The most bizarre story that unfolded this week has to be the one where a group of girls from the prestigious Raffles Girls School (RGS) were reprimanded for apparently worshipping a statue of the Greek Goddess of Wisdom, Athena.
This incident so triggered a teacher that she made each student involved write a letter of apology. According to the said teacher, “praying to the statue of Athena, even if done in jest, is unacceptable.” She justified her actions by saying the students had behaved sacrilegiously because RGS was supposed to be a secular environment for learning.
It is unclear to whom the teacher expected the pupils to apologise given that she seemed to be the only one who had taken offence. Did she expect the students to apologise to her? And if so, is that not a tad narcissistic? Perhaps, the teacher ought to reflect on her own biases?
According to the Collins dictionary, “sacrilegious” is defined as behaviour or actions that show great disrespect towards something holy. Synonyms of the word include “blasphemous” and “unholy”.
Clearly, the word has a religious connotation. It thus seems like a contradiction in terms for the teacher in question to use a loaded religious word to defend secularism?
As this teacher’s action breached Article 15 of the Constitution of Singapore, which states that “Every person has the right to profess and practise his religion and to propagate it,” would this teacher have also reacted the same way if a student had said a Christian, Hindu, Islamic or Buddhist prayer?
If the teacher’s actions are premised on secularism, no prayers of any kind should be allowed in school. Would this be something that students and parents be happy with?
And if not, are we happy with the narrow way in which religion is being defined by Singapore’s top school?
Also, if RGS is indeed meant to be completely secular, I would love to know what this teacher’s stance on LGBTQ rights is.
Death Penalty
This week, Abdul Kahar bin Othman was hanged after an apparent hiatus in 2019.
In addition to Abdul Kahar, seven other death row prisoners have been given execution notices since 2019, according to the Transformative Justice Collective, a group that campaigns for reform of Singapore’s legal system.
These include Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam, a man with learning disabilities, who has spent a decade on death row for trafficking a small amount of heroin. His appeal was rejected by Singapore’s top court on Tuesday (29 March), despite an international outcry over his case.
It bears remembering that not too long ago, Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam escaped the hangman’s noose because he had tested positive for Covid-19.
I would have thought that “sacrilegious” is better used to describe a system that thinks it’s OK to hang a man with learning disabilities but not OK to hang him when he is positive with Covid-19 rather than a group of girls paying homage to the Goddess of wisdom and intelligent warfare erected within the confines of the school. But hey, what do I know?
Beijing Whisperer
On the home front, Singapore does seem to be a country at odds, but meanwhile, on the international stage, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who this week met with US president Joe Biden stateside was forced to deny that he was a “Beijing whisperer”.
“We are not part of the family. We are an ethnic Chinese majority country in South East Asia. Multi-racial, multi-religious, with independent national interests and priorities.
And they treat us as such. And we remind them that, that is so.”
Yet, it bears remembering that in 2019, then Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean (now Senior Minister), emphasised the similarities between Singapore and China at the end of a 6-day visit to China.
According to Philip Liu Hsiao-Pong, who wrote an article entitled “Love the Tree, Love the Branch: Beijing’s Friendship with Lee Kuan Yew, 1954-1965”, which was published in The China Quarterly by Cambridge University Press, former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew (LKY) and his top officials often tried to maintain Chinese images of what Singapore should look like, and behaved like Chinese kinsmen who were building a third China – encouraging local businesses to exploit their dual identity as ethnic Chinese and Singaporean.
Liu further quoted LKW: “We would be foolish not to use the ethnic Chinese network to increase our reach and grasp”.
Does China really see us as not part of the Chinese family? Or, do we send out confusing signals? And, if we are sending out mixed signals, does this not affect our country’s standing in the world?
Back in 2019, 9 Terrex Infantry Carrier Vehicles (ICV) were detained by Hong Kong’s Customs & Excise Department. At that time, a Chinese analyst said that the ICVs would not be returned to Singapore unless two conditions are met – one of which was Singapore’s recognition of the One-China policy.
While the ICVs was eventually released, it is noteworthy that at the first bilateral consultation between China and Singapore after the detention, Singapore had publicly expressed its support for China’s “Belt and Road” initiative.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs even described the initiative as “a new area of collaboration which would further build upon Singapore and China’s substantive bilateral ties.”
Despite PM Lee’s denials, what is China’s opinion of Singapore?/TISG
The post appeared first on The Independent News.
Guide to Starting a Business in Singapore: Essential Costs and Steps for Entrepreneurs