7/02/2021

LAWRENCE WONG ON RACE

After weeks of drift and despair, this was a speech we needed to hear. There is still some way for the establishment to go — but then it wouldn’t be called the establishment if it were capable of radical quantum leaps.


Here is what I liked:


1. At last, a PAP leader expressed empathy for the lived experience of minorities, and asked the majority to be more sensitive: “So, it is important for the majority community in Singapore to do its part, and be sensitive to and conscious of the needs of minorities. This cuts across all aspects of daily life. It matters to someone who faces discrimination when looking for a job. It matters when someone feels left out when everyone else in a group speaks in a language that not all can understand. It matters to potential tenants who learn that landlords do not prefer their race. It matters to our students, neighbours, co-workers and friends who have to deal with stereotypes about their race, or insensitive comments.” The most universal and everyday of racial exclusions is the use of Chinese in work and social settings, so it was especially significant that the minister mentioned this. (Today and ST dropped this from their news reports, while CNA paraphrased the quote, which is why I've reproduced it above.)

2. While an announcement of policy changes was never on the cards for this occasion, the minister said more than once that all race-related policies, from the GRC system to HDB quotas, were open for discussion and periodic review. Is this enough? Well, if he does not have strong convictions that the PAP is more right than wrong, he would not be a PAP leader. That said, he was not excessively defensive, and showed a receptiveness to other points of view, especially in the Q&A.

3. He found a palatable way to urge minorities and antiracists to be patient if fellow Singaporeans still don’t get it. Too many establishment types – oddly obsessed with American culture wars and sounding as hysterical as Fox News – have been talking as if antiracists are a greater threat to Singapore than racists. Wong did none of that. He just made the reasonable point that if we are all in this together, we can’t leave behind Singaporeans for whom antiracist discourse is very new and alien. Call out racism. But play the ball, not the man. It reminds me of what a liberal Dutch cartoonist told me about why he chooses not to take cheap shots at the Right by, for example, comparing them to Nazis: “You can’t open someone’s eyes by slapping his face.”

4. While he appealed for care in the choice of means, he did not fudge about the ends: Singapore must be more equal. This wasn’t like the PAP’s atrocious split-the-difference approach to gay rights: liberals want this, conservatives want that, so let’s keep 377A but not actively enforce it. No, at no point did Wong suggest that racists and others who are comfortable with the status quo should be allowed to set the agenda. Racial equality is non-negotiable.

5. Wong made it clear that he welcomes civil society engagement on this issue. This is important because there are things that could be done for which we can’t expect the PAP to be at the cutting edge. Before the speech, I told myself that I’d give Wong an 8/10 if he announced an independent race commission to look deeply and holistically at this issue. I was not surprised he didn’t. But I was very happy that NTU sociologist Laavanya Kathiravelu, speaking on the IPS panel immediately after Wong’s session, proposed exactly this. It wasn’t picked up by the moderator for further discussion. But this is something that civil society should explore.

I’ve written (in PAP v PAP, co-authored with Donald Low) that the PAP also needs to review the LKY legacy and publicly disavow his more questionable statements about race. Realistically, though, for current PAP leaders to do so would be like the Chinese Communist Party taking Mao’s portrait down from Tiananmen next week when it celebrates its 100th birthday. We’d have to wait for a 5G or 6G PAP leadership to go anywhere near there.

What we can reasonably demand of 4G is that the PAP exercise better moral leadership on race. In 2019, Sudhir Vadaketh declared in a vodcast that he could no longer trust politicians to lead us on race. The problems that led him to this conclusion are probably still present. Major political movements, like religions, contain multiple conflicting tendencies. On Friday, Wong showed a side of the PAP leadership that many can get behind, or at least work with. Time will tell if it prevails. 

Anonymous

11 comments:

  1. "NTU sociologist Laavanya Kathiravelu, speaking on the IPS panel immediately after Wong’s session .. " - new citizen ?

    ReplyDelete
  2. The name said so. They are taking over the academia also.

    Only jobs left for Sinkies are cleaners, security guards, food deliverers and drivers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They are taking over NTUC and the NGOs that are willing to champion their hidden agenda.

      Delete
  3. Black Power has come to Singapore. Yellow Power is steadily and surely being replaced and erased. Now, even LKY's legacy also want to erase. What audacity!

    Racial riots are being fermented by these mischievous and evil forces. To take over Singapore, there is nothing that they will not do.

    The most glaring and frightening thing is that there is obviously a coordinated and directed effort to topple Singapore at all costs.

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  4. Lawrence Wong is trying very hard to become the next PM. He thinks by treading on the middle line he can be very popular on both sides of the fence.
    He forgot that the Chinese do not like any semblance of a traitor in their midst.

    And he failed to do the maths.

    Population of 2.3 million voters:

    Chinese Votes = 75%
    Malay Votes = 13%
    Indian Vites = 9%
    Others Voters = 3%
    Totol Votes = 100%.

    To antagonised the Chinese for the sake of the Minorities, he will lose 75% votes and get at the very most 25% of Minority votes.

    That's why no political parties in Singapore can afford to forsake the Chinese voters.

    You forsake the Chinese and the Chinese will forsake you.

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  5. Likewise, if you attack the Chinese population in Singapore and accuse them of being racist, you had better be prepared for the Racist Chinese to attack you back as Racist too.

    Let's see who wins in the end.

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  6. During Lau Lee's time, not a single racist dares to complain to him that the Chinese are racists.

    Today they treat the leaders like boy scouts and bully them and put pressure on them. The boy scouts could only defend their positions when under attack.

    This is the level of respect they have for the boy scouts. In the presence of Lau Lee, the racists would treble and even wet in their pants.

    Quality of leedership exposed for all to see.

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  7. Singapore today severely need the wisdom of Lee Kuan Yew.

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  8. Do not betray the majority.

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  9. COVID 19: Dr Tan Cheng Bock says hear out doctors with non-mainstream views instead...


    Dr Tan Cheng Bock says hear out doctors with non-mainstream views instead of coming across as “dismissive or arrogant”

    You can attract more bees with honey than with vinegar.


    Writer: Obbana Rajah
    Date: July 1 2021.

    Singapore — PSP Chief Dr Tan Cheng Bock called for a platform to be convened for medical professionals to raise their concerns or ‘non-mainstream views’.

    In a Facebook post on Wednesday (Jun 30), the founder of the Progress Singapore Party (PSP) shared that two Straits Times reports caught his attention. The two reports contained rebuttals of Covid-related statements put out by certain doctors, and why the public should not believe the positions held by these doctors.

    “Parts of those reports came across as overly dismissive of those doctors”, he added.

    He explained that while it is important for the health authorities to dispel myths, “how you say things is as important as what you say”.

    “Trusted sources of information can better win over opposing views if they do not come across as dismissive or arrogant. After all, a gentle answer turns away wrath”, he added.

    Dr Tan continued that while the doctors who subscribed to non-mainstream views may be wrong or have not had the opportunity to consider relevant data, they all cared enough to raise their concerns.

    “I would therefore urge the health authorities to consider convening a dedicated online public forum or platform for medical professionals and health scientists to raise topics of concern”, Dr Tan wrote.

    He added that alternate perspectives should not be dismissed as an attempt to spread misinformation or conspiracy theories.

    Dr Tan called for medical professionals and health scientists to “build bridges and come together”.

    “A top down approach is not the most helpful in dispelling questions. But with open, respectful discussions, we can – together, build trust and confidence for the way ahead”, Dr Tan wrote. /TISG

    Source: The Independence, Singapore.

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  10. The following was reported by CNA today:

    "Singapore reported three new locally transmitted COVID-19 infections as of noon on Friday (Jul 2), including one with no links to previous cases.

    This is the first unlinked local infection in five days.

    The two cases that were linked were detected through surveillance testing, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said in its preliminary daily update.

    There were also seven imported cases, all of which had been placed on stay-home notice or isolated. Four were detected upon arrival in Singapore, while three tested positive for the virus during their isolation period.

    No new infections were reported in migrant worker dormitories.

    In all, Singapore reported 10 new COVID-19 cases on Friday."



    I have always suspected that there had been a deliberate under-reporting or a "SMART" reporting going on in Singapore regarding the daily COVID-19 infections and the number of deaths related to COVID-19. But I was not sure whether I was right.

    After what the Multi-Ministry Task Force has announced that it will stop reporting about COVID-19 cases, I am now fully convinced that under-reporting or SMART reports have been made in one way or another, occasionally, in order to allay fear and panic from the masses.

    Therefore, the above report by CNA should be taken with a handful of salt.

    ReplyDelete