Understanding begets empathy.

That by itself is a very simple concept. People had, since ancient times, feared what they do not know or understand. From the roars of thunder, to creation itself.

When one fear, one hides one’s fear. But when many fear, they band together and they direct this fear into hate and prejudice.

They stand together and ridicule the different, the deviants, the unknowns.

Today I was at the bus stop, when a man walked into the bus stop. The fact that he was not mentally stable was quickly established; he was very panicky and touchy and throughout the duration I was there at the bus stop, he never once stopped moving.

Then I noticed the lady beside me inching away from him as he walked to her side. Not very close, within two arm’s length.

I find it rather tragic; is our society’s capacity for empathy so little?

He had not sinned. He did not ask for his condition. And he is but like you and me, albeit his flaws being more obvious.

I noticed he kept shooing the buses away. When one bus arrives, he would wave the bus away, like he did not want to see the bus.

I wonder what was going through his mind as he did that.

Was it fear? Fear for something he cannot comprehend? A bus is something most of us know and understand, but to him it may be something foreign and frightening.

But unlike the rest of us, he does not hide his fear. Maybe because his mental condition does not render him incapable of doing so, but the fact remains.

He, like us, feel and fear too. We fear him, and he fears us.

What is your capacity of empathy? Have you tried understanding what you fear?

Or did you just continue fearing?

I just came back from Pre-University seminar, and written in my notebooks are many topics that I would write on, for the next few entries. But before I head there, let me recount a particularly depressing revelation by one of the participants. I will not release his name or school, but if he somehow stumbled upon this blog he would definitely know he’s the guilty.

During one of the panel discussion, this particular student went up to the microphone to pose a question. Pardon my forgetfulness, but his question escapes me. His opening statement, however, remained fresh like a cake just out of oven.

“Sir, as we are only eighteen, we do not really have much heritage or culture to speak of…”

What? Perhaps I’ve lived a sadly misguided life but I never seemed to realise that heritage and culture is actually dependant on one’s age? Is this guy even sure of his statements?

I meant no personal offence- perhaps he was just nervous or it simply slipped out of his mind the absolute nonsense that statement is.

Though while the benefit of doubt is given, I must lament and mourn. For age has yet become an excuse for one more thing.

Heritage and culture is not dependant on one’s age. The Chinese traditions of eating tangyuans, of “sweeping the tombs” on qing ming, those are your culture & heritage. The tongue that so many had forgotten or swept under the bed for its apparent “uncoolness” or simply not used is your heritage. Chinese language had been around for at least five thousand years.

This is your heritage. This is your culture.

Yet the Chinese language in Singapore is rapidly losing the battle. As teens become more educated and their exposure to English increases, their perceived needs for the Chinese language decreases. Yet they do not understand- knowing how to speak in your native tongue, knowing how to hold your chopsticks the proper way, knowing how to greet your seniors, these are your heritage and culture.

I do not blame that participant for his ignorance on his eroded heritage and culture. Surely he looks at a guilty when he looks into the mirror, but largely he is simply the product of the Singaporean society, which marches on without care for the past, forgetting that the past should be held as a mirror to reflect upon the present and future.

I came across these videos from Singapore Daily.

To me, I find myself watching two table tennis players with their own agenda. The accusations are thrown from one end to the other.

Each is right, yet each is wrong.

The lady (from SDP) who reasoned with the representatives of MDA (pardon me not knowing her names; I know her by face as I’ve seen her multiple times, but her name never registered), constantly used phrases like “Let’s be logical”, “Let’s be reasonable”.

It feels like a public stunt. To downplay the MDA representatives who, like a certain group of people, constantly preaches about a certain “truth” or “rightness”.

They don’t seem to question whether that “truth” they hold, is truly as such.

The context given was that this is a private function, the SDP is screening a certain “One Nation Under Lee” and the MDA, along with the police, party-crashed.

The reason? Because the film screened has not been subjected to censorship.

To me, it seemed like the SDP is really just gathering artillery from the screening- they screened the film, and they managed to make the MDA look like donkeys.

But it is still not enough. They are but a small voice.

Where have the voices gone?

Increasingly I find myself wondering this question. Where are the voices?

Is the world really so blind?

In response to the taxi fare hike in the 1980s, there had been a boycott of taxis. Many people refused to take taxi, and soon the taxi companies gave in, reducing the taxi fare. There was still a voice then. The public still assumed accountability; they knew that the voice of the people will triumph.

Fast forward to the present, and I cannot help but wonder, “Just where had the voices gone to?”

Are we too blind to see? Too oblivious to the things this government had done?

From the absurd pay-check, to Mas Selamat escape, to the police force arresting people who were simply exercising their human rights by a peaceful protest, to the unjustified GST hike, to the lack of accountability to the public.

Are we really so blind to see? Are we really too nonchalant to speak?

As I sit here now wondering, I looked through the drafts of topics I’d written but never finished, and I can’t help but wonder one thing:

Will they change a single thing?

I do not think the PAP should be overthrown or anything. To me, I think they are capable of running the country (in fact, the most capable out of all the political parties so far), but they must be accountable to the people. Oppression of the individual rights need to stop. Self-serving policies must stop.

But will what I say change anything?

I am sure that is what many people out there, who had not spoken, think. Yes as an individual your voice may not change things. But remember, freedom and democracy are not simply paper-talk; they are ideas and perspectives, and they are given power by words.

One may not be good enough, but speak out and let your voice be heard. The like-hearted will come.

And the voices will return slowly.

The people should not be afraid of their government- the government should be afraid of its people.

So after posting my previous entry, I went on to think about how similar Malaysia’s situation is, to Singapore’s.

History is often a good way to study the present, so I peeked into history and there I found my answer.

What has historically been the main trigger for the people to stand up to its government?

Suppression? Perhaps.

Yet the true trigger had always been frustration towards the government. The fall of the Qing Dynasty, fall of the Tzar, fall of the Weimar Republic, fall of the absolute monarchy in France and Europe, fall of the USSR- they had all fallen to the frustration of the people.

This frustration of the people brings about the desire for a change.

And that is what happened in Malaysia. Frustration of the people had finally swung the pendulum towards the opposite direction; the whole political scene changed.

It is not done overnight, but accumulated over a period of time.

Yet this same frustration is not present in Singapore. While there might be problems with the policies of the ruling party, Singaporeans are notoriously known to be short-term-memory voters. Furthermore, these policies are often made to look less than they really are. For example, the GST increase from 5% to 7% is not a mere increment of 2%, but an increment of 40%.

While this frustration towards the government does not exist, we cannot expect anything like the Malaysia GE to happen in Singapore’s GE. The pendulum continues to swing for the ruling party.

So with the recent Malaysian election, I hear a particular phrase around very often.

“The internet had played a very important part in this year’s Elections… “

Something like that.

It made me curious, and I began to check out some of the Malaysian political blogs. After a while, I noticed a certain trend.

Perhaps it’s me, but I noticed a certain degree of professionalism in many of the political blogs. They came across as being balanced, more “professional” and in fact much more elaborated than many of our Singaporean blogs.

I wonder why? Perhaps it is the fact that the BN had finally made too many mistakes? After all, you always get that repeated-till-death sentence- “The people are getting fed up with the mistakes the government had made over the years”. Again, something along that line.

The law of motion decrees that the pendulum must move both ways. Swing it too strongly, and the backlash will be equally so. Isn’t it?
If you ask me though, it’s about something else.

It’s about the voters becoming more mature now. Malaysia, like Singapore, had only gained its independence within sixty years. Yet Malaysia had that few years’ headstart. A child can only remain ignorant of the world’s evils for so long.

Eventually the child will grow up, and see the world with all its evil. I think the Malaysian society, along with its blog, has evolved till this. The people are starting to wake up. They are beginning to question, no doubt because of the trying times resulted from government policies. A wild flower will grow to become more beautiful than a potted flower.

And as voters become more mature, more opinions will be sought for, via any medium. The internet is an excellent place for this. Because the internet, by essence, is the freest environment you can find. Every day opinions are exchanged, words spoken. Many people in this age has also grown up with the computer and hence the internet. As compared to the newspapers (which many would deem partial and biased), the Internet is often used by the people to seek alternative opinions.

Being more familiar with the Internet means people are more inclined to the information and opinions on the Internet. In fact, this is a trend happening both in Malaysia and in Singapore. I can’t say the same for others though, because I simply have no idea.

What does this all mean?

It means that unless the ruling party bucks up, they will continue their decline.

How does it all apply to the Singapore environment, though?

Our government, as compared to BN, has done a much better job at putting oppositions down. As it is now, our people are still very much stuck in the “Do what you are told’ mentality. I feel that our people have not yet reached the maturity of other societies. The immaturity of the common people means that while opinions are definitely being posted on the Internet, the receiving end (the people) isn’t responding.

Unless we snap out of that and learn to be responsible voters, PAP will continue its reign for a few more years.

It’s no secret that Singaporeans in general have this “Monkey see, monkey do” mentality.

Just this evening I saw this mentality at work. There was two buses both waiting for the same lane. The queue for the second bus was waiting patiently for about five minutes. Then one man walked towards the second bus, and boarded it.

As you can guess, the rest of the queue began to follow. What resulted was a full five minutes of jam at the bus terminal. Because the two buses were blocking the road, and a third bus had to use the same lane. Like dominoes, the ripple effect comes into play: from two buses, it became three, four, five… The end result was seven buses jammed, just because of one man.

It reflects the perfect short-sightedness of many Singaporeans. We often only see the benefits in front of us, and neglect the long term effects of our actions.

The Malaysians made their decision. Let’s stop all your short-sightedness and look carefully.

Mas Selamat’s escape. GST hike creating over 6 billion profit for the country (a small amount considering our national reserves).

These are but two of the many things our world-class government have done that are more than just questionable.

A friend of mine asked me this question recently. Indeed, creativity is such an abstract theory and term. How can we systematically promote creativity, if we cannot even define what it is?

I took a moment to consider his question. The truth is, there is no quick way to systematically develop creativity. Creativity is not something that can be nurtured- the majority of it must be a natural trait. So how can we systematically develop it?

By starting young. It is no strange concept, after all. Many things often gets into the brain when we start young. Expose the child to a more vibrant environment. By allowing a child to grow in an environment where art is prevalent, where he is allowed to freely express himself without fear, creativity will be nurtured. Graffiti art is a good example. While some may consider it to be a form of vandalising, I find that given the right values and motives, it can considerably brighten up the environment, especially the cold concrete jungle we all live in. Other ways include more public art exhibitions to increase exposure of the arts.

The arts scene in Singapore is almost pathetic. To find any form of arts, one needs to go to the art museum, the many galleries and et cetera. However, the group of people the government are trying to reach out to (children), will not be able to access these places. Exhibitions of local artists in shopping centres around Singapore would most definitely do better. The only way to encourage more creativity among the children- allow them exposure to arts.

Another place to hold such exhibitions is the train stations. The North East Line, for example. While the train stations at the city (Dhoby Ghaut, Outram) will most definitely be crowded, the ones at Boon Keng, Hougang, Seng Kang are not. So why not hold exhibitions so that the commuters, while waiting for the train, will have exposure to the arts?

Yet another way is to include them in the design of the interior in shopping malls. I find that the current trend of using the slightly tinted glass (as seen in Changi train station, Marina Square, Vivocity), while feeling very sophisticated and modern, lacks vibrancy and colour. Would you stop to observe perhaps a drawing on the wall, or a piece of glass?

More colours are needed. If we can plant trees at every road, I think we can afford to add more colours and life to our streets. But no, black roads will do just fine. No coloured roads please!