Muhammad Huzaifah made a pretty decent argument (albeit some are factually inconsequential to the reality), to my previous comment:
well we have a Singaporean Chinese arrested for spying on behalf of China. And zero Singaporean Muslims arrested for spying on behalf of Malaysia. So again, lets not question loyalty.Whatever you said is nonsensical regurgitated pap that has been used by closet racists who are somehow afraid of losing their privileges and majority numbers.
Many Singaporean Chinese do not feel connected to China? What a load of bull. Go to any article regarding China by Mothership or CNA you would see the ridiculous amount of local Chinese supporting China. Plus historically, even the British trusted the Malays over the Chinese who have always put Chinese interests and China at the forefront instead of Singapore. But I guess you gonna conveniently leave that out.
Just sit for a moment and think. If we wanted to betray or revolt against the SG govt, what makes you think we won’t have done so years ago with Mahathir at the helm of politics in Malaysia and Indonesia having Suharto who was purging Chinese folks in Indonesia. We would definitely have received their support.
But the thing is we are not like that. We are loyal to this land. We are loyal to the people who we swore to protect.
Yet racists will obviously use the recent spate of terrorism to incite hatred, suspicion against us. And its worse when the ones who stir the pot are the very govt that our people also helped put in power.This whole statistical nonsense cancels itself out when you look at historical evidence. It was a Malay officer who died on the hills of Bukit Chandu with his Malay Regiment defending this land to the last breath. While it was a Chinese man who would become future PM that conspired with the Japanese and THEN the British.
So again,never question our loyalty by using our religion as an excuse.”
— my response —
“And zero Singaporean Muslims arrested for spying on behalf of Malaysia” <— because there is no Singaporean Muslims in sensitive units to begin with, thus no one need to get arrested because they betray the country + the bond I’m mentioning is not racial. Its cultural.
Muslims brotherhood/kin-ship have similarity to the Chinese connection to Chinese cultural roots (which Indians also have with India). You guys are already living in the Malay Archipelago. You are technically in your homeland.
And I can tell you, it is true, Chinese WERE very bonded with China in the past – because you must understand the history, Chinese immigrants in the past never thought they are going to settle down in Singapore for good. Everyone, like all many of the foreign workers that come to Singapore today, thought they gonna work a few years, earn the money and go back to their own country.
China was at war and then civil war… end up no one (if few) went back. Even up to WW2 period, many Chinese people largely still feel that their home is in China. But as time goes on, they settle down, and built their family here. Eventually, the Chinese where I mentioned whom do not feel bonded with China, are the 3rd 4th or even 5th generation Chinese like myself.
Remember previously when Singapore Govt allowed so many PRC people into Singapore, and given so many of them PR or Citizenship whom they shouldnt qualify for – Singapore Chinese voted against the Govt resulting in Aljunied GRC falling to Worker’s Party in 2010. We do not bond with PRC Chinese well at all – they are culturally different from us entirely. Its like totally different people.
Now, if you see the “support” of China in the CNA comments, you can see why there is danger in that – and I can tell you, some of them are trolls/influence agents; many of them are actually not Singaporeans, but Malaysian Chinese. How many Singaporeans really support China enough to “turn”, hard to tell – its not a high number at the moment to be honest. The same is happening in the muslim world, every single article mentioned of Rohingya or Palestine or Uighur – you can see the comments – how fellow Muslim brothers react. How many will actually “turn” to become a mujahideen or betray the country? Very few too.
What happen in our neighboring countries dont affect that much, because most of us are born and bred here. We built our lives and family here. If you look at the institutionalized racism in Malaysia, where only the bumi putera get privileges, did Singapore Chinese really “complained” or get involved in their politics? We don’t. Neither do we build elaborate propaganda campaign to “help our Chinese brothers”… we just don’t.
But we have this in the muslim community globally for Palestine and Rohingya. But only them. I never seen a single thing posted by any muslim friends about Yemen, Lebanon, Libya… where Muslim screw up another Muslim’s lives…. Their plight compared to the Palestinians… I think the priorities are misplaced.
Ultimately, the reality is, Singapore is majority Chinese – thats presents a REAL geopolitical issue for Singapore vis-a-vis our neighboring countries. Should we be a majority Malay state, we would have never gotten kicked out of Malaysia. Thats the reality. Be it what LKY did in the past, in order to get power and control – we are all benefitting from the consequences in those choices made by someone in the past we all have no control over – living in one of the top countries in the world today.
Similarly, modern and young Israeli did not choose to be born as Israelis. They did not choose to live in a geopolitical reality that they are surrounded by REAL enemies, and their family had to deal with rockets getting launched at them randomly. As such, what do you think their response going to be.
Young palestinians are the same. They are born into a pathetic state of affair, because their leaders of the past and present, prefers Israel to disappear, by constantly courting the Arabs countries to fight Israel; instead of actually compromise and build up Palestine to a stronger country in order to later demand more from Israel…. But no, they fed stories of Israeli “evilness” and brainwashed to think that the only way, is to fight back and take back all of Palestine… its just a recipe for disaster.
Coming back to Singapore, the sensitive unit selection issue, its not due to religion alone, but also racial. There are few Chinese if any in the Malaysian and Indonesian military. Its just how it is when you come to military affair. Throughout history, this is just how it is done, out of pragmatism. Can you blame them for not having Chinese in their military, when one of their potential adversary is a majority Chinese country? That’s just geopolitical reality.
I dont think its a question of loyalty. Just like how some stupid Singaporean Chinese can spy for China – its those unpredictable things, that, when you are a leader, you just have to make the decision to best minimize the possibilities.
As individuals, we just need to constantly remind ourselves, what can we do to enhance our harmony and resilience against foreign influence and threat. To me, PRC China espionage as well as Islamic extremist influence operations are the biggest threat to Singapore at the moment.
If we start painting our govt as the evil people, then we are screwed. Just look at the Arab states or even the Malaysian politics – no one are nice people out there. Only we can take care of ourselves. We have the difficult conversations, we might disagree on points here and there – but never forget we are Singaporeans first.
