TR EMERITUS

Written by Our Correspondent After being played out by the Romanians again and again over the double hit and run traffic accident involving Romanian diplomat Dr Silviu Ionescu which exposed his own naivete, Singapore's Foreign Minister George Yeo is fast running out of excuses to cover his own ineptitude. Dr Silviu Ionescu was implicated in a double hit and run road traffic accident at Bukit Panjang on 15 December 2009 which robbed the life of a 31 year old man Tong Kok Wai. Despite the gravity of his crime, he was allowed to leave Singapore three days after the accident when previous cases were usually solved within a day or two. There were no comments from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) other than a forgettable faux paus from George Yeo that "what happened was very bad." Defending the government's apparent lackluster approach in Parliament yesterday, George Yeo tried to use the "legal process" to soothe frayed nerves: "The circumstances of the accidents understandably made many Singaporeans very angry with Dr Ionescu. Some criticised the Singapore Government for not acting immediately to detain him.....I can fully understand the outrage many Singaporeans feel over the hit-and-run accidents and the tragic death of Mr Tong. However, we should never do anything that is not in keeping with due legal process nor descend into trial by media, otherwise we would weaken our own case. When Dr Ionescu left Singapore in December 2009, the police had not yet completed their investigations. In any case, we could not have prevented Dr Ionescu from leaving Singapore because, as a diplomat accredited to Singapore, he enjoyed diplomatic immunity and could not be detained," he added. As one netizen had pointed out, if the victim had been a VIP in Singapore, the response of the Singapore police and MFA would be radically different. To add salt to the injury, Dr Silviu Ionescu went on Romanian Television to accuse the Singapore government for "setting him" up. Though MFA had categorically denied the allegations, it surprisingly failed to follow up with legal action to sue Dr Silviu Ionescu for defamation. It was only then did MFA bother to summon the Romanian Ambassador Neagu to pass three diplomatic notes to him which begs the question on why it has failed to do so earlier. One of the notes called on the Romanian government to waive the diplomatic immunity for Mr Trusca, the driver of the vehicle to allow him to testify at the coroner's inquiry. The Straits Times subsequently broke the news that the Romanian government has agreed to waive Mr Trusca's immunity only to be refuted later by the Embassy that "the decision will be communicated to the Singapore authorities as soon as possible". Till today, no action has been taken either by the Singapore or Romanian prosecutors and Dr Silviu Ionescu is still happily enjoying his "holiday" in Romania as a free man. As Mr George Yeo put it succinctly, there is nothing much he can do except to "expect" the Romanian authorities to practise what they preach: "What we do next will depend on the outcome of our coroner's inquiry and the Romanian government's response to our requests. We are closely monitoring what the Romanian authorities are doing. We expect their actions to match the words of the Romanian Foreign Ministry spokesman and the assurances that the Romanian Ambassador has given us. But I must stress that whatever we do in Singapore must always be in conformity with our legal system and our international law obligations." He forgot to add that under the Singapore legal system, some people are more "equal" than others.  Read More →

By Debra Chong from The Malaysian Insider The recent caning of three Muslim women in Malaysia for illicit sex has bruised the idyllic image of a united, multi-ethnic and progressive nation in the world’s eyes, warned a senior federal lawmaker. The DAP’s Lim Kit Siang, in a Chinese New Year speech, said the caning incident was the latest in a series of bad publicity “flooding Malaysia” since Datuk Seri Najib Razak became prime minister 10 months ago, which has severely undermined the country’s image and competitiveness worldwide. “Before I came, I Googled the two words ‘malaysia caning’ and there were 257,000 search results. “I next added another word, to Google the three words ‘malaysia muslim caning’, and the finds multiplied by 30 times to return 6.45 million results,” the tech-savvy Ipoh-Timur MP told well-wishers at his party’s Chinese New Year do in Ipoh last night. “Malaysia cannot continue to be in adverse international spotlight if we are to restore our international competitiveness by regaining national and international confidence in good governance; the rule of law; a democratic, progressive and model multi-racial, multi-cultural and multi-religious modern nation to be ideal destination for FDIs, haven for tourists and hub for international students,” the veteran opposition leader stressed. The 69-year-old father of Penang’s chief minister listed several incidents he claimed were cancelling Najib’s own efforts at cultivating his 1 Malaysia policy: the “Allah” dispute; the attacks on places of worship; the 5-0 Federal Court judgment upholding the power grab and topple of Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin as the lawful Perak mentri besar; the mysterious death of DAP political aide Teoh Beng Hock; and a campaign painting his son, Guan Eng’s administration as anti-Malay and anti-Islam. “The vicious campaign to falsely paint the Penang chief minister and Penang Pakatan Rakyat state government as anti-Malay and anti-Islam is indeed a great test for Guan Eng and the PR Penang State Government,” Lim said. “But what is little realised is that it is an even greater test for Najib and the Barisan Nasional — Umno, MCA, Gerakan, MIC and the Sabah and Sarawak component parties — whether they are serious about the 1 Malaysia slogan and concept,” he stressed, pointing to Najib’s inability to rein in the negative elements and get his own men from Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN) to solidly back his 1 Malaysia policy. - The Malaysian Insider  Read More →

文：吴妮臻 新加坡政府为了解决国人生育率不断下降的重要问题，在近两三年里开放了移民的门户；但是新移民数量的增加却已逐渐造成新加坡国人的反感。同时，要面对大批蜂拥而至的中国大陆（PRC）新移民 (new citizens)，土生土长的新加坡国人难免对这群大陆移民(mainland Chinese)的‘侵入’表示不舒服也不欢迎。不少当地新加坡人甚至表达了某种愤慨的情绪，认为这群中国新移民就是要来抢饭碗的。其实，新加坡国人对中国新移民的不友善以及毫不掩饰的轻蔑态度是有缘故的。   目前新加坡的人口结构是“高龄”和“少子”，政府为了应付当地华族超低的生育率和维持华族占多数的比例，开放门户吸引外来人才；而其对策也比较鼓励具有华族血统身份者移民新加坡。所以，新加坡现在的人口结构面貌是：中国人无孔不入地渗透进每一个社会阶层。另外，因为中国和新加坡两国教育部的一些合作，有越来越多的中国小留学生来新加坡就读本地的政府学校；而他们的母亲便以“陪读妈妈”（study mama）的身份来到这里。因此，新加坡国人不难产生一种被‘侵略’的感觉。   社会风气一天不如一天是世界趋势；当然新加坡也不例外。近来几年内所发生的几起重大命案还有女子非法卖淫的负面社会新闻很多都和中国人连上关系；而且新闻媒体的大肆刻意报道也引起新加坡社会的极大讨论，甚至给新加坡国人留下不良印象。尤其新加坡国人多数认为陪读妈妈们就是按摩女郎，她们所从事的就是色情工作，而且经常在本地引起暧昧的桃色纠纷，成为破坏别人家庭的第三者。因此，往往社会舆论的矛头还会纷纷指向其他来自中国的陪读妈妈们，谴责她们的出现败坏了社会的道德风气，更将她们视为破坏道德秩序的外来者。久而久之，新加坡国人就会在言语和态度上带有歧视，私底下广泛对中国女性产生了一种刻板印象：中国大陆来的女人等于卖淫的女人等于狐狸精。这种刻板印象也影响了其他在新加坡拥有正当工作的中国籍女性。   另一方面，中国大陆的毒奶，毒玩具，黑心药材，黑心猪肉等频频发生的安全事件已经严重损害中国的海外形象。如果说新加坡消费者对中国商品安全性完全不信任，为何还会买中国商品？答案几乎都是：中国货便宜嘛。中国制造商已经被指为是中国对外经济扩张的工具，甚至背负政治和道德缺失的包袱，指中国商人从来不考虑人权，环境和安全等社会价值，一切只为赚钱。这些多少都中伤了中国的形象。   虽然新加坡政府强调说要的新移民是世界各地的高级人才，但是在面临劳力短缺的情势下，新加坡还是不断涌入中国移民的劳工。从各个工厂生产线上，餐厅里的服务生等到处都可听到来自中国各省的南腔北调。这种种现实情形都造成了新加坡国人的不安，因此认定这些“中国来的”抢走了原本由新加坡auntie，uncle们所捧的饭碗。   其实，从全球范围来看，中国新移民对所在国家造成的社会困扰与其他移民群体相较是最小的，而这些新移民做出的贡献远远超过他们所带来的麻烦。或许，新加坡国人应该多注意并且深思：在这个小国里有多少高科技产业是中国人做出的贡献，有多少生意是靠这些我们“讨厌”的中国人在维持着。事实上，也正是由于中国新移民的英语水平不够高，他们才不得不屈尊俯就，去承担一些新加坡国人不愿意做的工作，又或者说虽然做着同样的工作却要忍受更低的报酬。我们不能只从日常生活的接触，还有报章杂志的负面教育就对中国人如此偏见；我们的心胸应当宽广一些。   当异文化遭遇在地文化，文化之间的差异不免成为互动间的摩擦，也因而撞击出许多值得深思的问题。新加坡国人屡屡因为中国新移民来新加坡之前的背景，或是来新加坡后的境遇，而遭致许多误解，更严重的是，由于不了解以及缺乏沟通的意愿，更使中国新移民的形象备受扭曲。其实他们和我们一样，有人格有自尊，只是大家来自于不同的文化背景罢了。于是，召唤国人对中国新移民文化的尊重，还有人权的公平是我们需要思考的课题。人与人之间最重要的，莫过于基本的互相尊重了。要懂得体谅周遭的人，才有可能造就和谐舒适的社会环境，然后才有所谓的向心力，才有所谓的产率可言；所以对少数新移民的尊重，就是对多数的我们新加坡人的保障。     作者简介 吴妮臻 -自高中时期便加入联合学生通讯员俱乐部，担任写稿通讯员。大学毕业后在补教業闯荡了2年半，目前处于休息状态，准备未来走更远的路。   EDITORS' NOTE: The gist of the above article is to exhort Singaporeans to let go of their inherent prejudices against immigrants from China who have contributed to Singapore in one way or another. The author felt that mutual respect between Singaporeans and the new citizens are essential for building a harmonious society for all to live in. Respecting the new citizens who belong to the minority is the best safeguard for the majority of Singaporeans.  Read More →