Help me keep the lights on!
Dear all,
Thank you for your continued support of This is Singaporean Chinese Privilege! The amount of support and attention this project has gotten has been extremely heartening and your emails, submissions and other contributions have been exceptionally valuable.
Running a website like this has taken a lot more time and energy than I originally envisioned. Doing research, writing, putting up submissions, responding to the never-ending questions and dealing with silly little Internet trolls has become almost a full-time job for me, one that I have been doing for free all this time. Maintaining and managing the inner workings of the website is also something that I have had to depend on volunteer help for. All in all, what started out as a side project has now evolved into a major investment of labour and effort.
Help me make this website sustainable and be part of this effort to make sure this safe space is able to stay online. Your support, in the form of an affordable monthly subscription, is vital to the continued operation and growth of This is Singaporean Chinese Privilege. If you ever need to stop the recurring fee, cancelling is easy.
There has never been a better way to take a stand against racism, prejudice and discrimination in Singapore than to ensure that spaces like this can continue to flourish.
The content available to subscribers and non-subscribers will remain unchanged because this is not a crappy newspaper that does not understand the Internet and believes in restricting access to information to those who can afford the fee. However, if you believe that this work is important and necessary in this increasingly tumultuous period of racial violence and repression, please subscribe to This is Singaporean Chinese Privilege using the buttons at the top and bottom of this page. Help me continue writing and producing content for you.
Malay is a huge category, and no, it is not arbitrary. It is huge because it is inclusive. It is meant to be inclusive of everyone indigenous to this area.
The Malaysian approach to policy making is not what I am suggesting. I don’t know why Singaporeans must constantly point to Malaysia whenever anyone talks about race. And considering that Malaysia has more minority representation and in power than in Singapore, I am not sure how apparently toxic it is.
The fact is that Singapore already considers Malay people native to the land. It is in the constitution that Malay people are natives to the land, so I’m also not sure where your idea that they aren’t indigenous comes from. What I care about is that they are treated according to that status, i.e that they not be talked about as immigrants, and they should be accorded special status as befits those whom the land was stolen from.
I started responding to this and it just kept getting longer and longer, so I decided stop here for the response, and to just write a whole piece on it. It can be found here.
I think one of the things I live by is, speak about what you know. I know what it’s like to be Indian and Hindu and Tamil, so that’s what I spoke about.
Yes, I do think being Indian & Tamil is important to the Singaporean Indian experience BUT that does not mean that is what we need for true political representation. This is why ALL kinds of representation is important. We need Tamil-Hindus, Tamil-Muslims, Tamil-Christians, as well as Sikhs and other North Indians. Putting one guy there and expecting him to understand the multitude of Indian experiences is tokenistic representation. Especially since most of the times, that guy is half Chinese, has a Chinese wife, and speaks Mandarin. So he is already a poor representation of the Indian community.
You can identify as whatever you want, but you can’t always represent it. People who are half Indian-half Chinese can identify as Chinese, Indian or biracial. What they can’t do, is act as if they are representatives of the Indian community as a whole. They are not. They are representatives of the biracial community, and that’s important on its own, and necessary. But if half Indian people can be representative of the whole Indian community, why can’t they also be representative of the whole Chinese community? Yet, Chinese people get full representation. No half Chinese can be the Chinese representative, so why does the half Indian get to be the Indian representative? Chinese people get to be represented in wholes, while the rest of us have to settle for halves.
In the same vein, what do light skinned North Indians understand about the Tamil experience? And what do Tamils, whose language is taught in schools and considered an official language, know about the tiny communities struggling to keep their Indian languages alive? What do any of us who are Hindus know about being Indian Christian/Muslim?
We don’t know. It’s that simple.
That is why representation must be varied and diverse.
Lols. You’re an idiot. You ARE tone policing me, and engaging in demanding respectability politics of me. You’re a stupid piece of shit who does not understand power dynamics.
Gandhi was a pedophile and a racist. He told Jews to lay down and die in the face of the Holocaust, and he hit his wife and daughter.
Is he still your hero?
Also, MLK has this to say to you.
Is Singapore in China?
Dear Spotify,
I am NOT in China. Please for the love of God, STOP with your Mandarin advertisements.
Chinese Privilege is having even international companies cater to you and your language despite it being streamed in a multiracial country.
Isn’t one of the official languages of Singapore Chinese??? That’s like getting upset when you hear announcements in Flemish & French in Belgium? I’m sincerely asking, not trying to be a jackass
Tamil and Malay are also official languages. In face, Malay is the NATIONAL LANGUAGE. So why aren’t there Malay ads?
It’s so convenient that the ads just happen to be in Mandarin.
You might not be trying to be a jackass, but your dismissive question sure made you sound like one.
Maybe the Chinese market is bigger? Idk.
Romansch is an official language of Switzerland but hardly any of its media is in it because it has such a small market.
The fact that you insist on continuing to defend Chinese language supremacy in Singapore really says everything. You can’t even be bothered to try to understand why this is upsetting to minorities, or that your ridiculous excuses have been used to erase and deny us representation for decades. You have nothing new or original to say here, you are actually spouting rhetoric that racists do all the time.
When you sound similar to racists, maybe it’s time you stop and think about who you really are.
there’s a difference between saying divisive shit and saying the true shit that needs to be said. and if you’re always calling what’s true “divisive” to not confront it, you’re part of the problem.
For all the Chinese people who constantly call me divisive.
These people are not here for you.
The people you have to handhold, lead, and try to plead with about your humanity are not “potential allies”. They are far from allies.
You cannot win respect from people who demand you demean yourself or they will harm you. Respect is not in their equation at all.
For the minorities who constantly want to ‘be nice’ to their Chinese friends, or they won’t listen to you.
Is Singapore in China?
Dear Spotify,
I am NOT in China. Please for the love of God, STOP with your Mandarin advertisements.
Chinese Privilege is having even international companies cater to you and your language despite it being streamed in a multiracial country.
Isn’t one of the official languages of Singapore Chinese??? That’s like getting upset when you hear announcements in Flemish & French in Belgium? I’m sincerely asking, not trying to be a jackass
Tamil and Malay are also official languages. In face, Malay is the NATIONAL LANGUAGE. So why aren’t there Malay ads?
It’s so convenient that the ads just happen to be in Mandarin.
You might not be trying to be a jackass, but your dismissive question sure made you sound like one.
Blog Update
Dear awesome minorities and allies,
I know people are trying to send in submissions and asks. I am just trying to clear the existing ones so that I am not overwhelmed. So just give me a few more days and I’ll reopen the blog again!