How a English Speaking Chinese, who is University educated can be a minority in Singapore (Now playing Metallica "Nothing else matters")
Introduction
Throughout my 26 years of living in Singapore, I have heard the familiar slogan countless times, "Singapore is the only country where everyone can walk tall irregardless of the color of their skin."
Now, I have written elsewhere that a Singaporean Malay might have a very different viewpoint. Besides, Singapore, or rather, Singapore's nameless moral guardians (Marina Mahathir has her views towards moral guardians here that I agree completely with), continue to deny homosexuals the right to assemble and discuss issues related to them. My own views towards homosexuals as a Christian is discussed here. I hope all these goes to show that refrains like the above are false.
Now, if I were to still meet Singaporeans who feel that Singapore is indeed a country with no discrimination, I would hypothesize that they possess the following characteristics:
1) Chinese
2) University educated
3) English Speaking
This is just my opinion, of course, but they summarized what I will first check if I ever hear someone echoing the above slogan. If the particular person possesses those above characteristics, I will not really bother about its validity.
Yours truly clearly possesses all the above characteristics. However, I obviously do not think Singapore is free from discrimination. Therefore the above characteristics are only necessary (First order conditions) but not sufficient for that viewpoint. The objective of this article, from the mouthful of a title above J, is to suggest one more necessary criterion that might make the list almost sufficient to guarantee a belief in the slogan of non-discrimination in Singapore.
That criterion is a genuine support for the PAP. When I say 'genuine', I mean, someone who really believes in his or her heart that PAP should be equated to Singapore. Manifestations of this belief would be views that, "Singapore is not suited to be a two-party democracy", "We should be grateful to the PAP for Singapore as it is", and "Singapore needs economic growth more than democracy". Of course, the list is not exhaustive.
Unfortunately, I do not possess this last characteristic. Damm, I would say J. If only I got that, I will have been so happy and content to be in Singapore and I would not have even considered going graduate school on my own. As I have described in my review of the Matrix, I empathize with Cypher's feeling that, "Ignorance is bliss". This article would describe my feelings of being a minority in Singapore because of the lack of a genuine support for the PAP.
Post Elections Blues
I remember how downcast I felt when the 1997 General Election results were released. There was such a bitter taste in my mouth for a few days after the fateful announcement of voting result in Cheng San GRC. The worst scenario I thought about came true: the upgrading threat actually worked! Kudos to the PAP for coming out with this strategy to reverse the downtrend in its popular support.
The 1997 GE has awaken me that I, Kelvin Tan, am but a minority in Singapore. Yes, you can be a minority even if you belong to the majority race here in Singapore. I realized that the majority of Singaporeans are not willing to forsake material gains for the sake of getting a country with democracy.
I firmly believe that the pathetic state of the opposition at present in Singapore is chiefly the result of 'Operation Spectrum', or the 1987 Marxist Conspiracy crackdown. That event warned us about the dangers of associating with the opposition party in Singapore. When I realized what actually happen during that time through reading Francis Seow's book, To Catch a Tartar, when I was in Canada for a student exchange program, I was horrified. There is a part of me that blames the previous generation of Singaporeans. In my mind, I was thinking, "Why did they allow this climate of fear to cumulate into present day Singapore? Why didn't they do anything then?"
To be fair to the 'past generation' of Singaporeans, I do not think I will do anything then if I was as well-informed as now. Reading The Media Enthralled by Francis Seow was such an educational experience. If people like James Gomez can declare the present self censorship era of Singapore as a 'shame', imagine the climate of fear then, in the 1970s, where Nanyang Siang Pau, the Eastern Sun and the Singapore Herald were all forcefully closed, using a combination of allegations such as: promoting Chinese chauvinism, being part of a black operation and being funded by questionable foreign sources. I have to take my hat off Singaporeans during those turbulent times, especially University and polytechnic students attempting to "Save the Herald" then. They clearly tried but failed to reverse the clamping down of the press, leading to the now tamed Straits Times. I look at my present generation and I know in my heart that we will never dare do anything like that if such a similar situation were to happen again.
Now, in 1997, I earnestly wish that a better Singapore could start from here. Ever since I return to Singapore from my exchange program, I have never felt as united among Singaporeans as I did during the WP rally. I was at the Worker's Party (WP) rally at Cheng San and I found myself fitting in so well with the many Singaporeans there. We were all shouting, "Worker's party! Worker's party!" many times in a great display of unity.
Enough has been said about the 5Cs and kiasuism, to me, I am amazed how Singaporeans from all walks of life, rich and poor, old and young, unite in cheering the WP. After swallowing the red pill and realizing what is going on in Singapore, how biased the Straits Times is and many other issues, I was looking forward to a new dawn in Singapore in 1997.
Although what happen to Francis Seow in the 1988 Eunos GRC elections had warned me that you cannot expect the enthusiasm for opposition to translate into votes for them, part of me dearly wish that the opposition would win Cheng San.
Alas, it was not to be! I came to the shocking realization that I am just one of the very few Singaporeans who is concern about creating a Singapore free from fear, for the future generations. When the final results were confirmed, in my heart, I realize that I am just a victim of democratic voting, what political scientists would say, the tyranny of the minority. I realize how painful it can feel when you belong to the minority in a society. Those among my church friends and others who read earlier my viewpoints on homosexuality, such as here, here and here, can now see them in context. I became more sympathetic towards them because after the 1997 GE, I begin to be very sensitive to how minorities feel in any situation. I sympathize with them, mainly because I finally understood how it feels to be part of any minority.
The 1997 elections aftermath saw the court trials of opposition members for criminal defamation. I saw how Tang Liang Hong's entire family have to face the awesome PAP ministers, with no other lawyer, save fellow opposition member Jeyaratnam, daring to take up their case. Watching Tang Liang Hong's daughter really pains me, I felt her misery, how she had to suffer just because her father took the side of the opposition.
Other Singaporeans tell me, "Well, politics is dirty business," but I cannot find comfort in those words. To me, observing Tang Liang Hong's daughter finally made me decide in my heart that Singapore is no longer a place that I would call home. I mean, how can a place be home to me when I, upon seeing an injustice being inflicted upon a family, am yet unable to do anything because of fear of being linked to the opposition. How can I call Singapore a home if I feel fearful in my own country? I can no longer contemplate starting a family here for I do not want my kids to say the same thing to me as I did after reading To Catch a Tartar, "Why did you allow this climate of fear to cumulate into present day Singapore? Why didn't you do anything papa?" I do not want my kids to grow up in a country where there is no freedom of speech and press.
Conclusion
I used to wonder why so many Singaporeans are not bothered by the gerrymandering and the above persecution of the opposition members. I mean, doesn't it bother them that Singapore has ended up such a state where to talk about freedom of speech and press is taboo? In the end, I realize again that the majority of Singaporeans are very able to close one eye to all these things, while at the same time, look to the PAP with gratefulness for the material goods available here.
The best model that can be used to reconcile those puzzles is the Maslow's hierarchy of needs model. I have already fulfilled my lower order needs and am now seeking to fulfill higher order needs such as self-esteem and self-actualization needs. That is where issues like freedom of expression and freedom from discrimination become important to me. I realize that I am not prepared to follow the other Singaporeans in convincing oneself that it is better to be contented with just lower order needs since Singapore is clearly not the place to seek higher order needs, i.e. I am not willing to take the blue pill, as described here. Thus, we Singaporeans, in one sense, deserve Singapore as it is at present. An astute Singaporean has a detailed explanation of this issue here.
Being a minority in Singapore, I guess whatever discriminatory experiences I might get in America need not be that bad now.