As to the Japanese Controlled Era, I have heard about their abusings of their victims from my parents who were victims themselves. I was not born then but me too was a subject of an alien sovereign, the British.

My personal encounters with British troops which did their field trainnings at the village where I was staying were fantastic. As a boy, I confronted some British Soldier once for messing up some vegetables in our farm. He immediate saluted in apology and gave me a pack of his ration as compensation, his fellow mate did likewise.

Under the British Rule, we had free medical/healthcares including hospitalization, medicines and transportations in cases in cases of accidents. Education was as good as free and even privately run public Chinese, Malay and Indian Schools charged only nominally. Teachers and principals visiting students’ homes to relate themselves to students’ parents and backgrounds were frequent. Where I stayed, there were no less than 8 Primary schools within three kilometres.

Public Transportations were very affordable and there were attendants(ticket sellers) in every bus. Neighbours with cars occassionally gave lifts to neighbours and even announced his trips to town just that neighbours could get a lift and go town shopping with him and sometimes his family. Many married women were not employed, traditionally, most are fulltime housewives, but many did some farmings as land were mostly unoccupied at where I stayed, a village in the East.

There were some womanfolks whose husbands died while their many children were still very young, yet many of those ladies were able to singlehandedly brought the children up. How did they manage? Well, in every village there was Maternity Clinics that took care of woman and children medical problems at 50 cents and as said earlier, hospitalization for serious illnesses were absolutely free. Foods were plentiful and fresh from own farms and in my village, fishermen used to bring ‘ikan parang’ with hooks in the mouths that gasped for air.

A ‘kampong’ policeman made his daily rounds on a bicycle and the villagers hardly bothered him. Most disputes are usually settled by village elders except criminal cases. The ‘Kampong Spirit’ or camaraderies was so good that when a road needed repair, everyone in the village will play their parts.

Living was simple, in my case, the first six years of my life, I lived in a large attap house with the bare ground as floor and cheap wooden planks as partitions. There were no power supply and a common waterpipe for everbody to use(free), was about a kilometre away. Most of us had wells, oil and pressure lanterns as our sources of lights.

Despite the simple living, most of us were happy, as living was carefree, there was hardly much interferences from the Authority and though very poor, one can see from the above descriptions, most problems were overcame because of the welfares provided by the British Rulers and the spirit of camaraderies. And for those working for British Forces, they are still collecting their pensions today. A friend of mine was recently invited to the British High Commission to celebrate(for a send off).

Life for me took a bad turn when my family was resettled but my life never got settled, it is my fault for I can never erase the life I had in the village. THERE ARE SIMPLY TOO MUCH CONTROL OVER OUR LIVE BY OUR RULERS. But I will not pack and go as suggested by Oscar Choy.

patriot.

I have to disagree with you. Singaporeans are a well educated lot. They know what Human Rights is. Anyone with an O level cert has some idea of Human Rights.

Its just that their love for material comfort overcomes their conscience on matters concerning Human Rights.

Its materialism alright………..
************************************************************************************
Hi Dr Syed Alwi,

Thanks for the head-up.
It needs to be examined throughout our History.

The Baby-Boomers and 1st generation Singaporeans have no “human rights” as they are immigrants or British Colonial Subjects.

And I can assured you that even “Human Rights” were taught, majority will not understand it as eduaction were geared to produce workers for industries.

And worse, caught between the “Old World of Confucius” and “New World of English Educated”, the young SIngpaoreans did not have the ballast of Religion to steady them, and most of them like me ended up as “Free Thinker”.

CYncial in acceptance of Christainity morals and, and really has no understanding of Confucius Ethics – just grind along to what “is right as taught by parents”.

And therefore, we ended up with TWO generations of Singaporeans in pursuit of “economic success or materialism” and give short shift to “human rights” issues.

After all, they need to fed their fmaily first, and then ‘enjoy th fruits of their labours” isn’t it?

as long as the Social Compact of benevolent “Ruler – Subject” relationship is maintained and everybody benefited like in Roaring 70s and 80s, in a sense, “human righst” is on the backburners.

And evneen if it isi taught in schools, how many students understand “Human Rights” as taught as “Morals & Ethics”?

Or how many discovered Religion and live a “moral life”?

You cannot fault Singaporeans for embracing “materialism” as in the very first palce, they ahve no understanding, or do not seek to understanding, the udnerlying message of “Human Rights”?

Singaporeans embraced Materialism for the simply reason that the Social Compact of “Benevolent Ruler – Subject” works as you can see all around SIngapore,

And of course, benevolent Ruler has an iron fist covered in cotton, and tolerates no opposition to his divine rights to rule a slike Mandate from Heaven.

Now come the Milennials, well educated, well informed, Net-savvy, and imbibed with Western values, centred aorund Christainity Morals and Ethics.

And how many are you? Hundreds or less than a thousands?

Unfortunately to spread the message fo “Human Rights”, to educate Singaporeans, you need the MSM, you need education.

You need publicity and civil organisations to start classes.
Take a leaf from those political organisations in the 50s and 60s, where they ran self-help classes to educate the people in Mandarin lessons, where even adults attended those classes.

The very first step I believe is “Hman Righst 101″ ins econdarys chools and junior colleges and ITE college. perhaps an elective subject only like “Arts Appreciation”.

2nd Step – allow polytechnic and universities to form their oen political parties like SU days – Young Socialist, Young Democrats, young Liberals, Young Anarchists, Young PAP, etc…

3rd step – stop harassing opposition parties when they form their own non-profitable (even funded by foreign sources) classes to teach Singaporeans on their philosophy, political creed and of course, human rights.

4th step – proceed with that liberal arts college. Site htis college at the vacated Natioanl Theatre/van Kleef aquarium, swimming pool complex and SISIR Building at River valley Road,w ith Fort Canning as a rustic park for students to browse, picnic and to develop that “imaginative abilities and creative initiatives”.

And the nearby Singapore River can be develop into a student haunt like Paris left bank and Latin Quarter.

5th step – the hardest of all. Free-up the political scene with PAP forswearing litigation suits as a means of protecting their telfon-coated reputation.

The role fo Chee Soon Juan and SDP in it?

On one side of a coin, a clown, a PAP plant to deride political opposiiton in Singapore, an irritant liek a distraction to benchmark how good PAP is as agaisnt all these clownish poltiicla paprties with their laughable “human rights” issues which will not feed your familes.

On the other side, SDP is sincere and just that, another opposiiton political party , an opportuntist, cleverly feeding on the dissidence of Millennials, chaffing under this status quoa and long for that kind of Western and liberal freedom fo political expression even at teh expense of the economical well-being of Singapore like “I chose Death withotu Freedom, rather Freedom in exchange for Security “.

Onthat Thin Edge of Ucnertainty, perhaps, Chee Soon Juan and SDP si that rough and humble grain of sand, that got into a Oyster; so irritated it that it continuously secreted layer upon a layer to protect itself against this irritation, and the end result is a “Pearl”.
A precious “Pearl” ahrvested by others, in so doing, destroyed the Oyster.

Now, is that PAP is so fearful of Chee Soon Juan because they forsee the end result fo thsi “Pearl of Huamn Righst” that wil destroy t heir cosy oyster of a poltiical world?

I wonder the dearh of “Human rightst” lessons during my time, and during this 21st Century.

Well if the next generation is more conscious of Human Rights – then so much the better. This is something that will take many years. We have got to put aside our love for material comfort for higher objectives and causes like Human Rights.
That will take a long time…………..maybe in the next generation if they are imbibed with values that accord great respect for Human Rights.

“Dear Irony of Tyranny,

And so who is going to give you your rights ? And how do you plan to obtain your rights ?

Singaporeans ? Who ?”

=================================================================

Dear Dr Syed Awi,

The answer to your personal question is “I give myself the rights.”

BUT if your question is meant for Singaporeans in general, then my answer is:

Only Singaporeans, including you and me, can give themselves the human
rights. The collective will, collective consciousness and collective wisdom will
make that happen.

It is the same as moral values, ethics, morality, etiquettes, manners, decorum,
compassion, empathy and common decency.
It is in the upbringing as well as in the education of ourselves and our children.
It is how one values and respect oneself in relation to other fellow human beings.
It is the need to co-exist actively and consciously as a free and happy people
instead of being controlled, dominated, repressed, subdued, suppressed and
marginalised by the tyranny of a small group of people usually coming from
the rich, the powerful, the elitists and the ruthless exploiters,

We are all interdependent upon one another. We don’t live AS an island, though
we are living ON an island. No Man is an Island. Therefore, the exploiters cannot
live without the exploited and vice versa. Capitalists requires workers to help
them to increase their capital and profits. Workers require capitalists to set up
factories for them to work and earn an income to support their families. Based
on interdependent necessity, if Capitalists can control the workers, so also
workers should be able to control the capitalists. But the power of the capitalists
have been recognised, enshrined, enforced by written rules and behind the
scene dealings, while the power of the workers have not been recognised,
enshrined or enforced.

Many governments all over the world are willing to be on the side of the capitalists
for obvious reasons, and therefore either directly or indirectly suppress the
workers for the simple reason that the workers are easy to suppress because
they are very diverse and therefore difficult to be a united force to be reckon with.
That is the reason why trade unionism came about.

In some authoritarian countries trade unionism has been “destroyed” or “bought
over” and therefore became ineffective. Countries like Singapore that give top
priority to making economic growth and material progress the key function of their
existence are putting aside the other aspects of human existence, such as
morality, ethics and freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, freedom of forming
organizations, and freedom to protests against injustice, unfairness and indecent
or contentious laws, rules, regulations and policies. The justification given for
such action is stability. However, as a sensible and thinking human being, we
know that materialism alone cannot provide long-term stability. There is a
need for spiritual, moral and other values to counter-balance the ills that
materialism are bringing about into our society. So the rationale of stability for
economic growth/progress cannot stand. But it however continues to be shaft
down the throats of the powerless majority. Therefore there is a need to
counter or prevent the tyranny of the minority against the majority. That is why
human rights movements arise and picking up speed.

Everything new has a beginning. Thousand years ago, there was no electricity,
telephone, mobile phone, television, spaceship, laser beam, Internet, etc.
Nobody was able to believe in such things as we are having today. But today,
everybody take all of these inventions as second nature – no questions asked.
Why?

Thousand years ago, there was no such a thing as Capitalism but today many
countries, even communist countries, want to embrace capitalism. There was no
Communism, Democracy, Libertarianism, etc. but today these concepts not
only exist but are being practised in one way or another. The same goes for
Human Rights. It is a new concept (though it has been practised long ago in
different and various forms and ways). Any new concept requires time to take
root and be easily accepted as second nature as time goes on.

If there is a collective consciousness, collective wisdom and collective will for
something to happen, THAT SOMETHING will inevitably happen. No single
person nor single organisation can ever hope to prevent it from happening.

However, Rome is not built on one day!

Irony of Tyranny – 13 June, 2008.

I fully agree with what Observer has just said.

Human Rights begins with the values we imbibe in our children at home.

If we are selfish and are only motivated by our base instincts like fear and greed – then I don’t think that our children will care about Human Rights.

At the end of the day – its all a question of VALUES. How do we value Human Rights versus Economic Materialism ?

You have put it succintly. Human Rights, like charity, begins at home. :)

Climate change? Hmm… now you’ve got us thinking… :)

Human Rights begin at home and from your heart.
Relax and cool down. Why get so work up? Hey, you know something? This is supposed to be a tribute to the 60th UDHR. So lighten up and let’s engage our exchanges in a civilized way. I am a bit tire of the focus on government mandate.

I like to end the Human Rights Focus Week sharing with this anecdote. Through the exchanges of views and numerous differing opinions expressed by all caring citizens pertaining to the Human Rights issues and there is not short of “shouting match” in words. Quite a dramatic exchange of views indeed albeit this is what it is all about for a nation of citizens to grow. Let’s exercise a little civility and continue the good effort. At the end of the day, good cause will always find its way to the joy of the good Samaritans.

Reviewing again what “Sleeping Beauty” commented in response to my comment. I must honestly say, initially, I was indeed a bit upset on her mindset. Therefore I stated to make clarifications by reposting and directing her to my previous comments posted in other similar topics. Then it suddenly dawn on me, I like that “Just Do it” attitude. So NIKE™!

As I said in my opening statement, Human Rights begin at home and from your heart. Here are a list of things I suggest we the caring citizens can all start with while we continue our debate (I don’t know when this is going to end or will we see the light at the end of the tunnel). By no means this is exhaustive.

1) If you have got a maid, give your maid at least half a day off if not a full day for a start.
2) If you have kids, allow your kids to voice their views with reasoning. Fold up your corporal punishment such as canning, spanking. Remember, they are only kids. More so if they are teenagers.
3) If you have grand parents, parents or elders, treat them with respect and kindness. They don’t have to be your kins for you to show them care.
4) If you have siblings, try to work together and help each other.
5) Proactively invite your neighbors to tea, lunch, dinner or just a gathering and exchange kind deeds. Be sociable and extend genuine care.
6) If you are an employer, treat your employees with respect. Overtime does not necessary convert to productivity. Work is not all about the job, take time to understand your employee’s personal issues. Likewise for employees, be committed to what you are doing. Treat it as a career rather than a job. Be nice to your fellow colleagues. In both cases, shed off that “Petty Coat”.
7) If you have pets, remember, it’s a life time commitment. Treat them with unconditional love and spend quality time with them as you would with your kids, parents, friends, colleagues, and neighbors.
8) Learn to relax yourself. Life is not all about money and work.

The above examples do not require a mandate from the government or any law or rules and what not for you to exercise your Human Rights. Just do it! Be a good Samaritan, spread the good deeds and go infect others like a contagious virus. Bless you all! Its time for this “Senile” citizen to take a break to relax and let loose. Gees, this is hard work.

Oh, Thank you TOC and Kum Hong and E-Jay. It’s a pleasure visiting this blog, wonderful works. Who says Singaporean are dull and robotic. We are as human as others living in this planet earth. Any thoughts on spinning a topic on “How Climate Change affects Us?”.

I have to disagree with you. Singaporeans are a well educated lot. They know what Human Rights is. Anyone with an O level cert has some idea of Human Rights.

Its just that their love for material comfort overcomes their conscience on matters concerning Human Rights.

Its materialism alright………..

OScar Choy – on one side, presumably an ageing baby-boomer, refelcting on the sentimentals of HDB heartlanders.
Like one posting I read at Hammershpere on a female WP activists selling WP newsletter and got scolded by an old woman as “trouble-maker” and pointed proudly to her home which she can afford under PAP Government.
very thankfully for that to.

That is enough of “human right” for her.

On the other side, perhaps, Gen-X and Millennials espousing “human rights” which baby-boomers never have, never understand and never wanted.

You cannot have “human rights” when in the first place you never have it; nor do you understand what is “human rights”.

Yes, thanks to those pieces by Siew Kum Hong and Ng E-Jay, my knowledge of”human rights” had improved from zilch to knee height of a grasshopper.

And to think that I have live for over 50 years, an impoverished kampung boy, borught up in an attap house, well-water, studied under oil lamp, candle, mud-track, managed to save enoguh to study 3-year in UK university, wrk attachment in USA, Holland, SE asia, Macau and Dubai…and all without benefit of “human rights” as defined over here.

I do trust you all realised the great disconnect on the definition of “human rights” a perceived by Baby-boomers and most of Gen-X and the rest of Millennials as presently viewed by Chia Ti Like and msot of you here.

And if you want SIngaporeans to accept the concept of human rights, then the very first step is to educate Singaporeans on the meaning of “human rights”.

Starting now.

But it is an uphill battle with MSM controlled with PAP definition of “human rights”.

And the one good thing that Chee Soon Juan did is to highlight “human rights” which set people like me thinking perhaps he got a point…which led me to study and read up more on human rights.

And come GE2011, when Chee Soon Juan can marshalled credible Millennals as candidates, people like me are prepared to give SDP the benefit of reasonable doubt and voted for them.

The American gave a nice name to this cocnept: “Mercy F**k”.

Anyway come GE2011, disgruntled baby-boomers like me will even vote for a dumb jackass anytime against a PAP candidate.

in summary, if you want to push for “human rights” in Singapore, you got to educate SIngaporeans on the meaning of “human rights”.

it is not materialism, it is not the fear factor; but simply that knowledge had been suppressed or shuttled asided and average Singpaoreans haven’t got a clue of what consitutes “human rights” and can’t even recognise it..
Even if “human rightss” jumps up and bit them on the nose.

What you are talking about is World War 2 – not the current situation. To be fair – you must compare with other countries today – and not second world war stories !

The truth is that Asia has a very bad Human Rights record when compared to the West. Why should we demand less ? Why should we accept less ?

What Human Rights are we talking about?
Let me relate this story from my mother who passed away in 1981 at age 74. Just 50 years ago during the Japs occupation in Singapore(1941-1945) we have to bow to Japs soldiers whenever one met them on the road. And that “idiot” soldier is only a private in rank!! and just joined the army and passed/or failed basic training in Taiwan/Japan as what we known as BMT now. If one did not bow and wish that “idiot” soldier, Ah Ha! you CGH and cannot see daylight!

My mother also related to me that the present Kallang Bridge was a “chop heads” ground during this period. Many human heads were chopped and hung on poles along this Kallang bridge to instil fear and brain tortured onto the people. This was human rights by the Japs!

What human rights (even basic) are we talking about? We do not even have food and, don’t talk about 3 meals! or Kentucky chickens during the Japs period?? People of those period still survived today can testify that everyday food common are tapioca, tapioca…. even the dog also do not want to eat when fed by my elder brother!!

What freedom?
God blessed. We should count ourselves lucky. We determined our own destiny. If one is not happy with the type of environment and progress one is in, he/she can pack up and see for oneself by travelling round the world to see, to compare and to settle down in another so called “greener pastures”. But do not behave like one Asian-American recently who gave up Singapore citizenship, decided to have “one hand coke and one hand burger” and participate in local politics! A Chinese saying, ‘One leg here and one leg there”.

I want to tell him on the face, “Yankee, Go Home and get lost”

Just to clear your doubts. Here’s another piece of my comment that I had posted on Farquhar’s “The Phoney War”.

My personal view as an ordinary commoner is that until we ( the citizens of Singapore), sharing the same sentiment exercise that kind of unity and selfless characteristic of the China citizens, volunteers and the likes seen in the recent Sichuan earthquake rescue and rebuilding effort; garner enough signatures to partition for constructive change (no brawl actions or bulldozing tactics), looking through Singapore Constitutions as a commoner (I could be wrong), I think we will not see any drastic change to our current Judiciary system or Policies currently deployed any time soon.

Can we achieve that? I seriously doubt so as each an every individual (including myself), we have our own priorities and more so, when we are confronted with such issues, apart from making our voice heard through internet, the only other alternative is exercising our right during voting.

Obviously at moment, there had not been many worthy Oppositions that the majority think it is worth their votes thereby creating a balance in power. Without this balance, the one and only one way we can do sensibly within the Singapore legal framework is to voice our collective concerns either to our constituent MP or a collective partition to our authority.

I believe some will argue that this effort is futile because some had tried and failed miserably. Honestly, I personally appreciate the spirit of those oppositions for trying, however, I don’t think I can honestly say I concur the method and tact applied. However, I think if we are persistent in trying in a non-confrontational and constructive way, I honestly think our voices will not go un-notice. It’s sad, but its reality and I think we should at any given time, maintain our sober mind and be a little more patient if we cannot achieve enough unity to make an impact. It is my personal view and by no means am I trying to upset any individual that has differing views.

Chinaman,
Will be good to hear more views on what is needed to make it work. Isn’t it?

By no mean I am getting personal but I felt the need to response to both Sleeping Beauty and Chinaman. As wherever there are doubts, the best form of clarification is through engagement of concstructive exchange of views . Afterall, that’s the fundamental value of “Freedom of Expression” (pardon the pun).

His lobbying spirit goes hand in hand with the tact deployed by him lah (package deal lah). Without his special tact, he would not have warranted the attention of our ultimate superior one and hence your applaud.

You are good but you are marketing the wrong kind of koyok.