Police ban on Tamil language discussion at Speaker’s Corner proves the liberalization is mere tokenism

September 22, 2008 by admin
Filed under: Current Affairs 

Written by Ng E-Jay
22 Sept 2008

If the public ever needed concrete proof that the recent liberalization of Speaker’s Corner for demonstrations is mere tokenism on the part of the authorities which hardly returns Singaporeans their basic rights, we should look no further than the banned event which was supposed to be held last Friday.

Mr Thamilselvan Karuppaya, a real estate agent, had intended to hold a demonstration at Speaker’s Corner last Friday to talk about the use of Tamil on public signs. Changi Airport had earlier dropped the use of Tamil on its public signs, replacing it with Japanese instead, in an apparent bid to appeal to Japanese visitors who make up an increasingly larger share of the tourist pie.

National Parks Board (NParks) referred the matter to the police when it received Mr Thamilselvan Karuppaya application to hold the demonstration. The police informed Mr Thamilselvan to apply for a Public Entertainment License last Tuesday, but rejected his application at the last minute. Mr Thamilselvan cancelled the event accordingly, but he said, “We are not going to keep quiet on this topic.” (ST, “Police turn down estate agent’s application to speak on Tamil language issues”, 19 Sept)

As expected, the police dished out the usual excuse on the need to maintain racial and religious harmony. A police spokesman said in a statement that “the topic of his speech is a sensitive one impinging on race”, and that “Singapore is a multi-ethnic society and maintaining community harmony is a key imperative that we must not take for granted”.

There are a few points I want to raise here.

Firstly, I feel that Mr Thamilselvan topic is not a racially or religiously sensitive topic, yet the authorities have framed it as such, and used it as an excuse to ban the event. This is unjustified.

Secondly, why in the first place must issues surrounding race, language or religion be kept out of public discourse? If we keep assuming that Singaporeans are unable to conduct public discussions concerning such issues in a civilized manner, then this assumption becomes reality.

Thirdly, the Government has always lauded Changi Airport as a national icon. It is thus reasonable that Changi Airport should use all 4 official languages, English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil, on its public signs. To drop the use of Tamil and replace it with Japanese purely for commercial reasons is unbefitting of Changi Airport’s iconic status.

May I remind readers that Changi Airport is managed by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS), which is a statutory board under the Ministry of Transport, and is funded by taxpayer’s money.

CAAS replied last week that “as English was India’s second language, it was advised by the Singapore Tourism Board that English signs were sufficient.”

Well, English is Japan’s second language too, so English signs should similarly be sufficient for Japanese visitors. Enough said.

Tags:

Comments

17 Comments on Police ban on Tamil language discussion at Speaker’s Corner proves the liberalization is mere tokenism

  1. Anonymous on Mon, 22nd Sep 2008 7:22 am

    2. Thanks for speaking up about this. Since it seems to be a “minority” issue, it could have been swept under the carpet.

  2. Anonymous on Mon, 22nd Sep 2008 8:12 am

    3. talk about the use of Tamil on public signs is considered sensitive topic impinging on race….wonder does speak mandarin campaign or speak good English campaign consider as sensitive or not???

  3. somone on Mon, 22nd Sep 2008 8:13 am

    4. talk about the use of Tamil on public signs is considered sensitive topic impinging on race….wonder does speak mandarin campaign or speak good English campaign consider as sensitive or not???

  4. The Singapore Daily » Blog Archive » Daily SG: 22 Sep 2008 on Mon, 22nd Sep 2008 11:38 am

    5. [...] Lim Park – Sgpolitics: Police ban on Tamil language discussion at Speaker’s Corner proves the liberalization is mere toke… – BothSidesOfTheJohorStraits: NParks in-charge of Speaker’s Corner; or are the Police still in [...]

  5. s on Mon, 22nd Sep 2008 12:36 pm

    6. Before anybody says “But India was colonized by the British so their English is much better!”, more people in Japan have fundamental education in English than in India. For one thing more people are properly educated in Japan… Those who make the choice of coming to SIngapore of all places tend to be able to figure out basic English; whereas there’s a very different group of people coming from India.

    Granted there are a lot of Indian scripts, but Tamils have had a longer and more integrated place in our history than other Indian groups.

    But then, Singapore is run like a company so if putting Tamil isn’t profitable or efficient, put in something more Targeted! Think the way advertising companies do. Bleah.

  6. david on Mon, 22nd Sep 2008 12:48 pm

    7. Isn’t the government guilty of racial too when they remove Tamil for the sake of commercial interest to make Japanese happy ? So some race is greater than other race ? This very fact show that this is racist on government part but they blame it on Thamilselvan Karuppaya ? Kangaroo government .

  7. PAP no 1 in propaganda on Mon, 22nd Sep 2008 8:09 pm

    8. This is truly 3 steps forward 2 steps back. What’s wrong with tamil languages fronting all signs in Singapore. Are local indians not Singaporeans too? Japan has only 120 million populace while india is 700 million in numbers, even if only 10% speaks tamil in india. This is outrages! I am a chinese and would like my tamil friends to also enjoy such a basic status and recognition.

  8. Andy on Mon, 22nd Sep 2008 10:29 pm

    9. How to show Singapore is multi-racial if they leave out Tamil. Including it will only show how important all the races are and they role they play in Singapore.

  9. Jeff on Tue, 23rd Sep 2008 7:45 am

    10. Singaporeans have always been told we have four official languages; English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil.

    If we allow profitability issues as an excuse, what next?

    Very soon we will have russian to replace malay too?

    Singaporeans should make a stand before things go really very wrong.

  10. david on Tue, 23rd Sep 2008 5:44 pm

    11. “If we allow profitability issues as an excuse, what next?

    Very soon we will have russian to replace malay too?”

    Very soon ? Isn’t it already happen ? EG , FW (not talent) replace local in job for profitability.

  11. George says: on Tue, 23rd Sep 2008 6:03 pm

    12. Pretty lame for the CAAS to refer to the Singapore Tourism Board for decision. An airport is not only for tourists, many citizens also use the airport. So where do they stand when citizens of all the other main language groups are represented, but not them?

    I am not an Singaporean Indian, by the way. :))

  12. methink on Sun, 28th Sep 2008 11:24 am

    13. Dun forget that the Japanese can read English. Surely they can understand?

  13. Ark on Thu, 2nd Oct 2008 4:42 am

    14. Well, is Tamil still considered one of the four official languages?

  14. Sundarrajan on Tue, 10th Feb 2009 5:26 pm

    15. THis is not at all democracy. If Tamil is a official language then it is respected in tha fashion. If English is known people from India (TamilNadu), then English is known even by the Chinese and Malay people.Let this move need not lead another Tamils Uprising. I request the government to take a note of this and make necessary modifications.

  15. From stifled dissent to managed dissent : Sgpolitics.net on Sat, 6th Jun 2009 7:26 am

    16. [...] One example indicative of the fact that the liberalization of Speaker’s Corner for demonstrations is mere tokenism is the police ban on the intended demonstration by Mr Thamilselvan Karuppaya on the use of Tamil on public signs, notably at Changi Airport, that was to have been held in September last year.  (See here.) [...]

  16. From stifled dissent to managed dissent : Ng E-Jay’s domain on Thu, 11th Jun 2009 10:32 pm

    17. [...] One example indicative of the fact that the liberalization of Speaker’s Corner for demonstrations is mere tokenism is the police ban on the intended demonstration by Mr Thamilselvan Karuppaya on the use of Tamil on public signs, notably at Changi Airport, that was to have been held in September last year.  (See here.) [...]

  17. 从抑制异议到操纵异议 : The Wayang Party (大戏党) on Fri, 19th Jun 2009 8:11 pm

    18. [...] 以下例子表明了开放演说家的角落仅仅是一份表面文章(tokenism)的事实：警察禁止了Thamilselvan Karuppaya先生的意图示威去提倡在樟宜机场的公众标志(public signs)上运用泰米尔语(Tamil)，这示威原本在去年9月举行。 (参考这里) [...]

Tell me what you're thinking...
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!