[h=2]ST: Only a small minority of SGs against PIDCS event[/h]
April 20th, 2014 |
Author: Editorial
The Straits Times (ST) reported today that there has been an outpouring of support for the Pilipino Independence Day Council Singapore (PIDCS) from Singaporeans since PIDCS announced that they would be organising activities in celebration of the Philippines’ Independence Day in premier shopping district Orchard Road (‘Filipino group heartened by support’, 20 Apr).
In its sub-headline, ST even wrote, “S’poreans back plans for Philippine event, slam earlier criticism as xenophobic.”
PIDCS “appreciate the outpouring of support they have received from Singaporeans since”, reported ST.
“We are heartened, grateful and happy to receive support from Singaporeans as they have done in the past,” PIDCS was quoted as saying. “We have not received any further hate or provocative e-mail or threatening calls for that matter.”
PIDCS earlier claimed that they had received anonymous phone calls demanding the event’s cancellation.
Since then though, other Singaporeans have shown their support online for PIDCS, deriding the criticism as “xenophobic” and wishing the organisers “the best” for their event, ST said.
ST quoted a new citizen from the Philippines:
Most netizens who oppose the Orchard Road event are saying that they just do not want to see Filipinos celebrating their National Day in a public place. They are not against the Filipinos holding the event indoors or on their embassy grounds like most other embassies do.
A TRE reader, Albert, remarked (‘PM Lee, we are not xenophobic!‘):
It quoted a
Dr Leong Chan-Hoong from the Institute of Policy Studies as saying that “the hostility came mainly from a small group of people”.
It also quoted a Facebook user, Yim Kuan Low: “Please know that these people are a minority, and there are many Singaporeans who hope you will continue with your event and have a wonderful time.”
In another article, ST opinion editor Chua Mui Hoong asked how well these online responses represented Singaporeans (‘Parallel universes in blogosphere‘, 20 Apr).
She said, “That’s a question I often have when I scan blogs or read reports of netizens’ reactions to events in Singapore.”
She then referred to PIDCS receiving online flak for organizing the Philippines’ Independence Day celebration.
“From all accounts, that anger seems to be an over-reaction from a segment of Singaporeans against a perfectly pleasant, legitimate event. Many others spoke up against such anti-foreigner sentiments,” she said.
She also quoted a survey, “Unlike blogs in English which often discuss current issues, most of those in Chinese and Malay dealt with personal issues. Unlike blogs in English which delight in ripping off mainstream media’s reports, Chinese language bloggers used mainstream media reports as sources of information, not as fodder for criticism.”
Her conclusion is that online, as in offline, there exists “parallel universes, groups are segmented, by language, by interest, by other differentiating factors”.
And Ms Chua’s concluding remark:
In its sub-headline, ST even wrote, “S’poreans back plans for Philippine event, slam earlier criticism as xenophobic.”
PIDCS “appreciate the outpouring of support they have received from Singaporeans since”, reported ST.
“We are heartened, grateful and happy to receive support from Singaporeans as they have done in the past,” PIDCS was quoted as saying. “We have not received any further hate or provocative e-mail or threatening calls for that matter.”
PIDCS earlier claimed that they had received anonymous phone calls demanding the event’s cancellation.
Since then though, other Singaporeans have shown their support online for PIDCS, deriding the criticism as “xenophobic” and wishing the organisers “the best” for their event, ST said.
ST quoted a new citizen from the Philippines:
Singaporean Luz Mesenas, who hails from the Philippines and has been a regular at the annual event, said that she is worried that people may turn up to disrupt it.
The 58-year-old, who is a self-employed publisher, also said the event is just good-natured fun.
“There are so many Filipinos living and working here, and a lot of them get homesick. This event is a chance for them to hang out, listen to music and watch the cultural dance and the comic performances. It goes on for half a day and it’s very enjoyable,” said Ms Mesenas, who has lived here for 14 years.
“They are not trying to invade Orchard Road.”
It is not known why the new citizen, Ms Mesenas, who has sworn an oath to Singapore at her new citizen ceremony, still attends the Philippine Independence Day celebrations regularly. It is also not known if she attends Singapore’s National Day celebrations on 9 August regularly.The 58-year-old, who is a self-employed publisher, also said the event is just good-natured fun.
“There are so many Filipinos living and working here, and a lot of them get homesick. This event is a chance for them to hang out, listen to music and watch the cultural dance and the comic performances. It goes on for half a day and it’s very enjoyable,” said Ms Mesenas, who has lived here for 14 years.
“They are not trying to invade Orchard Road.”
Most netizens who oppose the Orchard Road event are saying that they just do not want to see Filipinos celebrating their National Day in a public place. They are not against the Filipinos holding the event indoors or on their embassy grounds like most other embassies do.
A TRE reader, Albert, remarked (‘PM Lee, we are not xenophobic!‘):
The fact is allowing the Philippine people working in Singapore to celebrate their independence day in our own country public place is definitely wrong, period! However, I think there is no offence if they wanted to celebrate the event in their own embassy ground here.
The Singapore Day in London has nothing to do with celebrating a nationalistic or political event. It is the government’s gesture to reach out to Singaporeans living in England and in Europe. It can also be taken as a tourism promotion event.
As such the two events are completely different. So please do not accuse Singaporeans who dare to oppose to be xenophobic. We are not. And on the contrary, we appreciate these foreign workers and professionals coming here to help and contribute to Singapore’s overall economic development.
However, ST tried to downplay the opposition to the event by claiming that only a very small minority of Singaporeans are against it.The Singapore Day in London has nothing to do with celebrating a nationalistic or political event. It is the government’s gesture to reach out to Singaporeans living in England and in Europe. It can also be taken as a tourism promotion event.
As such the two events are completely different. So please do not accuse Singaporeans who dare to oppose to be xenophobic. We are not. And on the contrary, we appreciate these foreign workers and professionals coming here to help and contribute to Singapore’s overall economic development.
It quoted a
Dr Leong Chan-Hoong from the Institute of Policy Studies as saying that “the hostility came mainly from a small group of people”.
It also quoted a Facebook user, Yim Kuan Low: “Please know that these people are a minority, and there are many Singaporeans who hope you will continue with your event and have a wonderful time.”
In another article, ST opinion editor Chua Mui Hoong asked how well these online responses represented Singaporeans (‘Parallel universes in blogosphere‘, 20 Apr).
She said, “That’s a question I often have when I scan blogs or read reports of netizens’ reactions to events in Singapore.”
She then referred to PIDCS receiving online flak for organizing the Philippines’ Independence Day celebration.
“From all accounts, that anger seems to be an over-reaction from a segment of Singaporeans against a perfectly pleasant, legitimate event. Many others spoke up against such anti-foreigner sentiments,” she said.
She also quoted a survey, “Unlike blogs in English which often discuss current issues, most of those in Chinese and Malay dealt with personal issues. Unlike blogs in English which delight in ripping off mainstream media’s reports, Chinese language bloggers used mainstream media reports as sources of information, not as fodder for criticism.”
Her conclusion is that online, as in offline, there exists “parallel universes, groups are segmented, by language, by interest, by other differentiating factors”.
And Ms Chua’s concluding remark:
So it’s never a good idea to generalise from a group of angry netizens to Singapore society at large.
Ms Chua may or may not be right that angry netizens are a very small minority in Singapore. However, she cannot deny that angry residents now form the majority in Punggol East and Hougang, who chose the opposition WP over the PAP in the last couple of by-elections.