Over the weekend, you might have read this news post on CNA. According to the survey, racism issues in Singapore were found to be increasing over the last time the survey was done (2016).
I’d have thought the survey reliable personally…until I read that they polled only about 2000 participants in a country of millions. I don’t know about you but that is hardly a big enough number to get an accurate representation of the worries that most of us Singaporeans face.
Netizens seem to agree with that line of thinking too, because they feel that the media (CNA especially) is just trying to stir the pot and raise racism issues without there being adequate reason to do so.
It’s really not that hard to see where they’re coming from.
Out of the blue, CNA springs upon us all the results of the survey. A survey that the majority of us Singaporeans didn’t even know existed or were asked to give our opinions on.
Come on, 2000 people is hardly a good gauge of the general sentiments of Singaporeans. It’s laughably inconclusive with such a small sample!
At the very least, the number of people surveyed has to be 10 times that or more!
Many Netizens conclude then the survey is just a convenient smokescreen for the powers that be.
To be blunt, it’s a distraction.
Whether it’s to gauge public sentiment, a distraction or to prepare the public for an incoming announcement, the contentious survey certainly worked in getting the public talking.
The other constant in the comments are those clamoring for attention for the racist actions of the ‘majority’.
That’s the Chinese if you’re still wondering.
How many of us have seen this?
If you’re a job seeker, you’d probably have see ads saying they only want Mandarin speakers (aka Chinese) because the company needs to ‘liase’ with Chinese clients. 99% of the time it’s just bullshit casual racism to keep out the undesirables (aka every other race).
Some Chinese are blind to this, especially when the Government’s gone out of its way to say that there’s no such thing as ‘Chinese Privilege’, something which the minority races feel is a falsehood.
Many also feel that some Chinese are largely running rampant with their racist antics and because of their numbers, can just stifle the voices of those who disagree with them.
Minority races in Singapore (the Malays and Indians), feel that the Chinese get away with stuff that people from other races will get punished harshly for.
Even the media is not exempt, as one Netizens makes a very apt point regarding the mostly Chinese cast of a drama that’s based on the SCDF.
As a former NSman in the SCDF, I can attest that the drama is highly biased towards the Chinese, who are in the minority there. I’ve not seen ONE unit in the SCDF that’s majority Chinese, yet that’s what’s represented on the show.
Conversely, another Netizen also made this post regarding the institutionalized racism in the SAF towards Malays.
It’s an unspoken rule but the SAF (and other branches of the armed forces) doesn’t have Malays in the upper command ranks (other than a token handful). It’s all allegedly because Malays might experience divided loyalties in the event Malaysia or Indonesia invades.
It’s been a sore point for the Malay community for decades and is still not addressed properly to this day.
Of course, Chinese racists took the time out of their busy schedule to let everybody know what they think.
Apart from that, the PAP also gets a ton of flak from all sides for what many view as racists policies.
One of the biggest area of contention was that the PAP’s claimed in the past that Singapore wasn’t ready to have a non-Chinese Prime Minister.
That topic was front and center whenever somebody referenced the PAP.
When it’s not the PAP or Chinese Privilege being talked about, the talking point will inevitably turn back to the third popular pillar of Singaporean discourse; CECA and the foreigners in the country.
It’s happened in other political posts, it happened in this one too.
Singaporean still hate the idea of foreigners, especially when it’s due to CECA or China workers coming in.
There’s already a growing divide on Singaporean Chinese loyalties, which is ironic, considering the SAF (and other armed military services) policies regarding Malays.
Despite all the trolling, inane comments and finger pointing, there are some relevant and thought provoking issues some Netizens posed that bears thinking about.
Perhaps there’s still hope for us yet, if there are still minds out there that reflect and think about the issues at hand, instead of blaming CNA or whoever.
Instead of the knee jerk reactions, these rare thought provoking comments deserve more credit for what they tried to accomplish.
These are the ones we should be listening to.