Brown face, who to decide what is sensitive and what is not?

The brown face ad again became the topic of discussion of Shanmugam and some academics and undergrads at NUS. According to Shanmugam, we should be discussing about race and sensitivity, ‘how do the minorities feel, and how do the majorities feel. Have this openness in the conversation.’

Perhaps this is the first time someone asked about how the majority feels. It has all the time been how the minorities feel. As the majority, how do they feel when some minorities, bigots, scold you as racists with four letter words? Only in Singapore can the minorities get away with such coarse verbiage hurled at the majority freely and with increasing frequency and thinking that it is ok, and the timid majority will not hit back but accept being cursed and attacked meekly. Try that in Malaysia or Indonesia and see if their majority would be as meek as the so called ‘racist’ Chinese here.

If the Chinese are racists as the two bigots claimed, there would not be so many mixed marriages involving Chinese to other races, to a lot of Indians. If the Chinese are racists there would not be so many ministers and CEOs that are Indian, based on meritocracy. If the Chinese are racists, the President of NTU, the seed of Chinese language and culture, would not be given to an Indian. If the Chinese are racists, Chee Soon Juan would have won in Bukit Gombak hands down, not to an Indian by the name of Murali. Or maybe the Chinese are simply stupid, did not know what is going on, did not bother.

What more is needed to dispel the views of the bigots that Chinese are racists? If the Chinese are racists, the silly Chinese that appeared in the bigots’ video clip would not be so silly to be there, chirping along as if he is not Chinese and enjoying being cursed and fucked at.

In this whole episode, no one bothers to ask the view of the Chinese majority as if they are non existent. What is important in such claims of racism and discrimination is who should be deciding when it has crossed the line. Obviously it must not be left to the bigots and minority racists to decide. In the brown face ad case, it was the two bigots that set the agenda, that decided that it was racist, wrong, insensitive. And the unthinking stupids went along and demanded everyone to apologise. Not true?

Hey, what is wrong man? The Council in charge of advertising in Singapore and the AGC said there was nothing wrong with it, nothing criminal! So what the fuck is this brown face ad being repeatedly used as something wrong and insensitive to the minority, that this is the new OB line? Which minority? Can a black face decide for the brown face and call foul? Maybe can because we are still puzzled if the President is a Malay or an Indian. 

If minority bigots are to decide what is right or wrong, acceptable or not, sensitive or not, then the swine woman that tore apart an innocent young boy for mentioning beef curry without knowing what’s wrong should be seen as right and Singapore and all Singaporeans should henceforth ban the saying of anything about eating beef, eating steak etc etc. In the same vein, no one should be talking about eating bak kut teh or roast pork, suckling pig or steakhouse because a few bigots claimed these to be sensitive to them.

There is the law, there is the govt. Should not the govt set the agenda, have laws to draw the line between what is sensitive and what is not? And there is the courts of law to be the arbiter. The last thing to happen on such a sensitive subject is for the bigots in the minorities to set the standard and norm. In fact the bigots should be locked up and shut up. Singapore must not be ruled by the tyranny of the minorities. The majorities have rights to live their way of life and are also sensitive too. Do have some respect for the sensitivity of the majority while peddling your minority views and sensitivity.

I am semi vegetarian. Should I imposed my sensitivity to those around me not to eat meat when I am around? While we respect each other’s sensitivity, we must not use this as an excuse to impose our will on others. We have different lifestyles and love different things, eat different things and do different things, like and dislike different things. If everyone is allowed to claim sensitivity and play victims, there is no way for a multi culture, ethnic and religious society to coexist peacefully.

The govt and the law must rule above others and put the bigots in their place. Do not allow the bigots to set the agenda, to rule over the rest by crying victims, feeling hurt and the rest must appease to them.

What is the problem? The problem is when the govt lost its way and bowed to the pressure of a few bigots. I say again, the AGC and the Council for Advertising Standards said there is nothing wrong with the brown face ad, nothing criminal, no intention to offend. So buck off and stop using this brown face ad to whip the innocents for the sake of the bigots.

The bigots are damn happy after a punishment that was anything but a punishment and thinking that they have done right, achieved in making their points, as bigots to impose their absurd sensitivity on the majority. And the govt is playing into their hands by agreeing with them.

Maybe Shanmugam may want to follow up with the discussion on the privileges of the Chinese majority and wanted to change this, or about an article in theindependent.sg titled ‘101 ways to erase Chinese privilege’ in Singapore.