Friday, September 17, 2010
MM Lee's interview
So MM Lee had an interview with the New York Times. And everyone is expressing their views. Especially Malaysians.
I read one article that appeared in Malay daily Utusan Malaysia by Tan Melaka and he said that "[Singaporeans] feel they are oppressed, especially since they see the freedom enjoyed by their closest neighbour, Malaysia. Malaysians are free to express their dissatisfaction, and can even poke fun at their national anthem!" He also mentioned that "MM Lee has not given Singaporeans what Malaysia has given its young - the air of freedom". Freedom is a very very dangerous thing. If Singapore gave people the freedom to speak, discriminate, insult and criticise, Singapore will just end up having another racial riot. We are what we are today because we practice tolerance. We don't often express our displeasure about the other races because we know how to accept their flaws and understand each other. Giving people a freedom to speak may just end up for the worse because there will be too many opinions and maybe even disagreements. And disagreements will lead to tension, which may end up as a conflict. The severity of the conflict differs on the individuals. Besides, I think we are allowed to express our dissatisfactions, we could always write in to the Forums, etc. If there is no "net", no limit to stop us from crossing the line, there's going to be a lot of trouble.
Let me get this straight. You're saying that we "lived in fear of acting or speaking"? Have you ever considered that it is because...maybe we don't see a need to? Sure, there are a few outspoken individuals that want their voices heard, but there's not need for riots and boycotting like what happened in other countries right? We are civilised people living in a "developed country", as he said. So what if we have a "Third World democracy"? At least it took us this far and it is bringing us even further. I'd like to see that happen in Malaysia. I know that change is good and we must always be adaptable to survive in world. Change will come when people learn from this "Third World democracy" concept and improve on it.
The new campaign "1Malaysia" is stresses on national unity, ethnic tolerance. The 2010 values of 1Malaysia as articulated by Najib Razak are perseverance, a culture of excellence, acceptance, loyalty, education, humility, integrity, and meritocracy.(definition taken from Wikipedia, under "Ideology" section) I fail to see how that is different from Singapore. Emulate Malaysia's freedom given to Youths for them to speak? Sure, we could always promote these activities in Secondary and Tertiary Education. In fact, I think it is a great idea for the MOE to promote awareness in current affairs within the students, the future generation of Singapore. As long as there are teachers(the limit) there to guide us and "stop us from crossing the line"(so as to speak), Singaporeans could have more freedom to express their complaints more critically.
That's all I wanted to say. I just had to let it out.
-Jamie.
My sanitywas here ... at 7:09 PM
Yetmadness took over 0 times again.
Yetmadness took over 0 times again.