Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Reading The Riot Act

Our Norwegian chairman landed in Shanghai ahead of schedule because of a change in flight plans. We telephoned the Sheraton for the hotel limousine to be dispatched earlier than requested. While explaining our request at the airport information counter, several taxi drivers waiting for fares offered their services. They could not understand why we would want to wait for a more expensive ride, and voiced their questions aloud in their characteristic high mainland Chinese volume. The Norwegian was a seasoned sea going captain and had called on Chinese ports many times in his shipping career, but it was his first time ashore, amidst a boisterous group of noisy Chinamen. His fair complexion turned a whiter shade, wondering when they will turn on us for being stubborn. Such is the experience when one is outnumbered by foreigners.

You don't have to be in Little India to feel like a minority. Go to Lucky Plaza, and be magically transported to Makati, Manila, where you can have your halo-halo dessert instead of chendol. Wander into Peninsula Plaza, and find yourself surrounded by shops with signage in quaint Burmese script, offering exotic products and services. Vietnamese comprise 27 per cent of the population in postcode 2166, Sydney's southwestern suburb of Cabramatta, and Beach Road, Singapore, seems destined to bear semblance of such a build up. Geylang is no longer just a Red-light Designated Area (RDA), it is also a place where PRCs are fast dominating the eating houses.

At what point in a suburb's development does the presence of a demographic group stop being cultural diversity and start being an enclave? In "Hard Truths", the question was asked: Singapore has allowed so many foreigners in, in a fairly short time, for economic and demographic reason. How do we balance that with the social costs that are becoming quite obvious? The callous answer provided:
"Well, there's a sense of discomfort. Suddenly you hear a different twang when they speak in Mandarin or you hear Indians speaking not Tamil but Hindi and they look somewhat different, and sometimes very different. It's unavoidable."

We can also surmise that the conflagration at Little India was unavoidable. All we need is a little spark for the melting pot to transform into a cauldron boiling over. Accidents are a common feature in our congested city, even little old ladies get run over by reversing public vehicles at bus interchanges. There's more to the eye in the Sunday night flare up.
"People destroy out of frustration (the frustration-aggression hypothesis). When people find they cannot achieve their goals as something is blocking them, they become frustrated. Among young men this frustration is expressed through anger and violence and in extreme cases, rioting. When people feel that the world is screwing them over, they lash out at the world. Years of built up humiliations and failures form into resentment and alienation. This last point is crucial; alienation means people no longer feel attached society. They feel that society has done nothing for them so they no longer feel any responsibility towards other members of society."
("What Causes Riots", Thanks, anon at 12/10/2013 12:16 AM)

What we don't need in a high tension environment is loose talk by bigoted individuals reading the riot act indiscriminately. Chiam See Tong spoke for all of us when he challenged Chan's war cry, “do battle everywhere as necessary” and not concede physical and cyber space to get their message across. Chiam calmly asked, "Will the Minister similarly apologise for stating his intention to do battle against the voices of the people?"

22 comments:

  1. Little India Riot Jokes
    ------------------------
    Tourist: Which way to Little India please?

    Singaporean: Just walk in the opposite direction of the fleeing paramedics.

    Singaporean: Just follow the trail of broken beer bottles until you see a burning ambulance.

    Singaporean: Just follow the smell of bullshit left behind by the PAP politicians inspecting Little India

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  2. The irony of it all. we have ethnic quota for our HDB estates but no control over foreign enclaves building up all these years. The danger is not confined to S'poreans and them but also among foreigners alike. The Blangadeshis, Indians, Pinoys,Myanmar, Whites etc and your whole list of PRCs may not even agree among themselves. What happens when they battle it out in S'pore?

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    Replies
    1. The hard truth is that ethnic quota has nothing to do with integration. It has everything to do with trying to spread the opposition vote (of Malay voters?) as thinly as possible to try win the maximum seats at every General Election just like the way GRCs are being manipulated on the pretext of minority representation ?

      It is almost like saying without any GRC seats, that Chinese PAP MP that has been voted into Parliament will not truly & sincerely serve his Malay or Indian constituents but can we buy this type of argument from the old man ?

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    2. in answer to your question:
      a lot of news stories and opinions?

      sorry to be facetious, but when things
      are Bad, you need to crack jokes
      to um... release the tension.

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    3. GRC serve 2 purpose. Beat opposition easily and
      Ministers can control MP's by saying you never win alone , you are here because of me. it has nothing to do with ensuring minority representation. It is a Char kway Teow sold by one old man.

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  3. Meanwhile, a different kind of riot act has been read out to new social media, that resulted in the closing of the kitchen in Breakfast network. Enough said, the kind of damage/loss only the MIW is capable of doing. They may have won this battle, they haven't won the war. The people and their voices must continue to be heard and fought for.

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    Replies
    1. Breakfast Network was a great website with no hostile anti government rhetoric. They were quite constructive in their criticism and never disrespectfuI. I dont understand why they were gazetted.

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  4. Reading the "“do battle everywhere” speech, one must be thinking, do the folks up there even read their own speech beforehand? The chap is pretending that the long series of never-ending problems never happened, instead they blamed everyone else for spreading "false rumours" online to sully their pristine record and good work. Either that or they are thinking the good old communist trick:whatever cock-ups, all it takes to solve the problems is to stop the bad news from coming out, suppress all independent thinking, and all shall end well. I guess with the papigs owning all the grass cutting companies, grass must be served everyday up there, free of charge.

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    1. the general believes that he is a great leader who has been destined to be the next PM. Hence his need to show everyone he's tough. Hmm....He does not appear to be mature enough to be the next PM

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    2. At best, he displays the maturity of a second lieutenant and there are many junior officers who will put him and his benefactor PM Lee ( BG ) to shame.

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    3. At best, he displays the maturity of a second lieutenant and there are many junior officers who will put him and his benefactor PM Lee ( BG ) to shame.

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    4. When the Soldier Boys want to fight the People at every corners, it means they know they are enemies to the People at every corners.
      Therefore it is only fair to say the Soldiers do know they themselves have become enemies.

      patriot

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  5. Your experience in Pudong Airport echo my own thoughts about our mercurial brothers from across the South China Sea.

    My experience was even more unsavory though: I used one of those independent limousine companies as I had arrived late at night and the hotel counters had already closed for the day. The gentleman who handled the upfront payment was very nice, apologizing profusely when the credit card swiper malfunctioned, which necessitated that he take up more of my valuable time by having to switch to another one.

    It was only at the end of the month when I received my credit card statement back home that I realized I had been charged twice.

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  6. I think multiculturalsim has failed worldwide. Who's to say that SIngapore will be spared?

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  7. What good foresight did the current and past Ministers show, does it justify the salary? There should be rethink on the population white paper but would it happen?

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  8. "There is no evidence to suggest that the foreign workers involved in the Little India riot were unhappy with their employers or the government", said Law and Foreign Affairs Minister K Shanmugam.

    Of course, how can it be otherwise - all the employers or the government are as lily white as the the garbs worn by the PAP. Anything else would mean migrant workers are exploited, bullied, short-changed by the business owners, the government and their cronies, that Ah Loong is mad to bring so many foreign workers into this already overcrowded island. I expect the COI will vindicate them and their policies, commend the conduct of the authorities, and the riot was the action of a mob of drunken toublemakers and malcontents who will be swiftly brought to justice. Nothing else. So let's move on, onward with the 6.9 million, or 8 million, whatever. Everything is hunky dory. KNN.

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    Replies
    1. 12 Dec 2013 : Singaporeans have reacted peacefully and calmly to Sunday's riot at Little India despite being initially shocked at the event.

      Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said this during an interview at the end of his official visit to South Korea on Thursday.

      He also said that foreign workers are critical to Singapore's growth, including its housing and public transport development plans.

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  9. Mr Lui said, “When I came down to Race Course Road last night and I was able to pass those who had been taken under the police custody, I think in my mind, it was quite evident in smelling the environment, that alcohol could have been a contributory factor.”

    Speaking at an NTUC community event today (10 Dec), Singapore’s Minister without Portfolio Lim Swee Say said that local workers and foreign workers have always been working in harmony all these years in Singapore.

    Moulmein-Kallang GRC MP Denise Phua, whose constituency includes Little India, urged the Government to “take a bold stand in the matter”. (ref to alcohol licence)

    If the riot is caused by the discontentment of the foreign workers, the PAP and it's MOM have a lot to answer for. But if it's alcohol...the perfect patsy? The result of the COI is probably a forgone conclusion. The PAP is cranking up it's propaganda, and all their big guns are adding in the pieces....watch out for more. You don't need to be a maths genius like our PM to add two and two together.

    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-10/riot-exposes-dark-side-of-singapore-s-boom.html

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    1. The environment smells of alcohol ......I wonder Lui TY can actually tell the difference between alcohol and petrol, because the vehicles were set on fire and I doubt toddy or johnny walker was used for the bon fires.

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  10. http://www.channelnewsasia.com/tp/

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  11. Interesting to note that police thanking people for sharing photos and videos of the riot via social media while just a few days ago pinky was saying only disgruntled people go online to complain.

    It only goes to show that anything that is unfavorable to PAP is deemed bad. It just shows how bad his leadership is.

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  12. Haha......

    Social media is good and bad
    Alcohol smell liked petrol and vice versa.

    A coin has two sides lah.
    Some people like different sides at different times

    And

    some like to upside the downside.

    patriot

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