Expo Bullies: are these the PRs we need or even want?
My name is Tommy Su Handa and I am a Singaporean teacher working in Shanghai. I have just visited the Expo 2010 earlier today (4 Sept 2010) and it is with a grave heart that I am penning this letter.
I was just an unsuspecting tourist queuing up (I was with a friend, who is a local Shandong Chinese and he is willing to vouch for the authenticity of my report of what has transpired) at the Uzbekistan Pavilion today when a Chinese man about fifty years of age shoved me aside with a rough swing of his hand in the queue and progressed to shove others in front of me and disappeared amidst the crowd – a classic case of queue-cutting.
But the man is too fast for me to intervene. However, his daughter (photo shown below) and wife shortly followed behind and the daughter proceeded to attempt to shove me aside with her hands. I clutched on the railing, blocking her way with my body and said sternly, “请不要插队！” (Please do not cut queue!), refusing to let her shove me aside like her father.
So the girl (consecutively to be known as ‘G’ in the report below) immediately said, “哎唷，这个胖子怎么这样嘛！” (Why is this fatty [Chinese derogatory term] doing this? i.e. stopping her from cutting queue). Her mother (hereby to be known as ‘M’ in the report as follows) said, “这个死胖子，出来玩较什么真嘛！让一个人过去会死啊！” (Why is this ‘dead’ [derogatory term of added insult] fatty so serious? Will he die just by letting one person pass? [hello? This is a family of three, apparently she was unable to count])
Indeed, I will not die letting a few people cut queue and pass by. But growing up in a country that does not have any natural resources has instilled in me an earnest respect for rules and laws and a fierce integrity in abiding by and upholding them for the greater good of our nation’s international repute.
I firmly believe the world respects the tiny nation of Singapore because, we take pride in our work, honour our words and we respect rules and boundaries that would enhance racial and religious harmony. We have been trained since young to be politically correct and culturally sensitive.
In fact, my chosen profession has a teacher in a foreign land has further made sure that I conduct myself with the sternest integrity and unrelenting decorum at all times. I refrained from reacting to their taunts about my weight, so the mother and daughter proceeded to hurl insults at my manhood and my principled refusal to let them cut my queue. I kept quiet hoping that they would eventually stop, but they didn’t and they got more aggravating in their insulting exchange of words.
Finally, the constant harassment was too much and I turned around trying to reason with them:
I: 你们为什么骂我？你们想插队，我不让你们这样做，我并没有错。难道你们插队还有理？这样骂我？我是新加坡游 客，你们不需要这样大声，这样不礼貌吧？(Why are you scolding me? You tried to cut my queue and I refused. I didn’t do anything wrong in that. How can you act as if I’m in the wrong and insult me thus? I am just a Singaporean tourist; you most certainly do not need to be so loud and impolite.
G: 哦！新加坡人咧！我们是新加坡“屁啊”(这个女孩英文发音真的不行，她是想说PR，既是新加坡永久居民的英 文缩写) 我们很了解你们的！你们整天就是很丢脸的Singlish bad English，很烂的英文还要整天不要脸地说！(Oh! You’re Singaporean! We are Singaporean ‘flatulence’ [the girl has attempted to say ‘PR’ for Permanent Residence, but her ridiculous pronunciation has tagged herself as the Chinese pronunciation for ‘flatulence’] we understand you very well! You speak Singlish bad English *sic* and shamelessly speak it all day long!)
In order to avoid miscommunication and misunderstanding from others in the queue that I may have used any English vulgarities, I have checked myself and refrained from speaking a single word of English in the entire conversation that transpired. I have not given them any reason to start a new topic of insult at all so I have no idea why they have started to attack the English standards of my fellow countrymen all of a sudden.
M: 对呀！新加坡人很小家子气，又很笨不会变通，让人插个队都不可以，活该都只会傻傻做工没有什么钱。都是穷鬼 还要清高到不行！新加坡男人都不象男人。整个国家都很窝囊！ (Yes! Singaporeans are miserly, stupid and inflexible; can’t even let others cut queue for a bit! You deserve to work hard without earning much. You’re all poor blokes but pretend to be so high and mighty! Singaporean men are not men at all. The whole country is good-for-nothing!
I: 你们怎么可以骂我的国家？我不让你们插队，你们就乱骂人，我不和你们一般见识，你们还越说越过分，骂我的国 家？你们插队就错在先了还这样子骂人这样子闹，是不是有点丢人了？ (How can you insult my country? You started calling me names for no reason other than the fact that I refused to let you cut the queue. I tried to avoid further confrontation by keeping silent but now you insult my country? You were in the wrong first for attempting to cut queue, how can you bring yourself to make such a din now? Are you not embarrassed at the scene you are causing?
How did I refrain from using harsher language than this to protect my country? This is all thanks to my Singaporean upbringing and my personal dedication to my profession as a teacher. I constantly remind myself that I cannot afford to risk compromising my public conduct and decorum.
G: 你骂了中国呀！我为什么不可以骂你的国家？ (But you scolded China! So why can’t I insult your country?
I: 我几时骂中国了？我要讨厌中国我怎么会在这里工作那么多年？ (When did I scold China? If I have been unhappy with China, how could I have worked so many years in this country?)
The mother started raising her voice, hoping to get the other Chinese people to support her.
M: 谁说你没有骂中国？我们是中国人，你骂我们就是骂中国！！！你骂中国！！！我们是中国人！！！ (Who said you didn’t scold China? We are Chinese, you scold China when you scold us!!! You scolded China!!! WE ARE CHINESE!!!
The girl looked around for support and tried to fuel her mother’s ridiculous accusation and inflame the general public.
G: 对！新加坡凭什么瞧不起人？你凭什么骂我们？你凭什么骂中国？(Yes! What right do Singaporeans have to look down on us? What right do you have to scold us? What right do you have to scold China?)
For the life of me, I really did not understand how the matter aggravated to my “looking down” on her and her country! Honestly, I firmly maintain that I have not in any way tried to aggravate the matter with any negative feelings or emotions. I merely wanted them to stop harassing me but they were bent on elevating the quarrel into a public dispute by fabricating lies and inciting anger in the other people in queue. Luckily the general public was very clear-minded and no one helped the unruly women to bully me. If I had said anything inappropriate, I would have been swarmed and probably attacked by the other Chinese – and I would have deserved that. The truth was I didn’t get swarmed nor yelled at by the general public: which was proof that I did not say anything that would undermine Singapore’s friendly ties with the general Chinese populace.
Sensing no support from the others, the mother was getting hysterical for no reason and started physically slapping me at the mid-riff with her fan, saying:
M: 对呀！这里是China，你不受欢迎！这里是我们的国家，你滚回你的新加坡去呀！(Yes! This is China, you are not welcome here! This is our country, roll back to your Singapore!)
G: 拜拜啦，对啦，你滚回去啦！ (Bye bye, yeah, roll back home!)
The mother continued to bodily slap me with her fan, until my local China friend (to be known as ‘F’) spoke up for me,
F: 你们哪里是中国人，都抢着要去做新加坡‘屁啊’了，都准备放弃中国国籍啦，还做什么中国人？你们这样讨厌新 加坡，死皮赖脸去那里做什么？(You are not Chinese people anymore! You have rushed at the first opportunity to renounce your Chinese citizenship to become Singaporean ‘flatulence’, what kind of Chinese are you? If you hate Singapore so much, why shamelessly beg for its PR-ship?
My friend really made a good point and a cat immediately caught the unruly woman’s tongue.
M: 我，我们… 我们有利可图呀！那里人笨呀！钱好赚呀！(I, er, we… we’re there only for economic gains! Singaporeans are stupid! It is easy to make money there!)
This is where I really feel that I have to speak to the leaders of my country: the women who were scolding me in public have no love for my country but have been approved PR-ship to come in to fleece money from my countrymen. They are here only for economic gains. How did they ever earn PR-ship from such base sentiments?
Sensing the disapproval and despise the other Chinese people were showering on them, the daughter tried to change the topic of attack:
G: 是啊！新加坡人那么笨还敢骂中国！ (Ya, Singaporeans are so stupid and they still dare to scold China!)
I: 我哪里骂中国人，几时骂中国了？你看看其他正在排队的中国人，这些都是讲文明的中国人，如果中国人都象你们 一样连排队都不会，十三亿人口不就已经大乱了吗，怎么可能还搞世博？你们都放弃国籍了，不配当中国人，也不 要为你们这几个人的行为而让中国蒙羞。中国不会要你这种不文明的人做中国人，新加坡也不会欢迎你这种人！你 理亏了还不停地叫骂，有完没完？(When ever did I scold the Chinese people and China? Look at the other Chinese people queuing up now: these are civil people with a sense of decorum. If all the other Chinese people were queue-cutters like you, there would be unimaginable chaos for 13 billion people and the Expo wouldn’t have happened. You have given up your Chinese citizenship and you have no right to bring shame to China from your personal misconduct. China would not want citizens like you, and Singapore would never welcome unruly people like you! You have no proper reason or excuse to continue making this scene, when are you ever going to finish?)
And so the mother, knowing that she has neither excuse nor reason, stooped to hurling a series of Chinese obscenities at me. With my last retort questioning her non-existent national alliance and shamelessly untrue pledge of loyalty, I felt I have made my case and I have refused to further respond to her and continued with the queuing despite the continued insults and taunts behind my back. Eventually we reached the entrance of the Uzbekistan Pavilion and I thought I could finally rid myself of this unruly pair behind me.
However, they suddenly proclaimed that they intend to follow us for the whole day in the Expo grounds so that they can continue to scold us! Now this is absolutely unprovoked bullying and an outright case of harassment bordering on felony.
My friend stared at disbelief at the extent of their bullying and said,
F: 你跟呀！你骂呀！我们不会在乎的！假如你觉得你这样骂可以把你的素质给骂回来的话… (you can follow us and scold us all you want! We won’t care! If you think your unruly and unreasonable scolding can somehow even restore a tinge of your sense of shame…)
I must say that my friend is quite capable of stumping her to silence for a while. But her daughter continued to verbally insult me and my country – and also bodily slap my back with her fan. The pair continued to harass us.
I could take the harassment no more, and so I took out my mobile phone and told them I would take pictures of their bullying and publish it on international social networks. They immediately started slapping my hand and mobile phone to stop me from taking pictures, which was why the photos taken were so grainy. They then retaliated by also taking pictures of us. I started to threaten them that I would call the local police if they do not stop harassing us. That was when they ran away from us.
My friend and I then proceeded to view the exhibits in the Uzbekistan pavilion, but the two women started to follow us, from a distance, with their cameras and persisted with their silent but nonetheless continued harassment from a distance. This went on for the next 30 minutes while we viewed the exhibits until I finally lost my control, walked up to them and yelled at them and their cameras,
I: 你们插队了还骂人！现在还骚扰人！你们是插队的大变人! 你们是插队的大变人! (you cut queues and yet you scold others! Now you continue to bully and harass us! You are ‘dirty’ queue-cutters! You are ‘dirty’ queue-cutters!
I deeply regret the slightly coloured insult I finally flung at them, to which they have no doubt recorded on their camera. But I am no saint, and I dare request to step forward anyone who could have put up with such persistent taunting and bullying, physically and psychologically, of one’s bodily person and country without coming to physical blows and resorting to more colourful vocabulary. The slightly coloured insult was childish, but was the meanest I ever had to be in my entire life in face of such unprovoked unruliness.
It is beyond the shadow of doubt that these two women have lived for some time in Singapore and have unquestionably been reminded and educated that their unruly ways of cutting queues, unprovoked taunting, persistent social bullying and harassment, and last but not least, the daughter’s total inability to communicate in simple English to save her life, are not socially acceptable in the Singapore community. They simply cannot function in Singapore and that has evidently caused them considerable stress.
I know for sure any self respecting Singaporean would openly request anyone who is cutting queue in Singapore to refrain from doing so – and the requests would be made politically correct to address the act of queue-cutting and would in no way be a personal attack. The chidings from my fellow Singaporeans, due to the women’s inability to comprehend simple English, must have definitely been wrongly misconstrued as “looking down on them” and had evoked grudge and malice.
Conveniently but inappropriately, they have chosen to unload all their grudge and malice on unsuspecting and innocent Singaporean tourists at the Expo grounds such as I. Their target was not specifically ME, but just their own twisted perception of Singaporeans! As a highly educated individual, how could I have not understood that? That was probably why I haven't punched the lights out of them for such barbaric bullying.
But I do worry: do the “Foreign Talents” recruited to my beloved Singapore really understand the basic common civility to integrate into the nation’s communities? If they harbour such grudge and malice to Singaporean citizens, why do they lust after our citizenship? What can they contribute positively to our nation if they pose such potentially hazardous social anomaly? I most certainly cannot imagine such unruly people to love and contribute to Singapore productively – and I do not see unruliness as a talent much needed by the nation. Moreover, I was shocked and aghast at the blatant lack of loyalty these new PRs have for my country.
Please understand that my intention for reporting this isolated case is by no means to cause a rift between China and Singapore. I respect China, have married a local Shanghainese woman, and have now a nine-month-old baby boy, testament of my love for this second home of mine. The greater general populace of the China has always warmed me on countless occasions of their willingness to work unconditionally and sacrifice unquestioningly to noble causes.
I am not trying to aggravate the matter unnecessarily and the issue is no longer about my personal pride anymore. I think my government, my Singapore, has to take up responsibility for granting PR-ship to such people with no basic sense of civility. I reiterate that this is potentially (I would think it as "inevitably", in fact) dangerous to the social fabric of my tiny little country and I will not sit around and let it develop into a social cyst.
I do not expect an apology or explanation from these two women - this is no longer a personal agenda. I would like the relevant authorities in Singapore to take up the responsibility to provide counselling and psychological guidance to these two women. That is, UNLESS they give up their Singaporean PR-ship.
I do not expect PRs to love Singapore.
But I expect PRs and FTs in Singapore to at least RESPECT our country.
What these women did and said was not only public disrespect and insult to their host country, but the MALICE and HATRED that they hoard internally are dripping forth so much that it is only a matter of time before the emotions manifest to something dangerous to other Singaporeans.
I think my government has the duty to protect Singaporeans from foreseeable violence - verbal or otherwise. I also think my government, in granting PR-ship to these people, has the duty to EDUCATE and GUIDE them so that they can function, operate and hopefully one day, CONTRIBUTE productively to Singapore.
http://forums.asiaone.com/showthread.php?t=32565
