My conversation with Jam Cruisers, Facebook
opposition activist, Bishan New Town, Singapore, 21 June 2013
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| Bishan New Town, Mr. Wong Kan Seng's Heartland |
Kieran James’ note: This conversation took place in Bishan
New Town, in front of Junction 8 Shopping Centre, in Mr. Wong Kan Seng’s Middle-class
HDB Heartland (where the escaped errorists this day gathered), 21 June 2013.
Kieran James: What are your comments about SDP?
Jam Cruisers: They are the Rambo party, bazooka party - and
he [CSJ] finds glamour in being the Rambo.
KJ: Workers’ Party?
JC: They are playing the Sun Tzu “art of war” game. When
they have a chance to strike they will strike hard, fast, and swift. They are
waiting to get enough seats in Parliament. I still hold hope WP is a strong
contender still working for Singaporeans’ interests. We have to play a
strategic game; you can’t play a Rambo game all the time. Rambo cannot win
against PAP. I see PAP has no strategy now, they fail in strategy – or they
would have a good relationship with Indonesia and Malaysia. They are in power
because of LKY’s legacy.
KJ: Tell me how you think Singaporean society has changed...
JC: In the 1980s Singaporeans were all apolitical; they were
still struggling for their lives, to get their first HDB flat. That is the
agenda propagated at that time – get an HDB flat. That was attainable; 5-room
flat was $250,000. An ordinary O-level can be a manager in those days. The
goal-posts have shifted. Everyone held to the Singapore Dream – own car, pay
off your flat. That dream carried on into the 1990s and 2000s. But a lot of
things changed – inflation and PAP started doing a lot of hanky-panky stuff,
they started oppressing everyone. In the last three years Singaporeans realized
the Dream is crushed due to globalization, foreign worker influx, rising house
prices [etc.]. Taxis are a cushion for the jobless to keep unemployment low...
PAP is very good with marketing and shielding a lot of things because they have majority control in Parliament. The awakening can only start when people realize National Service is indoctrination to make you [obedient]. The punishments do not make [logical] sense. For me to run and touch a tree and then run back or do 100 push-ups will that help me in war? It’s totally mindless and senseless. Young people receive a lot of indoctrination. They realize punishment will come to you swiftly if you don’t accept. Many Singaporeans have accepted this wholeheartedly, that is really bad. There are not enough rebels and mavericks. There will always be mavericks but it is 5-10%. The others are too entrenched in their comfort zones to get involved.
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| Bishan MRT, 17th station on the North-South line |
The term “sheep” is so appropriate for these
[Singaporean] people. Sheep is [naturally] a wild animal, not
domesticated. People lock them up for
domestic purposes. When the sheep are locked up they are oblivious to danger.
If a wolf comes after the sheep in the farm they will not run. They are used to
German Shepherd dogs. They are oblivious to danger. People here don’t realize
to be a citizen in a metropolis society means you have to defend yourself from
danger. You hardly see any rebel sheep. They will stay together; they are so
safe and sound. The farm [i.e.
Singapore] will not go bankrupt, it is corporatized already. When you are asking
for revolution you are asking for the sky.
People believe in education, but how can they now
compete with [educated] foreigners? The
only way the sheep can get in danger is if the farm goes bankrupt. By locking
up the secret societies it’s like locking up all the wolves. So our fence for
the sheep [so they think that they are safe and “one of us”] is NS and MOE
education. The German Shepherd is the government. How do you rebel the sheep?
I like to use the words “sheep” and “zombies”. It is very
hard to turn Singaporeans to take risks because the infrastructure is so safe.
We have no disasters, earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, nothing. They will
suffer whatever shit you throw at them if they have a job, a roof over their
head. It is a very sophisticated sheep-dog and fence [aimed at] the human
psyche. It is not a physical fence like in Animal
Farm. They [PAP] probably have a psychiatrist to teach them [how to manage
people]. Academics say it is a dictatorship and fascist but people don’t see
the resemblance to a fascist regime. You have to teach them George Orwell; it
is a George Orwell style dictatorship.
We are schooled in MOE and NS; these are the brain-washing
regimes. [KJ note: Yes, JC means NS or National Service here rather than NUS as
is clear by the context but I’m sure he would not object if I added NUS to his
list.] When they [young Singaporeans] are 21 and in the real-world [and not in
the brain-washed safe world] they find their education will not get them a job,
they can’t afford HDB flat. They are forced to accept this because of
indoctrination and punishment. There is
a fence that they keep you in. Singaporeans have lost the creativity to see the
connection between George Orwell and their real life.
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| Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC location |
You need to do it in cartoons and crayons [laughs] to convey
the message. Leslie Chew is an artist, he can communicate via drawings; this is
why PAP is so scared of him. He succeeded in explaining George Orwell’s ideas
through drawings. They must release him. June 8 [announced release date] is
extended to June 26, it is so ridiculous. This is why Leslie Chew is a person
to watch, he can draw the fence in cartoon style for the sheep to see. He drew
it so it is a prison, not your house. The sheep-dog, the German Shepherd, is
very worried. If you don’t have people like Leslie Chew to wake up Singaporeans
they will still vote for PAP. ... [JC turns to talk to KJ] ... is my input
solid? I have to stay anonymous so I don’t end up like Leslie Chew [laughs].
How do you rebel the sheep?
There is nothing wrong with viewing the system as a fence.
There’s no law against you not liking someone. They cannot lock you up. PAP is so good at
playing around with laws and politics. There is the fine line. They can use the
word “dislike”, “dislike” is not racist, “hate” is racist. They are so smart in
playing with words. How do you make the sheep see the fence? Now they see the
fence as a home [laughs]. Even if the fence has a hole they will not run out,
the same with any other herd-minded animal like cows and goats. Someone wrote
on the protest posters: “the 6.9 million are not sheep” Some of the rebels
understand this, the other ones get insulted when you call them sheep; they see
it as a home and not as a fence. If you [KJ] can put this in writing it
will be good lah, I’m not an essay person.
Singapore has had four major banks many years already but
every Singaporean opens a POSB bank account in primary school...
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| Bishan bus interchange: more heartland than you! |
KJ: POSB existed in the early-1950s prior to independence, I
just read The Rose of Singapore by
Peter Neville. It is set in the early-1950s, 1952-54, and POSB is mentioned...
JC: Even though POSB ATM has the longest queue [KJ note: we look across to the ATMs at the back side of Bishan MRT station and the theory is confirmed] they are uninterested to join another bank and have a lesser queue. This is sheep mentality for you to see, it’s hard to change, it’s like a psychiatrist is working for them [PAP]. ... I can’t believe POSB has the longest queue [here]; you can take a picture, post it on your blog, and write “sheep in action”. It’s true; I’m not making it up.
The younger generation should be able to differentiate
for themselves. I don’t understand those people, then I realized that is why
PAP is in power, their indoctrination has succeeded. Opposition people must
think of solutions – how to rebel the sheep, how to change them, if not the
opposition will always remain a minority. Voters are like your shareholders.
Once you have seen one shopping mall you have seen them all.
People want familiarity, [but] why not try something new? They are comfortable
in an air-conditioned room eating Swensens and Pizza Hut over and over again
but in different locations. [KJ note: we are sitting on the benches between
Bishan MRT station and the front of Junction 8 Shopping Centre, directly in
front of the Swensens and Pizza Hut franchise stores.] They lack the
risk-taking nature in them; the signs are all there; you will realize why the
politics is like that. Tan Jee Say said we must get out of the comfort zone,
the presidential candidate. Why not try a road-side stall for a change?
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| Mr. Wong Kan Seng: we didn't see him! |
KJ: Please tell me more about the role of National Service
in indoctrinating the citizens...
JC: The idea of army is to train you into submission, which
is why conscription is there. If not we will not have the idea that
disobedience will lead to punishment. When you [earlier over lunch] talked about army training
I linked it into indoctrination and to why humans can become sheep. That’s why
it takes two years. Why not follow Taiwan and have six to nine months then
finished already? Family nucleus [requirement] to buy HDB flats; that is also
the fence; all the policies are linked. The two years are part of the indoctrination.
Perhaps the psychiatrist told them that it takes two years to indoctrinate people.
If people choose to rely on the fence [to keep safe] it’s their choice, what
can I do what?
They are aware of the brain-drain - Goh Chok Tong spoke about
it - to overseas, [by] those people aware of the fence. They saw no way out of
the fence so they left. Their freedom was stifled, that’s probably why they
left, I don’t know. Some of our best are now overseas.
***End of conversation***
[KJ note: Revised on 9-10 July 2013 in response to messages from Jam Cruisers sent on 8-9 July 2013].
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