Anton Casey vis a vis Mary Antoinette
Well, that was quite the whirlwind experience wasn’t it? It ran across the gamut of emotions, starting with outrage at the initial discovery of the comments, followed by anger at the audacity that he had done it while being a guest in this country, followed by happiness when he was let go of his position in the company and leaving Singapore followed by bewilderment at his statement that he left Singapore because of threats made and lastly, curiosity on whether he will ever return.
Now that the dust has settled down and Singaporeans generally are pacified with the course of actions that came after; Anton Casey’s former company (Crossinvest Asia) parting of ways, his decision to leave Singapore with his family and the various ministers weighing in on the issue condemning his actions; I was struck with a thought that this incident was similar to a past historical event and how we can apply it in the context of this incident. As the old adage goes, ‘history repeating itself’.
Some of you may have heard of Mary Antoinette. The similarities don’t just end at the similar sounding names but much more than you would imagine. The life of Mary Antoinette is taken from Wikipedia and is in italics and bold followed by the similarities with regards to Anton Casey on the next paragraph.
Mary Antoinette, born as a archduchess of Austria, was Dauphine of France from 1770 to 1774 and Queen of France and Navarre from 1774 to 1792. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Emperor Francis I and Empress Maria Theresa. Her husband was King Louis XVI of France.
Anton Casey, born in England, migrated to Singapore and lived there for 12 years. He was a successful private wealth manager, owning a few luxury cars, a house in a posh district of Singapore and a wife who was a former Ms Singapore. In other words, the 21st century version of royalty when you note that most royalties have been abolished in many countries and with his wealth placed in context with ordinary Singaporeans who don’t own a car and live in public housing.
Initially, she was well liked by the people of France. People were easily charmed by her personality and beauty. She had fair skin, straw-blond hair, and blue eyes. However, they came to distrust and disliked her for her sympathizing with France’s enemies, particularly Austria, her country of origin. There were also various other policies she presided over which caused a revolution in France following which, the attempted escape occurred.
Anton Casey was also initially welcomed here and was given the status of permanent residency, started a family and consequently having a child who is a Singaporean. Granted, there is anti-foreigner sentiment here without a doubt but generally as a whole, Singaporeans will be friendly, courteous and helpful to non-Singaporeans. However, all this turned on its heels when Anton Casey made the series of comments on his facebook page, causing the story to be picked up quickly by netizens followed by the local and international media publicizing the matter. Another factor that added to the agitation was the release of a statement through a PR firm, which was seen as insincere. Suffice to say, this added to the revolution of sorts that had started among Singaporeans. We, Singaporeans, will defend fellow Singaporeans to the death. You may mock at our singlish, mock our food, mock our dressing style but when your mocking insinuates that you are better than me, then all hell will break loose.
The Royal Flight to Varennes was a significant episode in the French Revolution during which King Louis XVI of France, his wife Marie Antoinette, and their immediate family attempted unsuccessfully to escape from Paris in order to initiate a counter-revolution. They desired to hide in Austria due to Marie's heritage, and hoped they would find safety in their newly found French Austrian agreement. Their escape only led them as far as the small town of Varennes.
Unable to stand the media coverage and the negative publicity that was created, Anton Casey left Singapore with his wife and son in tow to, reportedly, Perth Australia. That would have been the end of it, no? Not quite, as before leaving, Anton Casey sent an email to the local media saying that he and his family had to leave solely due to the threats received. Riiigghhhht. Not because of what he did but because of the threats. If his attempt was to placate the anger, it was unsuccessful to say the least. Also, the place chosen wasn’t the best considering Perth, Australia has a huge community of Singaporeans.
They were recognized and immediately arrested and brought back to France. At 12:15 p.m. October 16, 1793, two and a half weeks before her thirty-eighth birthday, Marie Antoinette was beheaded at the Place de la Révolution (present-day Place de la Concorde). Her last words were "Pardon me sir, I meant not to do it", to Henri Sanson the executioner, whose foot she had accidentally stepped on after climbing the scaffold. Her body was thrown into an unmarked grave in the Madeleine cemetery, rue d'Anjou.
This is where the story of Anton Casey has not developed yet. In the email to the local media, he had mentioned, “volunteer (his) time and resources to community projects in order to make amends for (his) mistakes and hoped he would be one day be able to return to Singapore and that he would be forgiven over time.”
Do we, send him to the modern guillotine of vilifying him again if he does decide to come back to Singapore? Or do we give him a royal pardon? Personally, I’m on the fence in this. The wounds are still too raw. Ask me again in 2 years. Yes, that’s the minimum amount of time he should stay away from Singapore, at least.
In my opinion, if these statements were made 60,70 years ago during British colonial rule (E.g ‘Who are these poor people taking rickshaws?’ ‘Wash the stench of the spittoons off me FFS.’), it wouldn’t have sparked any reaction. It is a testament to the mentality of Singaporeans of not bowing down to any forms of imperialism or ‘holier than thou’ attitude by any foreigner or a Singaporean for that matter.
"Let them eat cake" is the traditional translation of the French phrase "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche", famously attributed to Marie Antoinette but never verified, upon learning that the peasants had no bread. Since brioche was made from dough enriched with butter and eggs, and those ingredients were even more scarce and more costly than dough, making brioche even more out of the reach of the peasants than bread, the quote supposedly would reflect the princess's obliviousness as to the condition of the people.
Anton Casey will now forever be famous for two quotes; ‘Who are these poor people?’ and ‘Wash the stench off me FFS.’ It is an indication of his insensitivity and the lack of knowledge of local culture.
Long after her death, Marie Antoinette is often considered to be a part of popular culture and a major historical figure,[4] being the subject of several books, films and other forms of media. Some academics and scholars have deemed her frivolous and superficial, and have attributed the start of the French Revolution to her; however, others have claimed that she was treated unjustly and that views of her should be more sympathetic.
Anton Casey is now part of Singapore’s history and will be widely remembered as the catalyst for the Singapore revolution in the way Singaporeans rallied against him. He will be credited with showing other non-Singaporeans of the code of conduct and norms expected of them while they are a guest in this country.
It was pointed out her teeth were crooked, and a French doctor was commissioned to perform corrective oral surgeries on her. The process was done without anesthesia and took a total of three months, but the family was satisfied at the end that the princess's smile was "very beautiful and straight"
That’s an idea. If and when he does come back to Singapore, he will have to undergo brain surgery to correct the entitlement part of it without anesthesia and he will then appear beautiful to Singaporeans. What say you?
Fahmi Bin Achmad
TRS Contributor