Daily Lessons from Life 19 April 2014 - Singaporeans should say 'no' to bigotry: Tan Chuan-Jin

MH370 Updates - Unmanned submersible diving deeper to try to locate the plane's black box. Still no luck yet.

Incheon-Jeju Ferry Disaster Updates - The Vice-Principal of the high school who was rescued The vice-principal of the school, Kang Min-gyu, 52, was one of those rescued hanged himself outside the gym in Jindo, police said. Kang was discovered on Friday and police released part of a two-page suicide note.

"Burn my body and scatter my ashes at the site of the sunken ferry. Perhaps I can become a teacher for the missing students in my next life," he wrote.

Bless his soul this dedicate man. I salute him though his death will not bring back those who had perished, he had done what he believed is right for him.

"Singaporeans should say 'no' to bigotry: Tan Chuan-Jin - CNA 19 April 2014

SINGAPORE: Singaporeans should make a stand and say 'no' to bigotry, said Acting Minister for Manpower Tan Chuan-Jin on Friday, referring to a recent article about Filipinos being targeted online for planning to celebrate their Independence Day in Singapore.
In a Facebook post, Mr Tan described the actions of those who peddle hate as "repulsive" and said such actions do not reflect Singaporeans as a people and nation.
He said that it was encouraging that there were many decent Singaporeans who came out to condemn the actions of those netizens.
"Many of us have celebrated Singapore's National Day in other countries and cannot imagine what it would be like if attacked in this way," Mr Tan said.
Mr Tan added he met the Filipino Ambassador during her farewell call.
He said they talked about the experiences of Filipinos who live and work here.
"Notwithstanding the occasional negative issues, she was thankful for the kindness and hospitality that Singaporeans extended to her compatriots," Mr Tan said.
"Singapore was a safe place because of how Singaporeans treated others.""

It is an interesting situation.

Lessons for me are:

1. it is definitely alright to celebrate one's national day in a foreign country in a dignified and relative quiet manner. I had attended many National Day functions while stationed in Beijing and Shanghai with no issue from the locals. They were all held in a hotel setting and in enclosed space;

2. I am not sure what the Philippines Independence Day celebration being talked about is at what scale and how it will be organized. If it is in the quiet and dignified way like what overseas Singaporeans had been celebrating Singapore National Day, it should not be an issue;

3. having said that, it is logical to consider the, rightly or wrongly, 'hurt' feeling of some Singaporeans who felt their nation had been taken over by foreigners on how foreigners celebrate their national day in Singapore. Also, there is a need to distinguish those 'spurt of the moment insensitive commentary' to those expounded by known and persistent 'bigots' of Singapore. To resolve any STRONG disagreement between any two parties, it is important to calm the emotional nerve first before engaging in rational discourse about what is what and how any gap can be narrowed or closed.

There is NO ROOM for bigotry for sure. Still, if there are a lot more people than one expected voiced the same strong opinion, it is essential to investigate the root causes instead of just 'telling those who said such unhelpful comments and 'hatred' to just stop.'

Bigotry is appalling and we don't condone it. Yet, there is a need to understand WHY, if  it is indeed a national issue it even exists in the first place. Beware.