Over the weekend, Minister of Home Affairs and Law K. Shanmugam was one of the guests in a forum that talked about racial relations in Singapore. In it, Shanmugam said that Chinese privilege isn’t real, among other race related things.
The Internet exploded.
Netizens came out of the woodwork to denounce the things Shanmugam said, bringing up issues far and wide that they view as contrary to what Shanmugam was talking about.
Chief among them was of course CECA.
CECA. CECA. CECA.
If there’s one topic that can unite Singaporeans under a single banner, CECA is it.
Despite the many, many attempts by the Government to do damage control and try to assuage the masses, the topic is (and will continue to be) a sore point in the eyes of many Singaporeans.
As the posts clearly show, those who are against CECA view it as a thief, stealing jobs from eligible Singaporeans and giving them to Indian nationals. They also blame it for the influx of Indians, who have overtaken the PRC immigrants, as the bogeymen of choice for your everyman Singaporean.
Shanmugam, being the most prominent politician at the forum, of course took the brunt of the hate.
Some Netizens are of the view that while racism does exist in Singapore, it’s the politicians that are stirring the pot. For these people, politicians are purposefully sowing disharmony and strife in the country to keep the people from uniting against the ruling party.
As incredulous as that sounds, those are some of the tamer views. The PAP, as the ruling party, are not viewed at all in a favourable lot by the people who commented.
Using missteps and political gaffes from the PAP as ammo, these Netizens unloaded a barrage of criticism at the party.
One of the top reasons for the hate?
Minority races aren’t ready for the Prime Minister hot seat. Even a lowly writer like me can see how incredibly insensitive that comment was. It doesn’t take much brainpower to see why it’s still bubbling in the zeitgeist of minorities even years after it was said.
Detractors of the party also had other grievances to air out, such as those who object to how President Halimah Yacob was given the job.
On this, these Netizens might have a point though.
Not being able to vote for our president is a sore point in the minds of many and rightly so. For all the PAP’s claim that we’re not a racist society, appointing a president solely based on race is certainly the opposite of that.
Valid criticisms or not, at the very least, those talking about these issues are civil. Unfortunately, as with any hot topic, there will be trolls.
Like this one, who is an unapologetic Chinese Supremecist.
I’ve seen these views before, in the form of Candice Hong. So either Candice has another Facebook account (quite probable) or there’s another idiot out there who thinks that Singapore’s success is all due to the Chinese.
Assuming these are two separate people (or trolls in this case), it’s certainly troubling to think that rot like this is spreading. It’s heavily insensitive and prejudiced thinking like this that can lead to misunderstandings and even worse. Have we learned nothing from Nazi Germany?
Of course, trolls like David Lee probably want that.
Wherever possible, David interjects himself into the conversation and bitches about incense smoke and Indians. Instead of tolerance, David here is promoting racism against Indians.
I would say that it’s ironic that David chose to comment in a topic about racism, by an Indian man and complain that he’s pissed off about Indian but we all know better. David’s here to dig up hate and find other likeminded haters.
Thankfully nobody has joined him on his bandwagon, though I don’t doubt that there are lots more like him out there.
Oh wait…I lied.
There’s Chong Rui Ming.
Not to excuse David, but at the very least the dude had an issue that made him an ass. Chong here doesn’t. Right off the bad, Chong goes off on minorities, Indians and India.
No provocation needed, the hate flows through him unbidden. Hitler would be proud.
Thankfully, despite all the bitching and moaning about PAP, CECA and whatnot, there’s a shining light that breaks through all the negativity. Multiple commenters but each of them shares one thing in common.
Can you guess what it is?
Yep, they’re all proud to be Singaporeans.
As am I.