BB BE: Not race blind, but not blind either

by Bertha Henson

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told an interesting anecdote on Saturday about his first election campaign in 1984, when he was being fielded as a candidate for Ang Mo Kio GRC.

“I remember when I was first fielded – 1984, in Teck Ghee. Next door to me in Chong Boon was Chandra Das, and he was already a sitting MP contesting against a Chinese candidate. And the opposition was going from door to door, and the message was simple: They didn’t say ‘vote for me’, they didn’t say ‘the other chap is no good’. They just asked, has that Indian man come yet? And everybody knew what it meant – there was a special UHF signal there, so you say one thing (but) what you mean is another thing.’’

Now that was way back in 1984. Thirty years later, have things changed? Has race been reduced as an identity marker? Has the UHF signal been scrambled? Frankly, I think something similar would have happened if a woman had been fielded. The other side will go: “Has that woman been here yet?’’

There is monster lurking in all of us, because we are just human beings who like to identify with groups or want groups to be as clear-cut as possible.

So PAP’s Grace Fu refers to Dr Chee Soon Juan’s lack of full-time employment as a liability when it comes to running a town council. That’s because we have an image of MPs as men, Chinese, holding down jobs. She wouldn’t have said it if Dr Chee was a Madam Something, housewife, running for office. How to disparage a full-time mother for wanting to be an MP, even if in your heart of hearts, you believe that household management is not the same as estate management? You would have a horde of angry women beating down your door – and you, a woman too! Better, in this hypothetical instance, to resort to ground whispers – “You want a housewife to run your town council?’’ – and hope you’re not speaking to one of them.

We all like our preconceived images of people in power. So a political leader should preferably be tall, for example, never mind if height has nothing to do with ability. We might want them clean-shaven, because men with facial hair just don’t come across as sincere – as Mr Murali Pillai himself admitted was advice given to him. And if they are women, we’d prefer they exude some steel and keep their feminine natures at home.

What about race? Ah. That’s a different kind of monster.

It was Ms Fu who first raised the subject openly, at the PAP rally on Friday.

“In fact, you should choose the candidate who truly represents Singaporeans of all races,” she said. “Beware of anyone who plays the racial card, asking Chinese residents to vote for Chinese only … I hope this is not the position taken by SDP.”

Then PM Lee expanded on it the next day.

Accusations flew online that it was the PAP which was playing the race card, by depicting the SDP as racist, a charge which Dr Chee denied.

It is true that Mr Murali’s skin colour is being referred to in a derogatory manner in some quarters – and it is something you simply cannot wish away. Similarly, you cannot pretend that the minorities do not have choice epithets for Chinese candidates, especially if they are Chinese-speaking.

The thing is, do you want to make an issue out of it?

So Dr Chee has come out to say it is hard to restrain the comments from people online. I wager that the PAP would have found it difficult too, if the shoe was on the other foot. It is because there is the internet that everyone can read such comments. And we have no idea if they are more extensive and intensive than in 1984, when racist talk did not have the internet as a broadcast medium. My hope is that there is less of it and that such talk is confined only to a small, even if vocal group, of bigots and idiots.

What is good is that both parties have categorically made their positions on racism clear and should therefore, make attempts to tamp down such talk. Tell fans in no uncertain terms that you do not appreciate them showing their support by running down the other person’s race.
The winning candidate should not be a Chinese or Indian, but someone who represents the multi-racial ideal of a Singaporean.

It is harder for Mr Murali to campaign because of practical difficulties such as language. And he is being knocked for trying to connect with the majority Chinese ground by wanting to be known as “Ah Mu’’. You might say there is a sort of reverse discrimination here, with accusations that he is denying his own identity and community in his (over-eager?) attempt to relate to the Chinese ground.

Mr Murali has had to field uncomfortable questions on whether the issue of race could affect his prospects at the ballot box. His answer has remained more or less the same: That issues of race had been with Singapore society for a while – but he was confident he could surmount the barriers by his sincerity in working for residents.

In my view, both candidates actually represent the multi-racial ideal. You cannot accuse Dr Chee of being a Chinese-speaking demagogue who is focused on language or cultural issues of the Chinese. His rallies have a line-up of non-Chinese speakers. Nor can anyone call Mr Murali anti-Chinese, given his long record of service in Bukit Batok and later Paya Lebar which, according to PM Lee, he won in the last election. By the way, that was against a fluent Chinese speaker, WP’s Chen Show Mao.

So we should expect that race will surface at the periphery of any election campaign, but this does not always translate as a factor in the people’s vote.

Voters might not be race blind, but they are not blind.

 

Featured Image by Natassya Diana.

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The post BB BE: Not race blind, but not blind either appeared first on The Middle Ground.

- Bertha Henson