I know many of you who read this blog don't know very much about Singapore except that its a pretty little island whose authorities caned Michael Fay. Well, there are other people in the country who need their asses whipped, to say the least. Singapore is home of the Lee Family dynasty -- Lee Kuan Yew and his family RUN the whole country -- his son is the prime minister, his other son runs the telephone company, his daughter-in-law runs the state investment company (Temasek Holdings that recently bought out the Thai telecom company from ex-PM Thaksin...) I mean, the cronyism of these big shot authoritarians!! I am currently reading up on the history of the Malayan Communist Party, among other leftist leading parties of the region, in hope to learn more about what we've never been taught in Singapore schools -- that NO, SIR STAMFORD RAFFLES WAS A COLONIST! NOT A SAVIOR!!
Thats another reason why I take so much inspiration from the Korean democratic movement, which saw another upsurge this past summer. They overthrew dictatorships that were ruled on the pretext that they would herald in good economic stability for a third world country. They saw through the lies and the pretenses that US-supported strong-ruled authoritarian states would NOT bring prosperity to everyone. If anything, it creates a stable middle-class for a few, and a strong underclass -- casualized/temp/foreign labor which is constantly being put down, marginalized and oppressed.
Excuse me for the rant, but this is the youtube that my friends from Singapore sent me which contains a quote from Lee Kuan Yew. One could read it as an extension of an awful social program, elitist and eugenics in style. It is not stated in racial terms in his speech (he wouldnt dare) but the implications are racial because most non-graduates are working class Chinese, Indians and Malays. I am a Southeast Asian Chinese and we need a different vision of relating to other races beyond this stinking elitist BS -- another damned model minority myth needs some smashing!!
Here goes:
Showing posts with label Singapore. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Singapore. Show all posts
10/26/2008
10/05/2008
In Commemoration of JB Jeyaretnam
With the death of JBJ, Singapore might just have earned a political symbol of resistance to the government.
Not that there haven't been any before -- the history of Singapore Malaya is loaded with freedom fighters who were crushed and forgotten. Now, we are left only with a revisionist history of our nation's founding.
Most folks reading this probably dont know the significance of JBJ. He is a figure who is very local to Singapore. Still, it is important for me to write about him here, even if briefly. I will say he was a bourgeois politician, who believed in at best, a British system of parliamentary democracy in Singapore, who saw the ruling party PAP botch even that ideal. Nonetheless, he fought for what he believed in despite a lot of repression, against a very formidable and unscrupulous government. The Singapore government's method of repression is always "clean." It seldom involves outright repression -- beating and torture. That would garner too much attention and wreck the image of Singapore being the only uncorrupted, clean, efficient nation in the chaos of Southeast Asia. Rather, it is through clandestine ways, such as dragging political activists out in long drawn-out court battles, fines, etc that would cause them to declare bankrupcy and create a whole lot of emotional and financial stress...thus making it IMPOSSIBLE to organize, IMPOSSIBLE to pool resources together in the absence of any functional grass roots organizations which if ever were present, had been effectively squashed by the government.
I remember seeing JBJ give out pamphlets and giving speeches in front of Centerpoint, in Orchard Road, when I was growing up. I had no idea that those simple acts, and others that had the intention of stirring up opposition to the ruling party, would get him sued and eventually cause him to file for bankrupcy. He was often seen as a looney, giving out flyers to a somewhat apathetic, and largely fearful audience. Fearful of the "Singapore swing," where it was popularly believed that any criticism of the government would get one arrested by Internal Security, basically detention without trial, reserved for political activists. To his credit, JBJ didn't give up and was always butting heads with the government. He built up organizations, bourgeois political parties that would compete against the government during election times. He belonged to that older generation of Singapore and Malaysia whose memories I wish I could tap, to understand what went on in those tumultuous 1960 days.
RIP Mr. JBJ.
Not that there haven't been any before -- the history of Singapore Malaya is loaded with freedom fighters who were crushed and forgotten. Now, we are left only with a revisionist history of our nation's founding.
Most folks reading this probably dont know the significance of JBJ. He is a figure who is very local to Singapore. Still, it is important for me to write about him here, even if briefly. I will say he was a bourgeois politician, who believed in at best, a British system of parliamentary democracy in Singapore, who saw the ruling party PAP botch even that ideal. Nonetheless, he fought for what he believed in despite a lot of repression, against a very formidable and unscrupulous government. The Singapore government's method of repression is always "clean." It seldom involves outright repression -- beating and torture. That would garner too much attention and wreck the image of Singapore being the only uncorrupted, clean, efficient nation in the chaos of Southeast Asia. Rather, it is through clandestine ways, such as dragging political activists out in long drawn-out court battles, fines, etc that would cause them to declare bankrupcy and create a whole lot of emotional and financial stress...thus making it IMPOSSIBLE to organize, IMPOSSIBLE to pool resources together in the absence of any functional grass roots organizations which if ever were present, had been effectively squashed by the government.
I remember seeing JBJ give out pamphlets and giving speeches in front of Centerpoint, in Orchard Road, when I was growing up. I had no idea that those simple acts, and others that had the intention of stirring up opposition to the ruling party, would get him sued and eventually cause him to file for bankrupcy. He was often seen as a looney, giving out flyers to a somewhat apathetic, and largely fearful audience. Fearful of the "Singapore swing," where it was popularly believed that any criticism of the government would get one arrested by Internal Security, basically detention without trial, reserved for political activists. To his credit, JBJ didn't give up and was always butting heads with the government. He built up organizations, bourgeois political parties that would compete against the government during election times. He belonged to that older generation of Singapore and Malaysia whose memories I wish I could tap, to understand what went on in those tumultuous 1960 days.
RIP Mr. JBJ.
picture taken from Yawning Bread
Some comedy skits...
This has been an awesome weekend, despite the fact that my body is going haywire in reaction to the weather. We had two friends from Providence, S & S, come visit us. We cracked up a whole lot watching the impromptu comedy skits of this duo play out. In addition to theoretical breakdowns of the "hipster phenomenon" (it is worthy of a post in itself -- bottomline is, I don't get it!!), we also went to the hipster hangout of Seatown: Ballard, to watch the South Asian stand-up comedian Hari Kondabolu perform. He is one of the few POC stand-up comedians in Seattle, and his shows have super sharp commentaries on race in the U.S. For those who dont know him, here are some clips:
On anti-Mexican racists:
On non-POC name-friendly spellchecks:
It's my first time going to a comedy club ever! Gotta say some of the stand-ups weren't jiving with me, especially those that bordered on morbid (I never got into the baby-killer jokes...I'm missing something about the humor of killing them in awkward ways). There was an awesome one also on hipsters -- yoga mat touting middle-age/long silver-hair-tied in a pony tail kinds in Capitol Hill, who self-righteously seek universal peace and spirituality in individualized, selfish acts with no attempt to understand or engage in society outside of themselves. What was so great about it is how real it was, not only in how it triggered memories of uncomfortable interactions, but also of how much of a widespread trend this phenomena was in Seattle!
Anyways, on the topic of humor as social commentary, here's something from the homeland. A dated clip of Liang Popo aka Jack Neo in Singapore -- see class, see agism, see labor exploitation, English-speaking wannabe locals. It's in Chinese, and minimal Singlish:
On anti-Mexican racists:
On non-POC name-friendly spellchecks:
It's my first time going to a comedy club ever! Gotta say some of the stand-ups weren't jiving with me, especially those that bordered on morbid (I never got into the baby-killer jokes...I'm missing something about the humor of killing them in awkward ways). There was an awesome one also on hipsters -- yoga mat touting middle-age/long silver-hair-tied in a pony tail kinds in Capitol Hill, who self-righteously seek universal peace and spirituality in individualized, selfish acts with no attempt to understand or engage in society outside of themselves. What was so great about it is how real it was, not only in how it triggered memories of uncomfortable interactions, but also of how much of a widespread trend this phenomena was in Seattle!
Anyways, on the topic of humor as social commentary, here's something from the homeland. A dated clip of Liang Popo aka Jack Neo in Singapore -- see class, see agism, see labor exploitation, English-speaking wannabe locals. It's in Chinese, and minimal Singlish:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
