TR EMERITUS

By Seah Chiang Nee from The Star (Malaysia)

NOT usually known for speaking up, people in this legalistic society have turned a bit more aggressive in fighting for their rights in public.

This is largely due to the infusion of 1.25 million foreigners in the past five years, which has partly altered the texture of society.

The outspokenness has not come from locals but foreigners who have arrived from different parts of the world with their values.

They are beginning to show passive Singaporeans what being pushy in life means.

Some have staged illegal public demonstrations – solo or in large groups – outside government buildings, while others have gone on strike, things that are not suppose to happen in Singapore.

Most locals would not dream of doing such things even if they feel very aggrieved because of the fear of arrest. It’s also because of their upbringing.

Take these examples last week:

> A mother staged a protest for two days at the Education Ministry demanding that her child be transferred to a top primary school.

> Annoyed by “poor taxi service”, an unhappy woman commuter complained to the company, which fired the driver.

> A family of five held up a public bus for six hours, insisting on boarding it with a wheelchair (for their grandmother). Passengers were dislodged, police were called and a tedious negotiation ensued.

The saga ended only when the bus company agreed to transport the group in a nine-seat Maxi-cab – at its expense. In this case standing their ground did work.

All these were done by mainland Chinese who make up the largest – and arguably the most vocal – group of settlers here.

Others come from India, Sri Lanka and places with a tough fight-back environment.

Few have been charged under any of Singapore’s tough laws forbidding even peaceful protests or public disturbances.

As one school teacher observed, “It’s difficult to condemn someone who fights to board a bus with granny’s wheelchair. Laws are not everything!”

Many surfers have complained against double standards in applying the law in favour of foreigners. Opposition politicians, they recall, have often been prosecuted for similar illegal assemblies.

Others, however, believe the government is treating political protests more seriously than socially-caused ones, rather than enforcing the law discriminately.

Last week’s cases were not the only ones.

In the past five years, more serious and bigger demonstrations have been regularly staged by disgruntled foreigners.

In fact the grounds of the Manpower Ministry were a frequent scene of mass demonstrations by foreigners seeking help to recover wages or seek jobs promised to them.

During the construction of Marina Sands casino resort, foreign workers downed tools in one instance, one of Singapore’s rare strikes.

In another instance, more than 100 Chinese workers marched along a main busy road watched by thousands of startled citizens.

Most young Singaporeans have never witnessed a public demonstration or a strike on Singapore soil.

One young couple timed their visit to Hong Kong to coincide with a mass demonstration over the Tiananmen incident.

“We’d like to see what a real protest looks like since we’ve never seen one,” the young woman said.

The aggressiveness was aggravated by the financial crisis, which had put many firms out of business, and workers on the street. The common view was: “I’m glad they were not jailed since they were the victims.”

With foreigners forming 36% of the population, Singapore has undergone a deeper transformation than even Singaporeans can fathom.

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