Upset with netizens, S’porean Clement Lim tells how his daughter was saved by bone marrow from a stranger in China.
Charissa Yong Mar 15, 2008 The New Paper
IT was a stranger from China who donated bone marrow and saved his daughter’s life.
Yet, in Singapore, some are saying we should not help non-Singaporeans in need.
That is why finance director Clement Lim, 52, a Singaporean, is upset with the views of these netizens, who objected to a recent drive to help a leukaemia patient.
The New Paper reported yesterday that an informal online poll on a local forum showed that close to 80 per cent of the 120 forum users did not want to donate money to help 18-year-old Li Bingbing.
The scholar from China has been diagnosed with blood cancer.
The National Technological University’s student union had started the donation drive to help the first-year student. A mass e-mail with details was circulated.
On online forums discussing the e-mail, further derogatory comments were also posted regarding Chinese nationals.
Mr Lim’s daughter, Miss Sarah Lim, 22, was diagnosed with leukaemia in early 2006, two days before Chinese New Year that year.
Mr Lim told The New Paper that it was a foreigner who came to her rescue.
He said: ‘All the money in the world could not save my daughter. Only the selfless willingness of a total stranger could, and did.’
He said the donor had not asked for money.
Sarah said her Chinese donor has given her a new lease of life.
She has returned to the University of Melbourne to complete her honours degree in literature, which she had to delay because of her illness.
In an e-mail to The New Paper, she said she was ‘disgusted with the response of various netizens’.
‘Perhaps their ignorance to the urgency of receiving treatment could be a key reason behind their callous comments, but their petty selfishness is what really sets my teeth on edge.
‘I am glad that my bone marrow donor from China - who only has a list of stats to recognise me - chose to give me a second chance at life.’
Her father was moved to write to The New Paper yesterday after he read our report.
‘BEYOND NATIONALITY’
When interviewed, he said that some things went beyond nationality, and it was ‘quite sad’ that people thought that way about helping a foreign student.
Mr Lim said: ‘If not for the bone marrow donated by a man from China, who such netizens would deride (by calling him) Ah Tiong, my daughter would not be alive today.
‘He could easily have said he would donate only to a fellowman in China, but he decided to save a life.
‘We benefited from the selfless act of one man in China.’
Mr Lim felt that even if those netizens did not want to donate, they should not have condemned the donation drive.
‘They may be disgruntled, but to deny someone an opportunity to life reflects badly on themselves.
‘Such reactions are very revealing of the heart of the person,’ he said.
His daughter agreed.
Sarah said: ‘Having had a serious case of leukaemia before, I instantly sympathised with Li Bingbing.
‘I felt very bad that people were saying these things about him. At this stage, his life could be in the balance.’
She said that she was surprised that people had said such things, especially as Singapore often offers help for disaster-hit areas in the region.
She urged the netizens to put themselves in the shoes of the patient.
She pointed out that Bingbing’s status as a scholarship student means that, as a foreigner, he would receive no subsidy for his ongoing treatments.
SCHOLARSHIP PUZZLE
Sarah also wondered why others picked on him for taxing Singapore’s resources as an overseas scholar.
‘I wish these netizens would not be so quick to spit and bare their claws when someone overseas is granted a scholarship to study in a (Singapore) university.
‘I very much doubt that if they were granted a scholarship to study overseas, they would mull over how they are a cost to that country’s economy.
‘Instead, they would probably rejoice over such an opportunity.’
Both father and daughter were quick to acknowledge that a donation is an individual decision and said they ‘would not condemn people who refuse to donate’.
However, she added: ‘I am disheartened to realise that altruism, according to (these netizens) can only be extended to people of a certain tribe, clan or country.
‘I can only wish Li Bingbing a speedy recovery and hope that the venom in those netizens’ statements never reach his ears and that the kindness shown by other Singaporeans will warm his heart.’
As for Mr Lim, the dark days two years ago when hope was nearly gone is something he is unlikely to forget.
He said their troubles started after his daughter had complained of headaches and had a fever.
A blood test at the Singapore General Hospital revealed that she had leukaemia.
The hospital arranged to help her find a bone marrow match under the Bone Marrow Donor Programme.
MARROW FROM CHINA
After an agonising six months, a match was found in China - much to the family’s relief.
A successful transplant was performed in September, after the bone marrow was flown to Singapore from a medical centre in China.
Sarah went through four rounds of chemotherapy between her diagnosis and the transplant.
Her parents bore the cost of the transplant, including hospitalisation, harvesting the marrow and transporting it to Singapore.
The fees came up to $57,000 after Medisave subsidies and insurance payments.
They also enjoyed massive support from their church groups.
While the bone marrow donation process does not allow donor and patient to meet, Sarah thinks she knows who her ‘saviour’ is.
A family friend had noticed a report in a Chinese newspaper about a man from Guangzhou who had donated his bone marrow to ‘a 21-year-old Singaporean girl suffering from leukaemia’.
From the coincidences, the family deduced that Mr Li An, 29, may have been the donor.
The family plans to invite him to Singapore after Sarah completes her university education in Australia, to ‘properly thank him’.
Blood is thicker than water. Sometime in future, when Singapore is being bullied or attacked by foreigners or ang moh, let's see who will be helping us. My guess is the elitists will be the first to dash for Changi Airport.
Deepening globalisation has generated an ‘us vs them mentality’, compelling the various races to come together and work things out.
FASTER than anything else, globalisation has eroded much of the historical racial divide in Singapore, especially between Chinese and Malays, without eliminating it.
Given its longstanding nature, this scourge is unlikely to disappear any time soon, but the next best thing is happening.
Deepening globalisation has brought in new challenges (as well as benefits) that are compelling the various races to come together to work things out, instead of bickering over petty racial issues.
One perceived threat from the people’s point of view is immigration.
While the large-scale arrival of foreigners – mainly from China and India – has contributed significantly to the overall economy, locals perceive it as a threat that cuts across racial lines.
The strongest resentment against the presence of Chinese mainlanders, for example, has not come from the Malays or Indians, but from local Chinese.
Similarly local-born Indians have hit out against the new arrivals from their former motherland.
Race issues have been replaced by a common feeling that the local population is slowly becoming a minority in its own country as an overwhelming number of foreigners arrives.
To a large extent, this has helped to bond them.
“Its an emotional thing. The foreigners have brought the different races closer together,” a social worker said.
“It’s sort of an us versus them mentality.”
When Singapore’s most dangerous terrorist Mas Selamat Kastari escaped from a high-security detention centre, a shocked nation sprung into action to set up an island-wide search.
Joining hordes of security forces were volunteers who spread across residential estates to distribute pamphlets with the picture of the wanted Jemaah Islamiah leader.
Many were Malays, as was the large number of security forces hunting for Mas Selamat.
“This man is a threat to us all because he wants to bomb us irrespective of whether we’re Chinese, Indian or Malay,” explained a middle-aged Malay housewife on television.
This is the latest evidence that race relations in Singapore, particularly between Chinese and Malays, have significantly changed from the violent 60s.
More Malays – like other Singaporeans – are marrying outside their race. Last year three in 10 Muslims did so, compared with only 20% in 1997.
And in a recent survey, 94% of ethnic Chinese undergrads said they would not mind an Indian for a Prime Minister, while 91% would accept a Malay Prime Minister.
This is Singapore’s new generation, born after independence in 1965.
They have no living memory of the deadly race riots of the 60s.
Racial bonding has also another ally – education.
Last week I saw seven teenage students, obviously classmates, two Malays, an Indian and three Chinese, noisily lunching at a fast-food outlet. They were laughing and joking, oblivious of their different backgrounds.
This is actually a normal scene in Singapore schools these days (which still celebrate Racial Harmony Day every year), so common that it arouses little interest.
To an old journalist like me, however, who has lived through the worst of times of Chinese-Malay riots, the whole thing is a minor miracle.
Singapore kids have lived, studied, worked and played together for over 40 years.
To ensure racial and educational immersion, the authorities long ago imposed a rule that forbids neighbourhood schools from catering exclusively to any one race, but makes sure of a proper mix.
The same, too, applies in public housing.
The units of each block of Housing Board flats are apportioned roughly 70% to the Chinese, 16% to Malays and 8% to Indians.
Despite the progress, racial issues still surface even among the best educated.
Three young bloggers were prosecuted for posting racial remarks against Malays.
Two of them were jailed for making seditious remarks and the third sentenced to do work within the Malay community.
This would help him “correct his misguided dislike for Malays”, the judge said.
A shocking eye-opener came last year from – of all people – a Public Service Commission (PSC) scholar studying in the United States, Chuan Chen San, who remarked in his blog: “The Singapore Association (in the campus) has become an Indian association, so gross. And some more (they’re) non-Singaporeans. It’s just so repulsive, these ugly guys with dark skin and irksome features.”
“I still find Indians and Filipinos (dark ones) so repulsive and such a turn-off. Anyway, so now we have this ugly mass as our president (etc).”
The only merit of the case was the universal condemnation by Singaporeans of Chuan, who was criticised in strong terms by almost every one.
More serious are complaints often voiced by Malays and Indians of job discrimination.
These minority job seekers are angry over employers who asked them during interviews if they were proficient in Chinese or whether they could speak Mandarin, even in jobs that require no special language needs.
Landlords, too, frequently display bias against dark-skinned tenants; many of the room-to-let advertisements blatantly rule out Indians.
The government has warned against such racial discrimination and may take action to stop it.
One person is not too optimistic about the possible emergence of a Singaporean identity that is free of racial, language, religious and cultural identities of its people.
The cynic is Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, who understands racial problems here better than most.
He said: “The melting pot idea (of throwing in all the races and hoping one day to pull out one people) is idealistic, but not realistic.”
The March 8 elections results are hopefully a precursor to change that is likely to take place in the coming years in the fault line of Malaysian politics. The ruling coalition, the Barisan Nasional (BN, National Front) suffered defeats of historical proportions although it continues to govern because of majorities in Sabah and Sarawak. The results were anything but the clear mandate that Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi had hoped for.
Some analysts saw this voting as a referendum on his leadership and popularity, which has been hurt badly by higher living costs and rising racial tensions in this multiethnic nation. When Mr. Abdullah assumed the office of prime minister in 2003 from charismatic Mahatir Mohammad, he appeared as one who was honest and determined to fight corruption and change the course of politics in the country. While he did take some cosmetic measures to fight corruption in the initial stage and made a break from the past policies of awarding government contracts to the government’s cronies, in the end it turned out that his style of functioning was little different from his predecessor.
The ruling coalition finished with 62% of the federal seats—down considerably from the 90% that it had previously. Whereas the BN held 199 of the 219 seats in the earlier parliament, its strength this time is reduced to 137 seats, including eight won uncontested, far less than the two-thirds majority line of 148 seats.
The loss of its two-thirds majority in the federal parliament which it held continuously for 34 years and bulldozed every decisions of the government down the throat of the people, together with the five states—Penang, Kedah, Perak, Selangor and Kelantan— out of a total of 13 going to the opposition, this will automatically put checks and balances on the functioning of government, and will impinge on the working of centre-state relations. The parliament now is expected to be more assertive vis-à-vis the executive. With 82 opposition members of parliament out of the total 222 seats in the Dewan Rakyat, the government will find it hard to push constitutional amendments through with ease as in the past. Bills now will be subjected to greater scrutiny, more so if the new symbol of opposition, Anwar Ibrahim, who was barred to contest elections until April this year, comes back to the parliament at a later date through by-election in a seat vacated by his wife. Mr. Anwar’s fledging party, the People’s Justice Party (PKR) won 31 parliamentary seats outperforming its much older and more experienced coalition partners, the Democratic Action Party (DAP), and the Partai Se-Islam (PAS). His expected re-entry into parliamentary politics as an opposition leader will surely bring some qualitative changes in the tenor of debates and in the nature of democracy in the country. He worked tirelessly to unify the opposition parties of the PAS and his own PKR and the rewards are already visible in the results. By acting as the middleman and rallying figure between DAP and PAS, Mr. Anwar was instrumental in bringing together people of various ethnic and religious backgrounds for the Bersih (clean) rally, encouraging Malay-Muslim voters who wanted to move away from ethnic-based politics but was still hesitant to vote for a non-Malay-led party which they might not identify with.
Malaysia’s “unitary character with federal features” is also likely to undergo changes with the five “opposition states”. These states are expected to assert themselves in all areas where the constitution confers on them legislative, executive and financial autonomy. Earlier, it was only Kelantan, which was controlled by PAS and one heard of step-motherly treatment by the federal government towards the state. But now with four other states, they will mount vigorous campaign for greater decentralization and autonomy, heralding healthier and fair relations between the federal government and the state governments.
The results also showed a dent in the traditional race-based politics operating in the country ever since its independence. Issues of ruling coalition’s use of phantom voters and postal votes, corruption, price-rises, racial discrimination and socio-economic grievances played more important role in the voter’s choice for the party than their affiliation and loyalty to their races, as reflected in the total rout of the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) and its long-surviving and corrupt leader, Samy Vellu.
Some Chinese politicians and cabinet members suffered the same fate for their inability to take care of the interests of the minority. This is a clear sign that race-based parties can no longer automatically count on the votes of their own community. This is true of UMNO, the Malay party, as two of Mr. Abdullah's former cabinet members lost their parliamentary seats.
This has led to new political alignments in the country with the opposition parties like the DAP, PKR and PAS benefiting from this shift. Interestingly the decision by PAS to leave its Islamic state agenda on the back burner, and promise to establish a Negara kebajikan (welfare state) together with its fielding of a non-Muslim candidate to capitalize on ethnic minorities’ discontent with the current administration, facilitated this political alignment and the increase of its tally both in the parliament and in the states.
Finally, the results have shown the power of the Internet and of short messaging, or SMS, in the dissemination of alternative sources of information, which neutralized ruling party’s overwhelming control over the conventional media.
Mr. Ghoshal is senior fellow, Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi.
There are places I'll remember All my life though some have changed Some forever not for better Some have gone and some remain All these places have their moments With lovers and friends I still can recall Some are dead and some are living In my life I've loved them all But of all these friends and lovers There is no one compares with you And these memories lose their meaning When I think of love as something new Though I know I'll never lose affection For people and things that went before I know I'll often stop and think about them In my life I love you more Though I know I'll never lose affection For people and things that went before I know I'll often stop and think about them In my life I love you more
Malays protest Penang chief minister's planned abolition of economic protection for bumiputeras
By Susan Tam March 16, 2008
The New Paper's photographer Jonathan Choo relates his experience after being caught unknowingly in the thick of the action in Penang.
AS A photojournalist, Mr Jonathan Choo has seen - and photographed - his share of uglyskirmishes.
Yesterday, however, he was in Penang as a Singaporean on holiday, after having covered last week's Malaysian elections.
His professional armour down, he became Mr Typical Tourist, out to savour Penang's famous food and pristine beaches.
But what he encountered yesterday was far from relaxing: Scores of officers from the Malaysian Federal Reserve Unit gathering outside a shopping complex.
ANGER
His instincts kicked in.
He fished out his camera. He was in the midst of an ugly protest.
It was 2pm, and scores of protesters, mostly Malays, gathered outside Komtar Tower. A ranking officer was barking orders to the police, while a large group of people started marching towards thetower.
More than 100 protesters carried banners in the heat of the afternoon.
They were chanting in Malay.
Mr Choo did not understand their chants. But the anger was palpable.
'The situation was tense and you could tell they were very upset over something,' he said.
What they were upset about has been on the boil ever since the newly-appointed Penang Chief Minister, Mr Lim Guan Eng of the Democratic Action Party (DAP), announced that he would do away with the New Economic Policy (NEP).
The policy was introduced in the 1970s by the Malay-dominated Barisan Nasional (BN) ruling coalition to provide economic protection for the poorer Malays, or bumiputeras.
But Mr Lim charged that the NEP breeds cronyism, corruption and systemic inefficiency.
Under the NEP, Malays have preference in jobs, education and business.
But even some Malay critics say it has been misused to benefit a well-connected Malay elite.
Still, the reaction to Mr Lim's comments was swift and hard. He was publicly warned by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi that such a drastic move would incite racial tensions at a time when the state of affairs in Malaysia is fragile.
Others weighed in. Newspapers played up their comments over the past two days. Bloggers dived in, some with incendiary opinions.
Mr Choo, a Singaporean, has never seen a racially charged rally here, let alone a protest.
He wondered: Is this what it's like when irresponsible politicians on both sides fan the flames of racial tension so publicly? Will it grow? Will it boil over?
Crowd may be chatting fiercely, but...
And what were they shouting? He asked his counterparts in the local press. They told him that the crowd was chanting slogans in Malay, stating that 'Mr Lim did not respect the Malays in Penang'.
The banners proclaimed slogans such as 'Long live the Malays' and 'We the Malays of Penang support PakLah (Mr Abdullah)'.
'I was worried initially,' said Mr Choo. But he was pleasantly surprised.
'In the midst of their aggressive chants, they still made way for me to work. They were not violent at all and did not mind me taking photos of them or of the scene,' he said.
He noticed that their anger was channelled at this 'Mr Lim'.
The presence of the police trucks and water cannons, along with the 100-odd police personnel, seemed to add to the tense situation.
'But it was very peaceful. I was not pushed around. No one threw bottles or any items, like you would expect at such an emotionally charged affair,' Mr Choo said.
After more than an hour, the police started giving orders for the crowd to disperse.
And they did - to everyone's relief.
As for Mr Choo, he managed to complete his errands in time for a relative's wedding in Penang, Pearl of the Orient.
Mentally troubled youngsters seeking help in record numbers
Sun, 16 Mar 2008 02:10:07 GMT
Singapore - A record number of children and adolescents are seeking help for mental illnesses in Singapore as the stigma of counselling has diminished, a published report said on Sunday. The Institute of Mental Health's (IMH) Child Guidance Clinic, which provides services for those 19 and below, saw nearly 3,000 referrals last year.
Between 2000 to 2006, the IMH had between 2,000 and 2,500 annual referrals, mostly from schools or polyclinics, according to a breakdown in The Sunday Times.
Dr Ong Say How, the IMH's deputy chief, said most of the new cases were children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, learning disorders or emotional disorders such as excessive worry, fear and sadness.
He cited better public knowledge of the IMH's services and increasing numbers of school counsellors who are more "vigilant and ready to refer students to the IMH's clinics."
The stigma of having a child referred to counsellors or psychiatrists has diminished, he noted.
"In the past, people thought it was a bad reflection of their parenting skills if they needed to bring in their child for help," a primary school counsellor was quoted as saying.
"But now, if you don't bring in your child to seek help, that is seen as bad parenting," the counsellor said.
Eight out of 10 counsellors and psychiatrists noted a greater lack of parent-child interaction in addition to higher stress currently faced by the young.
During interactions, parents inevitably asked about schoolwork and test scores instead of the children's wellbeing.
Koh Wah Khoon, director of family services at the Singapore Children's Society, told the newspaper she has noticed a trend of children equating their self-worth with how far they had met their parents expectations.
More parents also have problems getting their children to bed with the distraction of the internet. The problem used to be limited to university of polytechnic students, but children as young as 11 are brought to counsellors now.
7 comments:
An ‘Ah Tiong’ saved my daughter’s life
Upset with netizens, S’porean Clement Lim tells how his daughter was saved by bone marrow from a stranger in China.
Charissa Yong
Mar 15, 2008
The New Paper
IT was a stranger from China who donated bone marrow and saved his daughter’s life.
Yet, in Singapore, some are saying we should not help non-Singaporeans in need.
That is why finance director Clement Lim, 52, a Singaporean, is upset with the views of these netizens, who objected to a recent drive to help a leukaemia patient.
The New Paper reported yesterday that an informal online poll on a local forum showed that close to 80 per cent of the 120 forum users did not want to donate money to help 18-year-old Li Bingbing.
The scholar from China has been diagnosed with blood cancer.
The National Technological University’s student union had started the donation drive to help the first-year student. A mass e-mail with details was circulated.
On online forums discussing the e-mail, further derogatory comments were also posted regarding Chinese nationals.
Mr Lim’s daughter, Miss Sarah Lim, 22, was diagnosed with leukaemia in early 2006, two days before Chinese New Year that year.
Mr Lim told The New Paper that it was a foreigner who came to her rescue.
He said: ‘All the money in the world could not save my daughter. Only the selfless willingness of a total stranger could, and did.’
He said the donor had not asked for money.
Sarah said her Chinese donor has given her a new lease of life.
She has returned to the University of Melbourne to complete her honours degree in literature, which she had to delay because of her illness.
In an e-mail to The New Paper, she said she was ‘disgusted with the response of various netizens’.
‘Perhaps their ignorance to the urgency of receiving treatment could be a key reason behind their callous comments, but their petty selfishness is what really sets my teeth on edge.
‘I am glad that my bone marrow donor from China - who only has a list of stats to recognise me - chose to give me a second chance at life.’
Her father was moved to write to The New Paper yesterday after he read our report.
‘BEYOND NATIONALITY’
When interviewed, he said that some things went beyond nationality, and it was ‘quite sad’ that people thought that way about helping a foreign student.
Mr Lim said: ‘If not for the bone marrow donated by a man from China, who such netizens would deride (by calling him) Ah Tiong, my daughter would not be alive today.
‘He could easily have said he would donate only to a fellowman in China, but he decided to save a life.
‘We benefited from the selfless act of one man in China.’
Mr Lim felt that even if those netizens did not want to donate, they should not have condemned the donation drive.
‘They may be disgruntled, but to deny someone an opportunity to life reflects badly on themselves.
‘Such reactions are very revealing of the heart of the person,’ he said.
His daughter agreed.
Sarah said: ‘Having had a serious case of leukaemia before, I instantly sympathised with Li Bingbing.
‘I felt very bad that people were saying these things about him. At this stage, his life could be in the balance.’
She said that she was surprised that people had said such things, especially as Singapore often offers help for disaster-hit areas in the region.
She urged the netizens to put themselves in the shoes of the patient.
She pointed out that Bingbing’s status as a scholarship student means that, as a foreigner, he would receive no subsidy for his ongoing treatments.
SCHOLARSHIP PUZZLE
Sarah also wondered why others picked on him for taxing Singapore’s resources as an overseas scholar.
‘I wish these netizens would not be so quick to spit and bare their claws when someone overseas is granted a scholarship to study in a (Singapore) university.
‘I very much doubt that if they were granted a scholarship to study overseas, they would mull over how they are a cost to that country’s economy.
‘Instead, they would probably rejoice over such an opportunity.’
Both father and daughter were quick to acknowledge that a donation is an individual decision and said they ‘would not condemn people who refuse to donate’.
However, she added: ‘I am disheartened to realise that altruism, according to (these netizens) can only be extended to people of a certain tribe, clan or country.
‘I can only wish Li Bingbing a speedy recovery and hope that the venom in those netizens’ statements never reach his ears and that the kindness shown by other Singaporeans will warm his heart.’
As for Mr Lim, the dark days two years ago when hope was nearly gone is something he is unlikely to forget.
He said their troubles started after his daughter had complained of headaches and had a fever.
A blood test at the Singapore General Hospital revealed that she had leukaemia.
The hospital arranged to help her find a bone marrow match under the Bone Marrow Donor Programme.
MARROW FROM CHINA
After an agonising six months, a match was found in China - much to the family’s relief.
A successful transplant was performed in September, after the bone marrow was flown to Singapore from a medical centre in China.
Sarah went through four rounds of chemotherapy between her diagnosis and the transplant.
Her parents bore the cost of the transplant, including hospitalisation, harvesting the marrow and transporting it to Singapore.
The fees came up to $57,000 after Medisave subsidies and insurance payments.
They also enjoyed massive support from their church groups.
While the bone marrow donation process does not allow donor and patient to meet, Sarah thinks she knows who her ‘saviour’ is.
A family friend had noticed a report in a Chinese newspaper about a man from Guangzhou who had donated his bone marrow to ‘a 21-year-old Singaporean girl suffering from leukaemia’.
From the coincidences, the family deduced that Mr Li An, 29, may have been the donor.
The family plans to invite him to Singapore after Sarah completes her university education in Australia, to ‘properly thank him’.
Blood is thicker than water. Sometime in future, when Singapore is being bullied or attacked by foreigners or ang moh, let's see who will be helping us. My guess is the elitists will be the first to dash for Changi Airport.
Eroding the racial divide
By SEAH CHIANG NEE
March 15, 2008
Deepening globalisation has generated an ‘us vs them mentality’, compelling the various races to come together and work things out.
FASTER than anything else, globalisation has eroded much of the historical racial divide in Singapore, especially between Chinese and Malays, without eliminating it.
Given its longstanding nature, this scourge is unlikely to disappear any time soon, but the next best thing is happening.
Deepening globalisation has brought in new challenges (as well as benefits) that are compelling the various races to come together to work things out, instead of bickering over petty racial issues.
One perceived threat from the people’s point of view is immigration.
While the large-scale arrival of foreigners – mainly from China and India – has contributed significantly to the overall economy, locals perceive it as a threat that cuts across racial lines.
The strongest resentment against the presence of Chinese mainlanders, for example, has not come from the Malays or Indians, but from local Chinese.
Similarly local-born Indians have hit out against the new arrivals from their former motherland.
Race issues have been replaced by a common feeling that the local population is slowly becoming a minority in its own country as an overwhelming number of foreigners arrives.
To a large extent, this has helped to bond them.
“Its an emotional thing. The foreigners have brought the different races closer together,” a social worker said.
“It’s sort of an us versus them mentality.”
When Singapore’s most dangerous terrorist Mas Selamat Kastari escaped from a high-security detention centre, a shocked nation sprung into action to set up an island-wide search.
Joining hordes of security forces were volunteers who spread across residential estates to distribute pamphlets with the picture of the wanted Jemaah Islamiah leader.
Many were Malays, as was the large number of security forces hunting for Mas Selamat.
“This man is a threat to us all because he wants to bomb us irrespective of whether we’re Chinese, Indian or Malay,” explained a middle-aged Malay housewife on television.
This is the latest evidence that race relations in Singapore, particularly between Chinese and Malays, have significantly changed from the violent 60s.
More Malays – like other Singaporeans – are marrying outside their race. Last year three in 10 Muslims did so, compared with only 20% in 1997.
And in a recent survey, 94% of ethnic Chinese undergrads said they would not mind an Indian for a Prime Minister, while 91% would accept a Malay Prime Minister.
This is Singapore’s new generation, born after independence in 1965.
They have no living memory of the deadly race riots of the 60s.
Racial bonding has also another ally – education.
Last week I saw seven teenage students, obviously classmates, two Malays, an Indian and three Chinese, noisily lunching at a fast-food outlet. They were laughing and joking, oblivious of their different backgrounds.
This is actually a normal scene in Singapore schools these days (which still celebrate Racial Harmony Day every year), so common that it arouses little interest.
To an old journalist like me, however, who has lived through the worst of times of Chinese-Malay riots, the whole thing is a minor miracle.
Singapore kids have lived, studied, worked and played together for over 40 years.
To ensure racial and educational immersion, the authorities long ago imposed a rule that forbids neighbourhood schools from catering exclusively to any one race, but makes sure of a proper mix.
The same, too, applies in public housing.
The units of each block of Housing Board flats are apportioned roughly 70% to the Chinese, 16% to Malays and 8% to Indians.
Despite the progress, racial issues still surface even among the best educated.
Three young bloggers were prosecuted for posting racial remarks against Malays.
Two of them were jailed for making seditious remarks and the third sentenced to do work within the Malay community.
This would help him “correct his misguided dislike for Malays”, the judge said.
A shocking eye-opener came last year from – of all people – a Public Service Commission (PSC) scholar studying in the United States, Chuan Chen San, who remarked in his blog: “The Singapore Association (in the campus) has become an Indian association, so gross. And some more (they’re) non-Singaporeans. It’s just so repulsive, these ugly guys with dark skin and irksome features.”
“I still find Indians and Filipinos (dark ones) so repulsive and such a turn-off. Anyway, so now we have this ugly mass as our president (etc).”
The only merit of the case was the universal condemnation by Singaporeans of Chuan, who was criticised in strong terms by almost every one.
More serious are complaints often voiced by Malays and Indians of job discrimination.
These minority job seekers are angry over employers who asked them during interviews if they were proficient in Chinese or whether they could speak Mandarin, even in jobs that require no special language needs.
Landlords, too, frequently display bias against dark-skinned tenants; many of the room-to-let advertisements blatantly rule out Indians.
The government has warned against such racial discrimination and may take action to stop it.
One person is not too optimistic about the possible emergence of a Singaporean identity that is free of racial, language, religious and cultural identities of its people.
The cynic is Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, who understands racial problems here better than most.
He said: “The melting pot idea (of throwing in all the races and hoping one day to pull out one people) is idealistic, but not realistic.”
The Emergence of a New Malaysia
By Baladas Ghoshal
March 2008
The March 8 elections results are hopefully a precursor to change that is likely to take place in the coming years in the fault line of Malaysian politics. The ruling coalition, the Barisan Nasional (BN, National Front) suffered defeats of historical proportions although it continues to govern because of majorities in Sabah and Sarawak. The results were anything but the clear mandate that Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi had hoped for.
Some analysts saw this voting as a referendum on his leadership and popularity, which has been hurt badly by higher living costs and rising racial tensions in this multiethnic nation. When Mr. Abdullah assumed the office of prime minister in 2003 from charismatic Mahatir Mohammad, he appeared as one who was honest and determined to fight corruption and change the course of politics in the country. While he did take some cosmetic measures to fight corruption in the initial stage and made a break from the past policies of awarding government contracts to the government’s cronies, in the end it turned out that his style of functioning was little different from his predecessor.
The ruling coalition finished with 62% of the federal seats—down considerably from the 90% that it had previously. Whereas the BN held 199 of the 219 seats in the earlier parliament, its strength this time is reduced to 137 seats, including eight won uncontested, far less than the two-thirds majority line of 148 seats.
The loss of its two-thirds majority in the federal parliament which it held continuously for 34 years and bulldozed every decisions of the government down the throat of the people, together with the five states—Penang, Kedah, Perak, Selangor and Kelantan— out of a total of 13 going to the opposition, this will automatically put checks and balances on the functioning of government, and will impinge on the working of centre-state relations. The parliament now is expected to be more assertive vis-à-vis the executive. With 82 opposition members of parliament out of the total 222 seats in the Dewan Rakyat, the government will find it hard to push constitutional amendments through with ease as in the past. Bills now will be subjected to greater scrutiny, more so if the new symbol of opposition, Anwar Ibrahim, who was barred to contest elections until April this year, comes back to the parliament at a later date through by-election in a seat vacated by his wife.
Mr. Anwar’s fledging party, the People’s Justice Party (PKR) won 31 parliamentary seats outperforming its much older and more experienced coalition partners, the Democratic Action Party (DAP), and the Partai Se-Islam (PAS). His expected re-entry into parliamentary politics as an opposition leader will surely bring some qualitative changes in the tenor of debates and in the nature of democracy in the country. He worked tirelessly to unify the opposition parties of the PAS and his own PKR and the rewards are already visible in the results. By acting as the middleman and rallying figure between DAP and PAS, Mr. Anwar was instrumental in bringing together people of various ethnic and religious backgrounds for the Bersih (clean) rally, encouraging Malay-Muslim voters who wanted to move away from ethnic-based politics but was still hesitant to vote for a non-Malay-led party which they might not identify with.
Malaysia’s “unitary character with federal features” is also likely to undergo changes with the five “opposition states”. These states are expected to assert themselves in all areas where the constitution confers on them legislative, executive and financial autonomy. Earlier, it was only Kelantan, which was controlled by PAS and one heard of step-motherly treatment by the federal government towards the state. But now with four other states, they will mount vigorous campaign for greater decentralization and autonomy, heralding healthier and fair relations between the federal government and the state governments.
The results also showed a dent in the traditional race-based politics operating in the country ever since its independence. Issues of ruling coalition’s use of phantom voters and postal votes, corruption, price-rises, racial discrimination and socio-economic grievances played more important role in the voter’s choice for the party than their affiliation and loyalty to their races, as reflected in the total rout of the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) and its long-surviving and corrupt leader, Samy Vellu.
Some Chinese politicians and cabinet members suffered the same fate for their inability to take care of the interests of the minority. This is a clear sign that race-based parties can no longer automatically count on the votes of their own community. This is true of UMNO, the Malay party, as two of Mr. Abdullah's former cabinet members lost their parliamentary seats.
This has led to new political alignments in the country with the opposition parties like the DAP, PKR and PAS benefiting from this shift. Interestingly the decision by PAS to leave its Islamic state agenda on the back burner, and promise to establish a Negara kebajikan (welfare state) together with its fielding of a non-Muslim candidate to capitalize on ethnic minorities’ discontent with the current administration, facilitated this political alignment and the increase of its tally both in the parliament and in the states.
Finally, the results have shown the power of the Internet and of short messaging, or SMS, in the dissemination of alternative sources of information, which neutralized ruling party’s overwhelming control over the conventional media.
Mr. Ghoshal is senior fellow, Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi.
In My Life - The Beatles
There are places I'll remember
All my life though some have changed
Some forever not for better
Some have gone and some remain
All these places have their moments
With lovers and friends I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life I've loved them all
But of all these friends and lovers
There is no one compares with you
And these memories lose their meaning
When I think of love as something new
Though I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my life I love you more
Though I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my life I love you more
IN THE THICK OF RACIAL TENSION
Malays protest Penang chief minister's planned abolition of economic protection for bumiputeras
By Susan Tam
March 16, 2008
The New Paper's photographer Jonathan Choo relates his experience after being caught unknowingly in the thick of the action in Penang.
AS A photojournalist, Mr Jonathan Choo has seen - and photographed - his share of uglyskirmishes.
Yesterday, however, he was in Penang as a Singaporean on holiday, after having covered last week's Malaysian elections.
His professional armour down, he became Mr Typical Tourist, out to savour Penang's famous food and pristine beaches.
But what he encountered yesterday was far from relaxing: Scores of officers from the Malaysian Federal Reserve Unit gathering outside a shopping complex.
ANGER
His instincts kicked in.
He fished out his camera. He was in the midst of an ugly protest.
It was 2pm, and scores of protesters, mostly Malays, gathered outside Komtar Tower. A ranking officer was barking orders to the police, while a large group of people started marching towards thetower.
More than 100 protesters carried banners in the heat of the afternoon.
They were chanting in Malay.
Mr Choo did not understand their chants. But the anger was palpable.
'The situation was tense and you could tell they were very upset over something,' he said.
What they were upset about has been on the boil ever since the newly-appointed Penang Chief Minister, Mr Lim Guan Eng of the Democratic Action Party (DAP), announced that he would do away with the New Economic Policy (NEP).
The policy was introduced in the 1970s by the Malay-dominated Barisan Nasional (BN) ruling coalition to provide economic protection for the poorer Malays, or bumiputeras.
But Mr Lim charged that the NEP breeds cronyism, corruption and systemic inefficiency.
Under the NEP, Malays have preference in jobs, education and business.
But even some Malay critics say it has been misused to benefit a well-connected Malay elite.
Still, the reaction to Mr Lim's comments was swift and hard. He was publicly warned by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi that such a drastic move would incite racial tensions at a time when the state of affairs in Malaysia is fragile.
Others weighed in. Newspapers played up their comments over the past two days. Bloggers dived in, some with incendiary opinions.
Mr Choo, a Singaporean, has never seen a racially charged rally here, let alone a protest.
He wondered: Is this what it's like when irresponsible politicians on both sides fan the flames of racial tension so publicly? Will it grow? Will it boil over?
Crowd may be chatting fiercely, but...
And what were they shouting? He asked his counterparts in the local press. They told him that the crowd was chanting slogans in Malay, stating that 'Mr Lim did not respect the Malays in Penang'.
The banners proclaimed slogans such as 'Long live the Malays' and 'We the Malays of Penang support PakLah (Mr Abdullah)'.
'I was worried initially,' said Mr Choo. But he was pleasantly surprised.
'In the midst of their aggressive chants, they still made way for me to work. They were not violent at all and did not mind me taking photos of them or of the scene,' he said.
He noticed that their anger was channelled at this 'Mr Lim'.
The presence of the police trucks and water cannons, along with the 100-odd police personnel, seemed to add to the tense situation.
'But it was very peaceful. I was not pushed around. No one threw bottles or any items, like you would expect at such an emotionally charged affair,' Mr Choo said.
After more than an hour, the police started giving orders for the crowd to disperse.
And they did - to everyone's relief.
As for Mr Choo, he managed to complete his errands in time for a relative's wedding in Penang, Pearl of the Orient.
Mentally troubled youngsters seeking help in record numbers
Sun, 16 Mar 2008 02:10:07 GMT
Singapore - A record number of children and adolescents are seeking help for mental illnesses in Singapore as the stigma of counselling has diminished, a published report said on Sunday. The Institute of Mental Health's (IMH) Child Guidance Clinic, which provides services for those 19 and below, saw nearly 3,000 referrals last year.
Between 2000 to 2006, the IMH had between 2,000 and 2,500 annual referrals, mostly from schools or polyclinics, according to a breakdown in The Sunday Times.
Dr Ong Say How, the IMH's deputy chief, said most of the new cases were children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, learning disorders or emotional disorders such as excessive worry, fear and sadness.
He cited better public knowledge of the IMH's services and increasing numbers of school counsellors who are more "vigilant and ready to refer students to the IMH's clinics."
The stigma of having a child referred to counsellors or psychiatrists has diminished, he noted.
"In the past, people thought it was a bad reflection of their parenting skills if they needed to bring in their child for help," a primary school counsellor was quoted as saying.
"But now, if you don't bring in your child to seek help, that is seen as bad parenting," the counsellor said.
Eight out of 10 counsellors and psychiatrists noted a greater lack of parent-child interaction in addition to higher stress currently faced by the young.
During interactions, parents inevitably asked about schoolwork and test scores instead of the children's wellbeing.
Koh Wah Khoon, director of family services at the Singapore Children's Society, told the newspaper she has noticed a trend of children equating their self-worth with how far they had met their parents expectations.
More parents also have problems getting their children to bed with the distraction of the internet. The problem used to be limited to university of polytechnic students, but children as young as 11 are brought to counsellors now.
Post a Comment