There is a viral post going around about a particular lady that seems to have posted a racially disparaging remark about the Malay language on her FB. I was also informed that this was the same lady that labeled me early in the election campaign as Taliban or ISIS for some strange reason.
I choose to ignore her posting but wishes to highlight the following.
I am convinced that Singaporeans mostly are not racist. There will always be that 10% and I hope lesser in any racial community that has this strange concept of racial superiority, which in essence goes against the grain, and teaching of all religion and cultures.
I believe in the maturity of most Singaporeans that have lived 50 years together, and mixed very well too in the region, which similarly is made up of people of many races, cultures and religion.
On this conviction, I decided to run as a candidate to allow me the opportunity to also engage the mainstream majority Chinese community on issues that are close to the heart of my Malay community.
I am heartened by the many more occasions when my Chinese brothers and sisters proudly declare their support for what I explained as discriminatory practices that still exists in Singapore that must be stopped. All the while reasoning that by championing issues of my community in no way mean that I am undermining other communities. These open and dignified dialogues strangely don’t happen often enough, which could have resolved many so-called sensitive issues much earlier.
I am glad that the things I openly said during rallies and in engagements with many people of all races have assured me of the ingrained value of universal brotherhood that is in all our hearts.
Let us strive to normalize the diversity that exists in our country into a true celebration of cultural and religious openness with mutual respect and goodwill that will breed genuine tolerance between us. It is unnatural policies driven by suspicion and distrust that hinders such progress towards unity. Nature and its wondrous diversity displays unparalleled beauty as a Sign and lesson for mankind from the Creator on unity in diversity.
For the lady in question, I do hope we forgive her, as clearly she doesn’t represent the majority of us and probably needed some form of help.
A common response made against activists who operate on social media is to tell them to stop discussing on these platforms and instead to do something.
There are several misconceptions exhibited in such suggestions.
First, it assumes that social media discussions, especially those that involves substantive exploration and interrogation of ideas is not doing something.
Our understanding of the world, of systems that are created and sustained in our political system, policy choices and preferences, are all based on ideas.
The government does not craft policies independent of their values, preferences, beliefs or interests. All these ingredients of policy formulation are based on ideas.
So is the system we live in. The rules that define what we can or cannot do, who represent us, the platforms we are allowed to use, the actions we can take, are all based on ideas.
To challenge, clarify and develop ideas is to do something that will have a much greater impact than simply acting without clarity.
We should acknowledge, embrace and celebrate the role of ideas and its formulation in our community.
Second, before we act, we need to know why we act, know how to act, what the scope and limits of our action.
Too often, we act without knowing the why, how and what. We assume to know what we do but do not understand what defines our behaviour.
I have seen so many Muslim leaders discuss engagement with the government to modify policies.
And yet, they do not understand the context of the policy. They do not know the values, preference and interests that not only allow but create the conditions for the policy to exist.
So they engage, in expectation of a change, while being constrained by the very system they exist in.
The policies, (whether hijab, imposition of leadership, domestic and international preferences) are based on a system that defines what can be done and the preferences of the elites.
To assume that all we need to do is engage on policy is to ask for a meal while trapped in a well.
Understand the system. Understand what creates the preferences.
And then we can understand what we can do.
And these understandings can only be gained when we discuss ideas.
Whether it is done in a classroom or social media, these discussions have to take place.
Social media provides amazing access to activists. We can reach out to hundreds or thousands of followers and friends.
Unlike using the mainstream media, our voice and opinions do not need to be filtered. There are no gatekeepers to decide what we can say or how we can say it.
We can develop and share ideas.
We can explore, provide clarity, impart knowledge and mobilise.
Every discussion is an opportunity shift a position.
An effective discussion will create new understanding or solidify old ones. Or create perceptual drifts.
Social media discussions, even if limited, can change society.
And that is more substantive than what many realise.
I like him, I like him not. I have listened to some of his speeches, sat in on some of his briefings and followed his Facebook posts closely.
Ambassador at large Bilahari Kausikan impresses with his intellect, witty rejoinders and say-it-as-it-is statements. He can go berserk when attacking critics of Singapore. In a recent Facebook post, he said a freelancer was writing critical articles about Singapore for a Malaysian website because of the money she can make out of it.
And just the other day, Kausikan had this smart-ass post on Han Hui Hui, who is facing charges of causing public nuisance during a protest rally at Hong Lim Park: “I think HHH… should plead not guilty for reasons of insanity.”
Nothing seems to scare him, even making unsavoury statements about politics and politicians of other countries. Earlier this month, he waded into Malaysian politics when he wrote that Chinese Malaysians were being delusional if they think the principle of Malay dominance can be changed. “Malay dominance will be defended by any means,” he thundered. Malaysian opposition politician Tony Pua hit back calling Singapore the mercenary prick of South-east Asia.
He brings back images of an era when Lee Kuan Yew reigned supreme with his undiplomatic attacks on countries like Malaysia, Australia, India. Kausikan, as the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was at the centre of it all when LKY and Mahathir Mohamad were taking relations
between the two countries to the edge of the cliff.
It is the school of LKY that Kausikan graduated from and you can see heavy doses of what he has learnt in his responses. Recently, he got into a verbal fight with France and its European allies when he accused Paris of being “hobbled by its own absolutist beliefs” on human rights. Two European ambassadors responded but Kausikan wanted to have the last word.
“Why throw the weight of the state against discrimination against one religion or group, while acquiescing in the systematic vilification of another religion, Islam, in the name of freedom of speech?” he asked in a pointed reference to the satirical Charlie Hebdo magazine.
There are enough examples like these to show how undiplomatic this diplomat has become. No one in government seems to have pulled him back and so far his messy musings don’t seem to have affected Singapore’s relations with other countries.
Maybe, they have come to terms with a man they consider to be a loose cannon who doesn’t have policy-making powers. It might also be possible that Singapore considers such a character useful to tell the world what Singapore really feels about world affairs but does not articulate publicly.
Kausikan is a breath of fresh air in the civil service where officers hardly say a word in public for fear of reprisals from their bosses. Kausikan is an open book; his views, whether you like them or not, are there for readers to agree with or dispute. And I am sure he will be ready to respond robustly against his detractors.
A good measure of the man is available in an interview he gave to a Public Service Division publication, Challenge. “I say what I think. I’m me, I can’t be anything but me,” he said.
For all his candour, he remains rather cagey when it comes to commenting on Singapore’s policy missteps. He has been silent on how Singapore got into a mess when the public housing policy backfired under Mah Bow Tan or when the exuberant immigration policy caused a transport nightmare for the government.
History will salute him if he does that.
P N Balji is a veteran Singaporean journalist who is the former chief editor of TODAY newspaper, and a media consultant. The views expressed are his own.
Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) chairman Jeffrey George (pictured above, second left) has been arrested for drug-related offenses.
George, an engineer, was elected as SDP chairman in October 2013. During the September general election, he acted as an election agent for secretary-general Chee Soon Juan and SDP vice-chairman John Tan.
Chee told The Straits Times the party was shocked by the news, and requested that Goerge’s family’s privacy be respected.
The Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) said investigations are ongoing.
Yahoo Singapore has also reached out to the SDP for comment.
When Captain Mona Shindy climbed aboard HMAS Canberra to test missiles in the Pacific, a locker had to be converted into a sleeping quarters to accommodate her.
Never before had an active Australian warship carried women. But aged 23 and launching what would become a 26-year career with the Navy, this was just the first hurdle of a trailblazer.
Already she had a University degree in the blokey domain of engineering. Weapons engineer. And if this were not unusual enough, Captain Shindy happens to be Muslim, and for most of her career in the navy, has been a mother.
Australian Navy Captain Mona Shindy
On board HMAS Canberra Captain Shindy and her two female room-mates were like celebrities, and not all of it was positive publicity.
“We were an absolute novelty and people knew our every movement, what we got up to and where we were. Overall the experience was a positive experience but there certainly were times that were quite challenging,” Captain Shindy says.
“Most female engineers in any work environment _ you really do have to work that little bit harder initially to prove your worth, to demonstrate your competence to really be accepted fully as valued member and a real contributor to the team.”
Then came the challenge of Ramadan, and explaining as a young sublieutenant that she was fasting and would appreciate a meal being put aside for her.
The response was along the lines of: “You’ll eat with everyone else, or you just won’t.” Which left her “the middle of the ocean with a few cans of tuna”.
Once the right ranking officer was made aware of the problem, a solution was soon found.
Anger was never an option.
“My first reaction is to empathise, rather than get angry, and to try and be part of the solution and work on the education piece, through engagement and interaction and just being professional about what I do and delivering professional outcomes and results. In the end, people respect that.”
It’s an attitude that has delivered her to the pinnacle of her career, recognised this week when she was named NSW Telstra Business Woman of the Year. As Director Littoral Warfare and Maritime Support, Captain Shindy advises the Government on the best way to spend billions of dollars on replacement tankers, ships, patrol boats — almost everything except submarines.
She was previously charged with turning around the Fast Frigate System Program Office, from an inefficient organisation with adversarial stakeholder relationships, to a collaborative culture with performance-based contracts. And she shaved 30 per cent in costs from a $130 million budget.
“People were happy at the end of the tenure, ships were leaving the wharf on time with all the maintenance done, when initially they weren’t.”
Soon after her first tour of duty on HMAS Canberra, Captain Shindy married and had a daughter, now 20 and a son, 18, who finished his HSC on Wednesday. Their happy accident followed a decade later in the form of another daughter, now 11.
Captain Mona Shindy at Garden Island Navy Base in Sydney. Picture: Toby Zerna
The job has required service on ships for two-year durations, with time away ranging from two to six months.
“But six months in anyone’s language for a mother with two young children and a young family, is a very significant sacrifice.
“I’m not going to dress it up. It was tough.”
It could not have happened without an extended family backing her up. Crucial were her mother — “who in many ways acted as a pseudo mother for my children sometimes when I was away” — and husband, who has taken many career breaks.
“For me, the only thing that made it easier is knowing that those kids had just as much love and support from those that were with them than I could have given them myself.”
Her family migrated from Egypt when she was three.
“The moment my parents migrated to Australia, they were determined to feel as Australian as anyone else.” She holds the position of Chief of Navy’s Strategic Adviser on Islamic Cultural Affairs, for which she was awarded the Conspicuous Service Cross in this year’s Australia Day honours for her work bridging cultural divides.
It is her aim to encourage more Muslims to join the defence force — around 100 of the 45000 defence force personnel identify as Muslim, 27 of them in the Navy.
“There’s lots of Australian Muslims who feel very hurt … by previous military campaigns that our defence forces have been on that have I guess resulted in discomfort and difficulty …. where those campaigns have occurred that have caused ramifications for a lot of innocent people.”
She says terrorist attacks which have hijacked aspects of religious teachings to justify those behaviours have created “fear and uncertainty for others who are non-Muslims”.
“For some people that gets looked at as the whole Muslim community,” Captain Shindy says. Some young Muslim see this in black and white “us and them” terms.
“They don’t have the maturity necessarily to see the greys and to understand that this is not everyone that has those views about you. That erodes confidence for those kids.”
There’s lots of Australian Muslims who feel very hurt … by previous military campaigns that our defence forces have been on
Her message to them is this: “You can be a proud Australian that loves everything about this great nation and still love your roots and love where you came from and straddle both worlds and both communities. That’s how I live my life and I like to help other people find their way in living those two things.”
And she can cite her own experience, including active service at the start of the 2003 Iraq War.
“It’s always tough, when you go anywhere, whether that’s Iraq. They were difficult times, they were interesting times I think for the whole nation.
“We are an instrument of our democratically elected government and I think that’s something that is very much accepted, understood and part of the contract that I personally have with my organisation. That’s my role, that’s what I signed up to do.”
