Filed under: broadcast, directing, documentary, film, internet, journalism, new media, The Malaysian Insider, writing | Tags: 1malaysia, amy cheong, DAP, fat bidin, journalism, Keadilan, kuala lumpur, malay, malaysia, new media, ntuc, pas, PKR, racism, racist, singapore, The Malaysian Insider, umno, zan azlee
OCT 19 — I was in Singapore recently to shoot a documentary on one of the Malay world’s greatest music icons, Zubir Said, who composed songs during the golden era of Malay cinema in the 1950s and ‘60s. P. Ramlee considered him a mentor and he even composed the Singapore national anthem. Zubir also submitted three songs for consideration for our national anthem but none was chosen.
But that isn’t the story here. The story that I am about to tell here really is about something that happened in Singapore while I was there for the said documentary. I had bumped into a Singaporean friend on the streets of this first world city-state and the first thing he said to me was: “There’s a story you can write about for your column!”
It was the Amy Cheong issue that was hot in the Singapore media. And spending many a lonely night in a cold hotel room watching Channel News Asia, I was very familiar with the story. A National Trade Union Council employee (Cheong) had posted a racist remark on her Facebook page that insulted the Malays (something to do with noisy and extravagant weddings!).
All hell broke loose and the first-world citizens of Singapore from all races raged against her. Not only that, the NTUC even sacked her. Then the politicians joined the fray, with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong leading the way in condemning Cheong’s behaviour and saying that racial harmony must be maintained.
It played out for a few days and some Singaporeans even started calling for Cheong to be charged by the authorities for what she had said. Then the politicians stepped in again, saying that she had learned her lesson and everyone should move on. And it seems that things have indeed moved on over there.
Now that my shoot is over and I’m back home in my own country, I start reflecting. It seems to me that Singapore, like Malaysia, has her fair share of underlying racial problems. So do so many other countries. Yet, unlike Malaysia, overall, the people of Singapore are quite united in their stand against racism, or so it seems, or maybe I’m just naïve.
The first thing that has to go in Malaysia in my humble opinion is the racial-based politics that has existed in the country from the very first second of its birth. [Click to read the rest of the article at The Malaysian Insider]
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