It has been a while TRS readers, how have you all been? If you’re a fan of my writing, then I’m sorry that I’ve been slack and not done any for a long time. Rest assured though, that I’m constantly reading and keeping abreast with issues affecting Singapore. In fact, each day, I spend hours reading TRS articles, the many comments, and sometimes the links that come with said articles.
It is in one of these many articles (or was it a reader’s comment) that someone said that writers on sites like TRS shouldn’t expand too much effort in preaching to the converted; the 40% who didn’t vote PAP. Regardless of what is written, the 40% will still hate the incumbent and vote the opposition. That person also said that within that 60% who voted for the PAP, some are slowly changing their minds because of dissatisfaction with the current state of the country or are finding their courage to finally not vote for the PAP. And it is just this group – the moderates, the people sitting on the fence, the ones who are in two-minds that writers need to target.
Well, I took that idea to heart. So here I am, appealing to the newly-minted “Singaporeans”; the ones who were recently converted or will soon convert, in time for the next General Election.
Now, the current convention appears to be that the government is fast-tracking foreigners’ citizenships so that these people will be grateful and want to or feel compelled to vote for the very people who’ve given them the passport (double entendre intended) to freedom, wealth, the ability to travel almost anywhere in the world visa-free, and whatever other perks there are to being recognised as a Singaporean. So surely, these people can’t be the moderates that I speak of. However, I think that because they’ve never voted before, they could actually go either way. Now that they’re “Singaporeans”, there’s nothing stopping them from voting opposition. Even if the opposition got into power, I doubt there’d be a way to revoke the newly-minted citizenships.
Anyway, my personal take on the government’s fast-tracking is a little more complex. I believe that the government is doing this because it needs a grateful population that is so thankful for everything that on polling day, the people will ignore any and every flaw of the government, and blindly tick the PAP box.
Why do I say this? Well, 50 years ago, Singapore’s population was not unlike the many migrants that we see today. The education level was low*, their income was low, the levels of security and freedom was, you guessed it – low. Generally speaking (and I’m painting in broad brushstrokes here), the population of Singaporeans back then and the migrants of today are both similar in the sense that both had nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Then comes this white knight (again, double entendre intended); one that promised wealth, prosperity, happiness, security and all the trappings of a first-world existence. Except, these things came with a price – unquestioned loyalty and personal freedoms. However, people back then were either too desperate for a change of circumstance, or they were not educated enough to see through the façade. Oh, and for argument’s sake, I’ll conveniently omit the witch-hunts on communists, and the fact that many of the politicians back then were a completely different breed from what we have today.
So, what is my appeal to newly minted “Singaporeans” then? Well, it’s simple – think very carefully about who you’d vote for; vote for the party that’ll make your new “home” better, not worse.
For starters, you’ve got nothing to lose. As I’ve already said, by the time the next GE rolls around, you’d already be conferred your shiny, red passport and your cute little pink I.C. It doesn’t matter which way you vote, you’ve already won!
By voting the way you’re expected to, you’re playing right into the hands of the government. Yes, there are perks of being a Singaporean, but do you really want to be the pawns of this political game?
Also, think about all the complaints that you’re hearing now from Singaporeans. Complaints like the astronomical sum that’s being put aside for your “well-being” and retirement; complaints like the lack of affordable … well … anything; complaints like the failing infrastructure; complaints like the severe shortage of hospital beds; complaints like the disproportionately high pay of selfie-taking, bullshit-talking, self-congratulating, ego-stoking ministers. Whatever it may be, just think, it could all be yours! Suddenly those perks just don’t seem as awesome, do they?
Then there’s the small matter of National Service. Yes, you’re new and haven’t had the luxury of doing it, but what about your kids? Perhaps you will have left Singapore by then. With that red passport, I’m sure you can get PR in Australia, Canada, the United States et cetera. Singapore is nothing, if not a stepping stone to bigger and better places, right? At the very least, you can always return back to the mother or father land to escape conscription.
But consider this – what happens if your son does do National Service. He doesn’t have a father who went through it and thus, won’t be able to get invaluable, first-hand advice that’s been passed on from generation to generation on how to survive and “keng”. How will he know how to handle “extras”, “sai kang”, “outfields”, “magic bullets” and the proverbial “cheebye leaves”?
He’ll also standout more than a nun in a whorehouse; seeing as how he’ll be a very minor minority. Remember that National Service is still the sacred domain of the Singaporean, unlike the workplace and possibly even the police force of the future. Take it from someone who has, and knows a few Singaporeans with uncommon names – we get treated differently – sometimes good; sometimes bad.
Then there’s the discrimination. Unfortunately, people discriminate. It’s just human nature. It’s neither xenophobic nor racists, it’s just one of the many realities of life. People discriminate me (both in good and bad ways; both in Singapore and New Zealand) because of my skin-tone, the way I speak, the words I use, my race, my nationality, my job, my EVERYTHING. The undercurrent of discontent in Singapore means that your precious baby boy will have it tough when he’s already struggling to adjust to serving and perhaps struggling to understand why his parents would put him through this seemingly pointless exercise.
This discrimination will fall on you as well. You’ve already been discriminated positively in the workplace and perhaps government policies. But as the population swells and lebensraum becomes even more of a commodity, immigrants will be vilified. Why immigrate into a country and then still be seen as an outsider; possibly disliked, possibly hated?
Even if you do fit in well and the locals love you, there’s still going to be the other immigrants; ones from countries that speak a weird language, whose culture and beliefs are so fundamentally different that regardless of how hard you or they try, there’s just not a snowball’s chance in hell that you’d coexist. Meanwhile, remember that they’ve got the same shiny, red passport and cute little pink I.C. as you do.
But you’ll think its okay. You’ll merely continue to stick to your own ethnic group; your friends and family that have all come from the same country and speak the same language and have the same beliefs … so pretty much exactly what you’re doing today and business as usual. Except by doing so, you’re just perpetuating the divide between the many people residing in Singapore. Now it’s born-in-Singapore versus newly-minted citizen. One day, it might be people originally from country A versus people originally from country B versus people originally from country C … you catch my drift. What happens then?
Remember early on in my article when I said that the government wants a grateful voting base? Well, at this point in history, you’re that grateful voting base. You’ve finally rid yourself of that weird passport that requires you to obtain a visa every time you want to leave the country, and that’s assuming you’re even given the right to travel freely in the first place! You’ve finally found a job where there’s security and stability; you’ve finally found a country where bombings are unheard of, where there’s no secret police that’ll knock on your door at 3a.m and imprison you for the rest of your life without trial (again, I’m ignoring the communist witch hunt, aka Operation Cold Store). You’ve finally positioned yourself in a country that is clean, modern, shiny and has all the trappings of consumerism; a place where your children dream of driving fast cars and owning the latest electronic gadgets, instead of clean running water, not being sold off as a child prostitute or worse, being aborted or smothered to death because they were born the wrong sex.
Yes, you’re grateful, hence wanted by the government. But what if one day that gratefulness subsides; wanes; or god-forbid, disappears altogether? What happens to you then? This current government has a proven track record of discarding people who disagree with them. They’ve done it with their own closest allies; political dissidents, academics, journalists, and more worryingly, their own people – the very ones they’ve sworn to serve. What do you think they’ll do to your future generations when they aren’t grateful like you were back in 2015 or 2016?
* Yes, I can hear your cries of protest. Migrants today are educated, but I’m talking comparatively here.
By BlackandWhite
TRS Contributor