Singapore is a migrant country with citizens from many origins. Race and religion has ever been sensitive issues in Singapore. Many laws and restrictions are put in place to maintain our racial harmony. Those who have lashed out racist comments online in a moments folly have to face severe consequences.
Ms Cheong's recent case has created an uproar in the country. She has been fired from her NTUC job overnight after she has posted a racist comment against Malay weddings on twitter. In response to her actions, Singaporeans have vastly diverse views. Some believe that her actions calls for actions. People posted on Facebook, asking NTUC to fire her and one grassroots leader went as far as to file a police report. On the flip side, there are also those, including Malays, who have penned Facebook notes or created groups expressing forgiveness.
My reaction was more moderated compared to the 2 extremes mentioned above. Although I understand that she must have been irritated by her sleeplessness caused by sounds from the Malay wedding at her void deck, she should not have posted such a vehement comment. Being a permanent resident in Singapore, she should has known the sensitive nature of racial discussions and the dangers of having racist views. There are also many illogical contents in her post. Her conclusion that Malays having cheap weddings causes them to have high divorce rates is especially flawed. Furthermore, she should have known that whatever she puts on cyberspace is accessible to the wide public and is at her own risk.
About NTUC's actions against her, I express my understanding. First of all, NTUC is an organization that represents heart landers, the prejudice contained within Ms Cheong's comment must be against the organization's values. Secondly, due to the offensive nature of Ms Cheong's post and the pressures from the law and some citizens, NTUC had little choice but to fire her in order to calm the uproar. If anyone is to blame, it is Ms Cheong herself for posting such a comment on a public platform.
However, I believe that we should have took the effort to ask what prompted her to say those things instead of simply driving her away. By doing so, we have lost an opportunity to understand the cause and thereby take actions to prevent similar incidents from happening again in the near future. We should recognize the existence of such a problem, do something to correct it instead of simply punishing the offender.
The fact that a small incident like this has caused such a huge uproar also raised concerns. A sociologist Dr Chong feels that there was an over-reaction in this case. He believes that as a multi-ethnic and multicultural society, we should not simply silence the incidents contradicting this harmony and write them off as anomalies. "There does not seem to be room ... to openly discuss our contradictions and prejudices in a frank manner. And we are the poorer for it.", he said. More open discussions of race and how Singaporeans think about it are needed to deepen understanding and racial ties as well.
In conclusion, we have to be careful of what we post online and always think twice before clicking "post". We also should be more open to measured discussion on more sensitive topics.
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