Too insular, too nationalistic; Singaporeans need to think from others’ perspective
by Ng Teng Qin I saw the amount of anti-Mahathir hatred that some Singaporeans post on social media. (Yes, I am looking at you, Calvin Cheng) Fine, I don’t agree with what he did in the past.…
by Ng Teng Qin
I saw the amount of anti-Mahathir hatred that some Singaporeans post on social media. (Yes, I am looking at you, Calvin Cheng)
Fine, I don't agree with what he did in the past. But he has changed. And when I look back at some of his statements, they do make sense; Malays – how they as well as Indians have been treated in Singapore? It isn't as rosy as you're led to believe it to be. They do face discrimination. Even if it is not as bad as you see in other parts of the world. Tun isn't entirely right, yes exaggerated, but he does have a point.
You may be scared that Dr Mahathir will treat Singapore badly. Yes, I do want Singapore and Malaysia to have good relations. But first and foremost, he is elected by the people of Malaysia, not the people of Singapore). So he must serve the interests of Malaysians first. Not Singapore's! If he scraps some of the projects like the High-Speed Rail – I would ask why. If it is a rational reason like Malaysia can't afford it because Najib borrowed too much, better things need to be spent on, etc – I would agree with him and support him. If it is out of pure nationalism, then, of course, I would oppose that.
If Dr Mahathir comes after Monetary Authority of Singapore for Najib's money – Of course, I would support that! Provided Najib has money stored in Singapore. He must be accountable to the people of Malaysia especially if Najib siphoned all of them off. What's wrong with that?
The problem that a lot of us Singaporeans have is that we think only from our perspective. Too insular, too nationalistic (I mean it in a negative way, not based on patriotism). We need to break out of that thinking. We need to understand things from another perspective – the Malaysian perspective in this case. What may benefit Singapore may not benefit Malaysia.
This kind of short-sighted thinking has unfortunately been enforced by the People's Action Party (PAP) – whipping up nationalistic sentiment to get more support. It does no good for us in the long run.
This was first published on Ng's Facebook page and reproduced with permission
