Saturday 24 December 2011

MP's racist remark - Singapore

 The surreal face of multiculturalism

Two Malay Members of Parliament (MPs) - Zainal Sapari and Zaqy Mohamad - have responded on Facebook to a remark made by fellow MP Seng Han Thong on a TV talkshow.

The deputy chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Transport on the SMRT breakdown on the TV talkshow, saying that he had "noticed that the PR mentioned that some of the staff, because they are Malays, they are Indians, they can't converse in English well enough".

In a post on Friday morning, Zaqy that he agreed that Seng's "comments were unwarranted". He added that he "was personally disappointed that Malay and Indian SMRT staff were singled out".

Likewise, in a separate post a day earlier, Zainal said that all "regardless of race", would have taken offense at such a remark, especially when it comes from a leader.

Earlier on, the Minister of State for Community Development, Youth and Sports Halimah Yacob, also described Seng's remark as "inappropriate and unfair".

Seng's statement - which suggested that SMRT failed to communicate effectively with their commuters during the train breakdowns because of ethnicity reasons - had created an uproar among Singaporeans. Although he has since apologised, the online community is still abuzz with discussion over what he said on national television.

His boo-boo came just about a month after a former PAP youth wing member, Jason Neo, posted an offensive picture on Facebook of a bus carrying Malay children. His caption for the image - "Bus filled with young t*******t trainees?" – sparked public outcry. Neo issued an apology and resigned from the party.

Zaqy summed it up best in his Facebook post, when he said: "We too, as politicians or public figures, need to improve our own communication skills, not just the SMRT staff, especially in sensing the ground and sensitivities with respect to beliefs and race. One item on my 2012 new year resolution."

source from sg.news.yahoo.com/mp's-'racist'- remark-inappropriate--unwaranted--malay-mps.html[blablabla too long]

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