Watch Closely!

It was just waiting to happen. It was inevitable.

No, I’m not talking about the dwindling US economy, the sacking of Avram Grant or the eventual face off between Chee Soon Juan and MM Lee.

I’m referring to knockout punch someone gave a Chinese national for speaking too loudly. From what I read yesterday on the New Paper (28th May 2008), this Chinese immigrant was traveling home on a bus and apparently was talking too loudly on his cellphone. In came a pissed off fellow passenger; gave a good sock onto his face, smashed the bugger a few more times for good measure, and promptly left the bus. The assailant was quick, efficient and lethal; the Chinese dude needed a few stitches near his eye. And he probably had some cow-sense to try and leave the scene of the crime; but failed. (LOL)

Somehow, I’m torn between either feeling sorry for the confused young Chinese man who probably
didn’t have a clue what was happening, or, to understand the frustrated bruiser who’s had enough of these PRC people blabbering loudly in public.

Seriously, before you accuse me of sparking a racist debate you’ve got to analyze both sides of the coin here; of course I don’t condone physical violence against a fellow human being, its not ethical or humane. However, the Singaporean man was just manifesting his frustrations the only way he knew how, by stamping out (literally) the immediate cause of irritation.

I don’t want to generalize a group of people or create a social divide by stereotyping people of certain countries of origin together, but it is an open secret that most of these Chinese nationals akin to talk loudly in public.

Open secret? By that I mean either you have noticed or have someone tell you in some hush-hushed way. If you have acquaintances or friends who you know personally that are Chinese nationals and are not like that, good for you. I’m not trying to drag them into this, what I’m saying is, most of us as heartlanders notice that the majority of Chinese people whom we come across in daily lives have perchance for going over the bar on the volume slider. Maybe its not the majority, but definitely its those that catch our attention with their mouths that will give us that perception.

So am I saying to them; “Get the hell out of my country?”, hell no!

We (especially the economy) welcome these foreigners entering into our workforce, no doubt they’ll bring along a certain aspect of their country of origin with them; its not wrong. However, in-as-much as we celebrate our identity as Singaporeans, Chinese nationals etc it is important to note that the culture (both good and bad practices) that we were brought up is infused in our DNA; that we cannot refute.

A certain aspect of Singaporeans that is distasteful and commonly known is being ‘kiasu’, which is certainly true but in varying degrees across the nation.

I’m guessing the culture of the Chinese nationals they were brought up in was to lean towards speaking up to get their point across, which could probably be interpreted wrongly by us as being loud and uncouth.

But was the Chinese man doing anything wrong by enforcing his roots? Yes and no, well in my opinion anyways.

In a way, he was preserving his cultural upbringing (although on a subconscious level) by practicing what he normally does. You can applaud him for not selling out to adapt to the Singaporean way of life (I guess).

However, if you look into the context of the situation, here he is in Singapore, an immigrant in a foreign country, talking way too loudly upon a crowded bus, which many of the fellow passengers were worn-out and easily peeved after a long days of work. All they wanted was some peace and quiet in the journey; it doesn’t help that there no volume dial on TV mobile either.

So where was he wrong? Did he deserve the smack-down?

I’ll attribute his wrong-doing to ignorance on his part, why? Note that you’re a visitor to this country, a stranger in a strange land. You can’t bring every aspect of your previous holdings here; especially something that may be perceived as rude, and set up your own little Chinatown here! (Oh wait, there is one already)

Plain simple Ignorance! You must at least realize who is the guest and who is the host here!

In the words of the Rock; “KNOW YOUR ROLE JABRONI!”.

So what if talking loudly and spitting are social norms back in your hometown, this ain’t Hebing Province anymore dude! Wake up your idea. We don’t really give a shit who you were talking with on the phone to support your sob story, its partially your fault that you symbolically gave the finger to the social norms of the country. In part, as a visitor, you should have at least tried to find out what you shouldn’t do in this country.

So, don’t accuse us of not welcoming expats and foreigners to the country, you can attribute some of the hate to your ignorance to the social norms of this country. Singaporeans, this doesn’t mean we can not be accommodating to our visitors, graciousness goes a long mile

Did he deserve the beating? Debatable.

But no one tried to defuse the ticking time-bomb.

New paper article here