3:01 pm Friday, August 10, 2007
Count on me Singapore, but can I count on you?
My company, a stat board, had our 'National Day Observance Ceremony' on Wed. All the staff were made to go down to the garden and sing National Day songs and watch dance items.
(1)
Of course, to be politically correct, the songs were sung in 4 languages and there were dance items from each race. What I did not appreciate was that during the last song item (something in Chinese, finally), staff of a particular race were chattering and laughing away loudly at the front near the stage, oblivious to the rest of us who were trying to hear the music. They chatted and chatted and walked off in a huge group, while we were still singing. Hello?
The same thing happens all over the place. All races are supposed to be on par. Yet in the office a certain group gathers in our pantry every day after lunch, chatting the afternoon away. And nobody dares make noise about it. The government tells us to have 'racial harmony' i.e. not be petty. And so we watch on every day as some colleagues disappear for an entire afternoon... It's even more obvious when the government actually sets up systems to give them what is seen as privileges by other groups. Why should we be so gallant about this?
I am not a racist. I make a conscious effort to get along and be kind to all fellow humans. But when such unbalances are obvious, yet nobody is allowed to even point it out without being accused of racism, doesn't that subvert the very racial harmony it's supposed to build?
I'm not against any race. I'm against the way our government is handling the matter. What they do is suppressing and maintaining racial TOLERENCE, not harmony. And when people tolerate something, it means there is a breaking point. It means that under the surface things might be stewing.
It isn't helping when those enjoying the privileges get complacent; or those showering them with privileges do not make the effort to clarify reasons using logic that the rest can accept. As it is children nowadays don't mix around as much with friends from other races. If resentment builds and gets passed down to the next generation after the next, it'll be too late to salvage the situation.
I don't know if the up-theres are aware of the sentiments on the ground. I hope they are, or else it'll be really scary if they are oblivious and living in their own perfect world. I wouldn't want another Maria Hertogh incident.
(P/s: This post has been self-censored on 12 Aug after friends commented that my comments were too dangerous. Sigh.)(2)
Our office shares a building with a polyclinic. You know, the place where the government is supposed to be giving its lower strata proper medical attention at subsidized rates. Seeing the long queues of old people every morning, you would think it's worth the effort and agony. But, NO LOR.
I am still traumatised from a personal experience. For a simple flu I could not get proper medication, only cheap ones that didn't help at all. When I went back to the same doc, he actually told me he didn't have anything else to give me, and prescribed nose drops! Hello~ I ended up having that simple flu for a whole 9 days. If they couldn't relieve such a simple ailment, what more the bone-aching illnesses that old people get? I was awakened from my oblivion.
You mean all these poor frail tiny old men and women come at 6am every morning before the sun rises, queue for 2 hours to register, then another 3 hours to see the doc, then another 30 min to get their medicine.... and don't get better? As it is the remainder of their life is short enough... and we're making them while it away on such shitty healthcare.
As I stand in the garden celebrating the greatness of our country, I see the patients looking out of their waiting area onto where we were. In their hearts they must be cursing and swearing.
"Based on justice and equality... regardless of race, language or religion"?
Labels: Cynic In The House
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