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Another two Malay People's Action Party (PAP) MPs have weighed in on the controversy that erupted over remarks made by fellow MP Seng Han Thong on a TV talk show.
Mr Zainal Sapari and Mr Zaqy Mohamad made separate postings on Facebook on Friday that distanced themselves from Mr Seng's comments that the lack of proficiency in English of Malay and Indian train drivers deterred them from making train announcements.
Mr Seng said he had been refuting a remark by an SMRT officer.
Both Mr Zainal and Mr Zaqy on Friday criticised Mr Seng's remarks, which some Netizens had said were 'racist'.
Mr Zainal, MP for Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC, told The Straits Times when elaborating on his post, that Mr Seng's comments were inappropriate and cannot be condoned.
But, he added, 'it is not fair to label him a racist'.
Having known Mr Seng for seven years, through working together on community activities, he described Mr Seng as 'a good man and not in his nature to make such remarks'.
Mr Zaqy, MP for Chua Chu Kang GRC, calling the comments "unwarranted', said he was 'personally disappointed that Malay and Indian SMRT staff were singled out'.
The saga, he added, shows politicians or public figures 'need to improve our own communication skills, not just the SMRT staff, especially in sensing the ground and sensitivities with respect to beliefs and race'.
When contacted by The Straits Times, he said Mr Seng could have been more attuned to the sensitivities of the Malay community which has just recovered from the shock of recent incidents.
Last month, former PAP youth wing member Jason Neo, 30, made a racist Facebook post of a picture of a bus carrying Malay kindergarten children. He later apologised and quit the party
Within a week, full-time national serviceman Christian Eliab Ratnam posted on his Facebook wall a picture of text criticising Islam. He later apologised online.
On Monday, Mr Seng, a veteran labour MP, sparked an outcry online with his comments. He wrongly attributed it to an SMRT official.
It drew a rebuke from Minister of State for Community Development, Youth and Sports Halimah Yacob, who went on to urge people 'to stay cool as we need SMRT to focus on the big, big issue of fixing the defects'.
Mr Seng has since apologised for his comments, saying he had misheard the SMRT official on the radio while driving.
Another PAP MP, Mr Baey Yam Keng, when contacted, noted that the issue of the poor communication by SMRT during last week's train breakdowns had nothing to do with race.
Hence, he said, 'there was no necessity to make reference to race in this case'.
Mr Baey, MP for Tampines GRC, is managing director of public relations company Hill+Knowlton Strategies.
Like other public communications experts interviewed, he stressed the need for newsmakers to be extra careful and precise when making comments on sensitive topics such as race, religion and ethnicity.
These topics are as sensitive in today's fast-moving social media environment as they were in the non-Internet past, noted Adjunct Associate Professor Basskaran Nair of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.
Mr Nair, a public relations veteran, had this advice: 'When in doubt, avoid making comments on race and religion, especially off-the-cuff comments.'
MP Zaqy pointed out that being precise means avoiding sweeping statements and to look at issues 'through the eyes of minority segments'.
Dr Vivian Chen, assistant professor at the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information in Nanyang Technological University (NTU), pointed to the pitfalls when mentioning race.
'When you talk about sensitive issues like race, you have to use neutral terms' because people might 'end up enlarging and interpreting what you say', she said.
Professor Ang Peng Hwa, director of the Singapore Internet Research Centre at NTU, pointed out that in the brouhaha, the point Mr Seng had wanted to make - about poor communications - got lost when attention shifted to ethnicity.
The experts also stressed that mistakes will occur, given the emotional and visceral nature of social media, where comments are easily taken out of context or distorted.
Hence, it is important for Netizens to forgive mistakes, they added.
Like the other experts, Prof Ang said Mr Seng did the right thing by apologising swiftly and he urged Netizens to 'look at the actions of the person, as opposed to just the words that he spoke'.
Similarly, Mr Baey said: 'Hopefully, people will move on... and look at his other contributions as an MP, and not discount anyone just because of one mistake.'
Equally supportive was Mr Zainal, who told The Straits Times: 'It was a mistake, but it is not Mr Seng's intention to put down the Malay and Indian communities.'
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Mr Zainal Sapari and Mr Zaqy Mohamad made separate postings on Facebook on Friday that distanced themselves from Mr Seng's comments that the lack of proficiency in English of Malay and Indian train drivers deterred them from making train announcements.
Mr Seng said he had been refuting a remark by an SMRT officer.
Both Mr Zainal and Mr Zaqy on Friday criticised Mr Seng's remarks, which some Netizens had said were 'racist'.
Mr Zainal, MP for Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC, told The Straits Times when elaborating on his post, that Mr Seng's comments were inappropriate and cannot be condoned.
But, he added, 'it is not fair to label him a racist'.
Having known Mr Seng for seven years, through working together on community activities, he described Mr Seng as 'a good man and not in his nature to make such remarks'.
Mr Zaqy, MP for Chua Chu Kang GRC, calling the comments "unwarranted', said he was 'personally disappointed that Malay and Indian SMRT staff were singled out'.
The saga, he added, shows politicians or public figures 'need to improve our own communication skills, not just the SMRT staff, especially in sensing the ground and sensitivities with respect to beliefs and race'.
When contacted by The Straits Times, he said Mr Seng could have been more attuned to the sensitivities of the Malay community which has just recovered from the shock of recent incidents.
Last month, former PAP youth wing member Jason Neo, 30, made a racist Facebook post of a picture of a bus carrying Malay kindergarten children. He later apologised and quit the party
Within a week, full-time national serviceman Christian Eliab Ratnam posted on his Facebook wall a picture of text criticising Islam. He later apologised online.
On Monday, Mr Seng, a veteran labour MP, sparked an outcry online with his comments. He wrongly attributed it to an SMRT official.
It drew a rebuke from Minister of State for Community Development, Youth and Sports Halimah Yacob, who went on to urge people 'to stay cool as we need SMRT to focus on the big, big issue of fixing the defects'.
Mr Seng has since apologised for his comments, saying he had misheard the SMRT official on the radio while driving.
Another PAP MP, Mr Baey Yam Keng, when contacted, noted that the issue of the poor communication by SMRT during last week's train breakdowns had nothing to do with race.
Hence, he said, 'there was no necessity to make reference to race in this case'.
Mr Baey, MP for Tampines GRC, is managing director of public relations company Hill+Knowlton Strategies.
Like other public communications experts interviewed, he stressed the need for newsmakers to be extra careful and precise when making comments on sensitive topics such as race, religion and ethnicity.
These topics are as sensitive in today's fast-moving social media environment as they were in the non-Internet past, noted Adjunct Associate Professor Basskaran Nair of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.
Mr Nair, a public relations veteran, had this advice: 'When in doubt, avoid making comments on race and religion, especially off-the-cuff comments.'
MP Zaqy pointed out that being precise means avoiding sweeping statements and to look at issues 'through the eyes of minority segments'.
Dr Vivian Chen, assistant professor at the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information in Nanyang Technological University (NTU), pointed to the pitfalls when mentioning race.
'When you talk about sensitive issues like race, you have to use neutral terms' because people might 'end up enlarging and interpreting what you say', she said.
Professor Ang Peng Hwa, director of the Singapore Internet Research Centre at NTU, pointed out that in the brouhaha, the point Mr Seng had wanted to make - about poor communications - got lost when attention shifted to ethnicity.
The experts also stressed that mistakes will occur, given the emotional and visceral nature of social media, where comments are easily taken out of context or distorted.
Hence, it is important for Netizens to forgive mistakes, they added.
Like the other experts, Prof Ang said Mr Seng did the right thing by apologising swiftly and he urged Netizens to 'look at the actions of the person, as opposed to just the words that he spoke'.
Similarly, Mr Baey said: 'Hopefully, people will move on... and look at his other contributions as an MP, and not discount anyone just because of one mistake.'
Equally supportive was Mr Zainal, who told The Straits Times: 'It was a mistake, but it is not Mr Seng's intention to put down the Malay and Indian communities.'
[email protected]
