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- Dec 30, 2010
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By Vincent Wijeysingha -
Dear friends,
The following is a heartfelt letter by an ordinary Singaporean to Minister Tan Chuan Jin which was cc to me. It bears reading:
Dear Mr Tan,
I was very impressed by your composure during GE 2011, and I was in fact rather disappointed when I learnt that you were not made a full minister in your first term, unlike some of the other new candidates. But over the past few days, I have a change of heart, because I completely disagreed with your stance on the bus strike incident.
"Taking the law into your own hands is wrong".
But isn't it also wrong to retain, and worse, practise repressive laws that have been introduced in our Constitution over the years?
"…regardless of their grievances, what the workers have done is illegal."
What the workers did was illegal, but didn't they do the right thing by speaking up for their own kind? If not for their courage, would SMRT have paid immediate attention to their living conditions? Would its CEO have made a personal visit to their dorms? Would you, and the rest of Singapore, even have come to know about the drivers' plight – that they don't even get to sleep in a rats-free, bugs-free environment after a hard day's work?
If "we have zero tolerance for" their "unlawful action", then why do we such high tolerance towards corporate mismanagement and workers' exploitation?
We all very well know that what is legal may not be right and what is illegal may not be wrong. The Constitution is written by the powerful in this country, and time and again, we see that it's also written to prolong the power of the powerful, and to reduce the power of the powerless.
You said the workers have to be "dealt with in accordance with the the law". Yes, you are dealing with them in accordance with the letter of the law, but your actions are completely at odds with the spirit of the law.
The legal instrument, first and foremost, should protect the interest of the most vulnerable, and not the most powerful in our society.
"This illegal strike is not acceptable", but using such hard-hitting approach against a group that's fighting for their basic rights is equally unwarranted.
The 'leaders' have now already been charged, remanded, and are likely to be fined, jailed, dismissed and banished. It cannot be undone by now. But I hope you can re-assess the merit of your approach.
Yes, it makes sense to send a stern warning to the community of transient workers here, to make it clear that going on strike will do them no good, so that we won't suffer any inconvenience as a result of disruption of essential services, so that foreign investors will not run away with their money. (It's an extremely outdated rhetoric, but yes, you used it once again, just like your predecessors.)
But this episode is also another clear signal to Singaporeans that the nail that sticks out gets hammered down. So suck it up when you're subjected to unfair treatment. If you're not a victim, don't even contemplate doing anything more than being a silent witness to injustices.
After all, doing the right thing will do you no good.
- (http://theonlinecitizen.com/2012/12...actions-taken-against-smrt-aggrieved-workers/)
Dear friends,
The following is a heartfelt letter by an ordinary Singaporean to Minister Tan Chuan Jin which was cc to me. It bears reading:
Dear Mr Tan,
I was very impressed by your composure during GE 2011, and I was in fact rather disappointed when I learnt that you were not made a full minister in your first term, unlike some of the other new candidates. But over the past few days, I have a change of heart, because I completely disagreed with your stance on the bus strike incident.
"Taking the law into your own hands is wrong".
But isn't it also wrong to retain, and worse, practise repressive laws that have been introduced in our Constitution over the years?
"…regardless of their grievances, what the workers have done is illegal."
What the workers did was illegal, but didn't they do the right thing by speaking up for their own kind? If not for their courage, would SMRT have paid immediate attention to their living conditions? Would its CEO have made a personal visit to their dorms? Would you, and the rest of Singapore, even have come to know about the drivers' plight – that they don't even get to sleep in a rats-free, bugs-free environment after a hard day's work?
If "we have zero tolerance for" their "unlawful action", then why do we such high tolerance towards corporate mismanagement and workers' exploitation?
We all very well know that what is legal may not be right and what is illegal may not be wrong. The Constitution is written by the powerful in this country, and time and again, we see that it's also written to prolong the power of the powerful, and to reduce the power of the powerless.
You said the workers have to be "dealt with in accordance with the the law". Yes, you are dealing with them in accordance with the letter of the law, but your actions are completely at odds with the spirit of the law.
The legal instrument, first and foremost, should protect the interest of the most vulnerable, and not the most powerful in our society.
"This illegal strike is not acceptable", but using such hard-hitting approach against a group that's fighting for their basic rights is equally unwarranted.
The 'leaders' have now already been charged, remanded, and are likely to be fined, jailed, dismissed and banished. It cannot be undone by now. But I hope you can re-assess the merit of your approach.
Yes, it makes sense to send a stern warning to the community of transient workers here, to make it clear that going on strike will do them no good, so that we won't suffer any inconvenience as a result of disruption of essential services, so that foreign investors will not run away with their money. (It's an extremely outdated rhetoric, but yes, you used it once again, just like your predecessors.)
But this episode is also another clear signal to Singaporeans that the nail that sticks out gets hammered down. So suck it up when you're subjected to unfair treatment. If you're not a victim, don't even contemplate doing anything more than being a silent witness to injustices.
After all, doing the right thing will do you no good.
- (http://theonlinecitizen.com/2012/12...actions-taken-against-smrt-aggrieved-workers/)
