I must confess, I wasn’t in Singapore during the Anton Casey saga.
Where he posted disparaging remarks about Singaporeans and the public transport system.
My reaction to that is, now that I’ve heard about it, well it’s true.
I’m not some rich fancy son of an MP who can afford to pay the outrages COE prices that comes with owning a car or a motorcycle. I’m dirt poor I take public transportation
But for many other dirt poor Singaporeans, driving is a necessity and they have no choice but to pay for the COE.
What Anton Casey pointed out is, we the poor people are relegated to using overly crowded, consistently malfunctioning and often delayed hunk of junks we call public transport. Like well trained attack dogs, we went after him for posting disparaging remarks about our culture.
Well if this is our culture, where the rich elites bask in decadent luxury at the cost of the poor who keep toiling away to contribute to the prosperity of this Nation, I don’t want to be apart of this.
Do I think Anton Casey should have been let off ?
He was a guest in our country and he clearly stepped out of line disrespecting the citizenry of this country but he shouldn’t have to face legal repercussions or physical threats for saying something offensive no matter how much it hurts your feelings,, you need to get off his case, the only reason why he said something that insensitive is because it’s the harsh reality, I know you don’t want to think Singapore is bad and you have a lot of national pride but ask yourself was what he said a fabrication?
Why do we have to pay outlandish prices for Certificates of Entitlement?
That’s right this country treats driving as an entitlement, not surprised as how it thinks human rights are a privilege only afforded to the ruling elite.
Even if you’re not a car owner, every taxi you take you still have to pay for the ERP every time it passes through a gantry, which are popping up everywhere.
And I’ve had people saying absurd things like Singapore has the cheapest transport fairs.
I actually lived in a town in Europe where buses ran for free, on time and not overly crowded.
So yes, lambaste Anton Casey for his insensitive remarks but don’t forget who allowed such an unjust hierarchy to exist in the first place.
And then we have this news article, how patronizing is this that some people treat taking public transport is an “experience” to be had when for most of us, it’s all that we know, propaganda pieces like these are why I’ve given up on mainstream media.
Next I want to express my disappointment in Gilbert Goh and his anti Filipino stance.
I’m considered an Ethnic Malay, if anything I have more right to this country than any non ethnic malay, how would you feel if I said
“Dear Chinese People,
If you insist on celebrating your Chinese New Year
In my country, we will take this as an act of WAR and
Defend ourselves with our lives as this OUR country, OUR land!
Be warned“
Yeah you’d think it was stupid, you’d be right and I would be the first to join you in laughing at any ethnic malay person who holds this idea about non malays, we’re Singaporeans some of us have had ancestry that have been here for eons, others are fresh off the boat.
I’m not going to argue your points past number 4 because you’re spot on but what you’re advocating from points 1 to 3 is what the government is advocating regarding thaipusam, we can agree that the government has gone too far in trying to implement population white paper but to those foreigners who are already here, they’re no different than our ancestors who came here looking for a better life.
No matter how bad this country is to us, for some foreigners despite the authoritarian regime, it’s still miles better than their Country and it’s up to us to help them integrate into our society, so they may understand our plight and join us in achieving a democratic society, not add them to list of enemies just because they’re fresh off the boat.
So what they want to celebrate their national day, can they afford the rent of public property?
If so, let them be, public celebrations are for the public it should be an inclusive celebration where everyone is welcome to share the Filipino culture.
We already celebrate Oktoberfest here despite how few German expats there are in this country and it’s not just for Germans.
We need to build social cohesion in this country where people are loyal to each other and keep the government in check, not build social divides as I mentioned in my previous article about the pledge.
And for the foreigners who are now residing here, please do not use the fallacy of relative privation, we know you came here to seek a better life but we, The Citizens of Singapore, we’ve been here our whole lives and we have more experience than you when it comes to the health of our society. So when we say we’re tired of the government treating us like chattel, don’t tell us we’re being ungrateful plebes because where you’re from it’s worse, we’re doing this for you as well, oh yes you’re being abused too with your cheap labour, to make life far better for everyone, not just the insanely rich.
So don’t hold us back and we’ll have your back.
Peace.
“In today’s world, learning has become the key to economic prosperity, social cohesion and personal fulfillment. We can no longer afford to educate the few to think, and the many to do.” – David Blunkett
Speaking My Mind 