TR EMERITUS

So, if You’re Dark Skinned You Better be Grateful for Your Lot Around eight-years ago, I befriend and Englishman who had moved to Singapore. Half way through our conversation he asked me what I missed most about England. My reply was “The intrinsic decency of people.” His reply was “There’s a lot more of that in Singapore.” My reply was “That’s because you’re white – try being a dark skinned labourer from the Indian Subcontinent.” I’m reminded of this incident because I had the strange fortune of stumbling into an article in the Independent Singapore, which was about a post from the Singapore Government’s favourite white-skinned boot polisher, “The Fawning Follower,” who goes by the name of “Critical Spectator,” who proved the point I made to my English friend so many years ago: [LINK] If you read the argument of the Fawning Follower, it runs along a pretty simple line – Singapore is a wonderfully multiethnic place and although a few derogatory terms are used in between the races, everyone gets along and there isn’t the equivalent of a Holocaust against anyone so, what racism is there? To make matters more interesting, the fawning follower then goes onto argue that there is no racism in Singapore and therefore anyone who gets offended by a “blackface” portrayal is just a namby-pamby left wing cry baby who can’t take being called a name. To be fair to the Fawning Follower, he has a point. On the surface, things look good. People of different races live harmoniously and unlike our neighbour across the Causeway, there are no laws that discriminate in favour of one ethnic group in things like employment. Singapore also compares well in as much as you’re not going to get beaten up in certain parts of Singapore for being who you are. Our political leaders also make plenty of the right noises about the need to have multiracial harmony. However, as in his posting on migrant worker conditions, the Fawning Follower misses the point completely. Just because it is worse elsewhere it doesn’t mean that the problem does not exist here nor does it make it right. The Fawning Follower also misses the point that all humans have their intrinsic nasty prejudices. It’s merely a question of whether they control them and acknowledge their “dark side” and make the effort to create a nice place to live. By saying that “there is no racism” in Singapore, the Fawning Follower is actually saying that Singapore does not exist on earth – it’s the celestial kingdom ruled by God himself. Unfortunately, that’s not true. While racism is for the most part not overt, it does exist in subtle ways. My English friend discovered this at his workplace, which is a shipyard. He found that there was a clear “colour correlation.” The darker your pigmentation the more you did the “shit” work and the less you got paid. After going through this, his stance of decency in Singapore changed – when we met again after eight years, he described our labour policies as being based on “slave labour.” My English friend is a decent man who, despite a comfortable existence in Singapore, sees the ugly side and calls it out. Its people like him who drop ideas that will hopefully get people to make the world a more decent place. The Fawning Follower is different. Instead of enjoying the good side but acknowledging the ugly side, he actually promotes the ugly as beautiful. According to him, Singaporeans should keep migrant workers in shit-shacks that have killed people through unsanitary conditions (this happened before Covid-19) because it is the reason why Singapore succeeds. Now, he says that the unspoken “colour bar” in parts of Singapore don’t really exist. Interestingly enough, it’s always the expats who have pointed it out to me. One of my favourite English families made the point that when F1 was first brought to Singapore and kids volunteered for holiday jobs, it was somehow a coincidence that White and Yellow skinned people were awarded catering jobs, while anyone black or brown was shoved into cleaning. I think of how it works in immigration. I think of my friend, an Afrikaans dental technician, a highly skilled man, who was denied a visa. Then, when he went to see them, they were stunned and suddenly approved his visa when he explained that there are “white” people in South Africa. Racism here isn’t the overt kind. It’s subtle and what makes it more worrying is that it’s become acceptable. Tokenism is used so successfully that ethnic minorities end up being the biggest proponent of things that are discriminatory against them. I always remember a discussion with one of the security guards in my dad’s condominium. He’s an Indian chap who was defending a policy of not hiring Indians. If Hitler need a reason to gas Indians in Singapore, this man would have provided it. I’m also told a local Tamil Minister didn’t quite understand why the local Tamil community was upset over “blackface” portrayals. Singapore has done well in many ways on the race-relation front. However, we are not perfect and we need to do more to ensure that whatever discriminations our ethnic minorities face are quashed. We prospered because to a large extent worked on “regardless of race.” However, more needs to b done and people like the Fawning Follower who tries to tell us that the ugly side doesn’t exist or that we should be grateful for the ugly have no place in a Singapore that I’d like to be a part of.   Tang Li *Although I’ve been based mainly in Singapore for nearly two decades, I’ve had the privilege of being able meet people who have crossed borders and cultures. I’ve befriended ministers and ambassadors and worked on projects involving a former head of state. Yet, at the same time, I’ve had the privilege of befriending migrant labourers and former convicts. All of them have a story to tell. All of them add to the fabric of life. I hope to express the stories that inspire us to create life as it should be.      Read More →

Earlier, Minister Wong said that phase 3 of the circuit breaker will start after 70% of the population has downloaded the Trace Together app or collected the token. Recently, the prime minister announced the start of phase 3 towards the end of the year. Someone pointed out that only 50% of the population has Trace Together. He asked - is the government prioritizing the economy over public health? I give my views. Frankly, Trace Together will not be effective in ensuring public health for many reasons: * Many people who has Trace Together do not use it. * The number of people who were located through Trace Together or Safe Entry is probably negligible, in spite of the great resources that are spent. * The few people that are located through these contract tracing activities are probably asymptomatic and do not spread the infection. (I saw a report from the World Health Organization to this effect). In my view, the relaxation of the circuit breaker measures will not pose any danger to public health. We are over reacting to what is probably a very low risk. I believe that it is quite safe to start phase 3 now. In fact, I prefer that the circuit breaker be removed totally. We can still encourage people to wear a mask, practice safe distancing and have temperature scanning (using self service kiosks). If someone has a fever, he or she should go for covid testing at designated clinics that should be easily accessible. We can continue to monitor the number of symptomatic cases, the number of hospital admissions and deaths. If the number remain small, we should not be alarmed. If the number jumped up significantly, we can then revert to stronger measures. For the sake of the economy, and to provide our services in global trade and finance, we can take this risk of opening up the economy. It is not a reckless approach, because we can still continue to monitor the numbers daily. I know that the spread of covid is serious is many countries that are entering the winter months. But the coronavirus is mild in warmer climates. Even the temperate countries have low spread and deaths during their summer months.   Tan Kin Lian      Read More →

The journey was indeed exciting, and I have learnt so much from being able to hear from so many of you, and to have been able to help some of you. I came with an objective to help, and expected nothing in return. For me, it is now about finding the path on which I wish to serve others, and to be able to continue impacting the lives of others positively. And it does not need to be in politics. I have fulfilled a wish my father had, for me to stand for elections, and I enjoyed every moment of it. I have made so many friends along the way, and I am thankful for all of your support. Eugene Png. Auntie Angela Lee. Sumith. Uncle Tang Yong Hua. The Tan family. Uncle Lum. Ramesh Rai. Ram Nitesh. Raymond Kang. Poh Wenxiang. Arbind. Vinay. Rabiah. Alvin Wu. Cherrie and family. Raj Singh. Augustine Lee. Bob and Calvin. Freddy and so many, many, many more. Hundreds. For my team of dedicated and hard core volunteers who hit the ground with me - day in and day out, week in and week out, and the few who fought the good fight with me and who were also there when I just needed some company to enjoy that quiet moment and talk about everything else under the sun like how bad Manchester United were. Mario. Andrew. Wilson. Ariffin. Kathy. I will never forget everything you have done for me, and thank you for the camaraderie and friendship. Likewise for James, Theng Wei and Jennifer. To the many friends and supporters who donated and who bought some of the merchandise during the GE, my sincerest gratitude. My team and I fought with lots of heart, and kept going because of how you responded. The time has come for me to focus on things which will help me create impact in other ways, to help others in different ways and to take my firm regional - something which I have been wanting to do ever since i started the firm in 2016. The Malaysian chapter was added last year, and now it is about surging ahead even further. I am truly sorry if I have disappointed any of you in any way, with my decision. The ones who need my help can continue to reach out and I will do whatever I can within my ability to help as much as possible. My life purpose to serve humanity remains intact. My respect to the many of you from both sides of the political aisle, for putting in the years into what you truly believe in. Candidate 0001 from Singapore General Elections 2020 signing out.   *Facebook post by Jose Raymond.      Read More →