Recently an Opposition politician has stepped over the bounds of responsible and respectable behaviour. Rather than confining his vitriol and hate to politicians and public figures, he has now targeted a young girl who shared an image of herself on a National Day banner.
This child is studying in a local school. She had been invited to join in Singapore’s celebration, which she excitedly shared on her own Facebook with the caption “Happy 59th Birthday Singapore!” Her banner was one of 20 banners put up by the GRC for National Day. Of the rest, 18 featured Singaporeans and 1 featured a permanent resident.
Lim Tean hijacked the post and weaponised it for political mileage, sharing the post to his followers on Facebook, and criticised the poster’s inclusion of a non-Singaporean.
As expected, his post encouraged a tsunami of vile and xenophobic comments against the young girl.
As a result of the cyberbullying, the young girl has taken down her post.
Lim Tean has not apologised. In fact, he double downed on his initial post. But this behaviour cannot be condoned. To target a child, to whip up hatred from one’s followers so much so that it forces the child to delete her social media post, goes against what our society believes in.
Responding to Lim Tean’s act of cyberbullying, Minister of State Alvin Tan is right to say that “we (Singapore) are better than this”.
Our inclusive and multicultural society that Lim Tean rails against, is precisely what strengthens the Singaporean identity.
“We are a vibrant, cosmopolitan nation that welcomes friends from all over the world. They too, make up our Singapore history, tapestry and precious social fabric.” said MOS Tan.
Back in 1968, Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew noted that the acid test of who is a Singaporean lies in whether or not the person is prepared to stick out and fight for Singapore. He made the following observation:
“Strange though it may seem, some of the people most willing to stake their lives for Singapore are those born and brought up outside Singapore and who have settled here. Probably it is because they know how unpleasant life can be in other societies neither tolerant nor accommodating.”
This belief was shared by Singapore’s first foreign minister, S. Rajaratnam, who said that “Being a Singaporean is not a matter of ancestry. It is a conviction and choice”.
Wise words that still ring true today.
Ultimately, what makes a Singaporean is the love we share for an island no bigger than a little red dot on the map. A belief that we can each play a part to make Singapore a better place. That is the true mark of a real and generous love of our country, not the pretend patriotism that some expounds, a cloak for their own political self-interest.
PM Lawrence Wong said it best in his speech when he was sworn in as our 4th Prime Minister.
“We can build a Singapore where everyone succeeds in being the best possible versions of themselves,” said PM Wong.
“We can be a people, who are more Inclusive, Gracious, and Big-Hearted.”
Every year, we commemorate our independence on the 9th of August. But National Day is much more than that. It is a celebration of how far we have come from a fishing village to a cosmopolitan city. That is achieved not by closing ourselves to others but by embracing our diversity of culture as a tolerant and open society.
Thankfully, most Singaporeans recognise and reject the bigoted beliefs of a small group as shown in the overwhelming outpouring of support to the girl in the National Day poster.
There is no room in Singapore for xenophobes and opportunists.
Not on National Day.
Not on any other day.
