiers, the best training is to put them in the most realistic combat situation. It is horrendous that having been a high ranking navy officer previously, Mr Teo had forgotten that.

It was such a lame, cheap shot at Mr Png’s qualification as a candidate which shouldn’t have been given any consideration. If Mr Png actually have to dignify that with a reply, he should have simply pointed out that Ong Ye Kung would be an even better candidate than Desmond Choo because if I remembered correctly, Mr Ong was touted to be minister material and he certainly won more votes in the previous election as a candidate in the ruling party’s Aljunied GRC team! It would have been way better than saying that he had never been interested in the NCMP position. I was simply disappointed that Mr Png not only fell for such a cheap trick, it further created another opening for Mr Teo to question his integrity. I won’t bother to talk about that, since it is up to Mr Png to defend his own integrity and honor.

Anyway, had I been a resident of Hougang who is able to vote in this by-election, the decision is a no brainer. What the PAP is doing is almost like Chinese opera, where the party – as the government – plays the “White Face” (the bad guy) while Desmond Choo plays the “Black Face” (the good guy). It is nothing but wayang and there is simply no reason whatsoever to vote for a candidate from a party which caused all the pain and agony in Hougang in the first place. That’s not forgetting that the ruling party has complete dominance in Parliament. In a certain way, it is more than just one party dominance, it is a one party dictatorship. Had it not been the opposition’s historical break-through last year, it is unlikely that the ruling party would have put more effort into acting upon our feedback where it has for years pretend to listen to them. In short, the ruling party would have ignored us had the electorate “not stuck the spurs into their hide”.

There is simply no reason to pull the spurs out right now when we should have dug them deeper last May.

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Current Affairs – Rochor Road Accident

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Warning: Graphic Content

This video is the actual footage of the Rochor Road accident taken by another taxi’s in-car video recorder. Had they been one second faster, they would have met with certain death.

It is painful to watch when you realise that the inconsiderate action of the Ferrari driver took the lives of 2 innocent people, cabbie Mr Cheng Teck Hock (a father leaving behind 3 children) and Japanese passenger Ms Ito Shigemi. It also brought grievous injury to motorcyclist Mr Muhammad Najib Ghazali.

Sadly, instead of portraying the facts as they are, the headlines of the evening Chinese tabloids Shin Ming was awash with the alleged talent, wealth and success of Ma Chi, the culprit. It is as if the main stream media went full force to made the heinous act of the culprit less abominable. I am not alone because it was not long before netizens spoke about the perceived injustice in the matter.

Meantime, I have no idea what happened to the victims until Monday, when I read that the cabbie has passed away. It is heart wrenching to read his family’s account. (There was almost no report on Ms Ito. All I did read was a brief write up that her brother was the only person who went to identify her body, because her parents did not want to see their beloved daughter disfigured. Her brother has politely refused interview. Unfortunately I could not find any English version of the same report.)

Excerpts from an article on insing.com

But Mr Cheng, the sole bread winner of his family, apparently hung on because he wanted to let his family know what really happened, according to the newspaper.

His family told the cabbie to “go in peace, since your children are already grown up”, but Mr Cheng, who was seen shedding tears, hung on.

On Sunday evening, after the family found out how the accident happened, they repeated their plea to Mr Cheng.

“We know it was not your fault. You did not drive recklessly,” they told him.

On hearing this, Mr Cheng opened his eyes and his heartbeat slowly stopped, the newspaper said.

As if the slanted and favorable reporting of the culprit by the local media isn’t bad enough, I start reading articles about how the crash fuels xenophobia in Singapore. While I cannot (and I won’t) deny that shit stirrer sites like Temasek Times are clearly xenophobic, there is no denying that part of the anger also stemmed from the perceived absence of justice (if not the perceived failure or weakness of Singapore in exacting justice) when dealing with offending foreigners. This perception has steadily built up over the last two years. It began when former Romanian diplomat Silviu Ionescu fled the country after his hit-and-run accident in December 2010. While Ionescu is now on trial in Romania’s courts, justice has yet been meted out to him.

It was then further aggravated when news broke that the police took almost a year to investigate a brawl at SunTec City where 4 people were assaulted by three expatriates. To make matters worse, after finally pressing charges against them, two out of three of the culprits jumped bail and escaped the justice of Singapore’s Courts of Law. While it had originally looked like the police only acted after public pressure, this now convinces some Singaporeans that anyone can come to our country, bully our people and even flout our laws and get away with it. Add that on to the competition we face from foreigners in all aspect of our lives – from jobs to housing, from transportation to places in our schools and it is of no surprise that things boiled over.

Of course, beyond the competition and the perceived injustice, there is also an element of annoyance towards the deplorable journalism standards of Singapore’s newspapers. Personally, I don’t really care about the nationality, identity, success or wealth of the culprit. Even if the papers did not want to stand up and point it out as wrong, I personally expect the papers (and in this case Singapore Press Holding’s [SPH] Shin Ming Daily) to at least report the facts as is without trying to slant it either way. It is undisputed that the taxi had the right of way and it was hit even when the traffic signals were in its favor. The very least the papers could do was to give us an educated report on what the family can do in this case to seek compensation, whether from the culprit himself or from the insurance policies that cover such matters. Granted, there is a distant possibility that the entire accident may be one of mechanical failure and no one would be any wiser until all the facts are out, just what exactly has the Ferrari driver’s success got anything to do with anything? For Shin Ming to emphasise on the Ferrari driver’s supposed wealth, success and talent is just wrong on so many levels. It almost sounds like it was trying to absolve Ma Chi from the idiocy he has committed.

If SPH thinks they’re going to avoid a massive xenophobic outbreak by sugar-coating the entire thing and painting Ma Chi in a positive light, they’re dumber than dumb. While Temasek Times’ meaningless foreigner bashing is grating, SPH’s foreigner praising (which SPH has a long history in doing) is simply nauseating. It isn’t helping to improve Singaporean-foreigner relationship at all. In fact, it is simply making it worse because the obvious bias will continue to enforce Singaporeans’ rejection of whatever attempts the government makes to smoothen relations between Singaporeans and foreigners. That’s not mentioning that if SPH keeps this up, the next time a careless driver driving similar cars may actually find himself lynched by a mob regardless whether he is foreigner or Singaporean because the anger will be on the wealthy as well.

Addendum:
It is also my considered opinion that Comfort Delgro needs to do one important thing – review the safety features of the Hyundai Sonata cabs. First of all, there had been 2 cases of fire. In this particular incident, the entire engine block was knocked 30 meters out of the cab. I seriously cannot perceive how the engine can fly out of the cab even in spite of the speed of the Ferrari because the bolts that secure it to the engine compartment are normally huge. I am not suggesting any responsibility on the part of the cab company but am raising this matter as a commuter’s concern on the safety of the cabs we frequently use.

Addendum 28.05.2012:
In view of my subsequent blog post, I must also point out that Ma Chi and his passenger Wu Wei Wei are perhaps also victims if my assertion in that blog post is true.

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