Stuck In North Korea

I saw SDP leader Chee Soon Juan outside Clifford Center today. He, and two other persons, were trying to get the attention of passersby with utterances like 'Elections are coming. Help the opposition' and another about democracy in Singapore. Few people gave him the time of day. I sat some meters away, ate my post-lunch fruit and read my copy of TODAY while keeping an eye on this display of public exhortations.

Given he was not having much success, Chee Soon Juan sorely needed to raise his PR profile. The next thought was he should go to the Pitbull concert tonight and hang with the youth, and show them some moves. I laughed in my head but then seriously, it wouldn't do him any harm. He was entitled to attend concerts wasn't he? He should have hung out a sign that read "Singaporeans are bo chup" or "Free tissue paper" - that would have got some attention. Democracy? No way we're keen on talking about from our heads instead of our hearts and wallets.

I also realised that one reason he didn't manage to gather an audience was because Singaporeans really don't care about politics and less so, about a man highly publicised for being at the wrong end of the gahmen's favour time and time again. He's still a bankrupt, yes? I also came to conclude during that quarter of hour in public that Singaporeans are afraid. We are so afraid of even approaching a man who is the gahmen's bad books that we might be guilty or similarly treated as public enemy no.1. We are like a child who's threatened so often with a painful whack on the behind if he didn't behave that we dare not step out of line, whatever that perceived line may be. (In this case, consorting with a opposition party member). Even that painful whack on the behind is a mysterious legend, a story passed down from father to son, neighbour to neighbour, a powerful psychological deterrent handed down through the generations. Everyone who criticises the gahmen over coffeeshop talk ends of their conversations saying "Joke, joke".

This child knows about following the right path to make his parents happy. His parents take care of him with the right sustenance. He does not waiver from this path because he does not want to make his parents unhappy. He does not attempt at creativity because in case he has a bad idea or fails at succeeding, he might make his parents unhappy. He doesn't even talk to strangers. Then the painful whack on the behind. This child is afraid. What happens when the parents leave? Will the child be happy then? What is happiness for this child?

Deep questions but seriously, is that what most of us have become? Afraid? We are surrounded by creature comforts, clean and safe streets, running water at the touch of a tap and yet in our panadol-fed heads and cholesterol-laden hearts, we are perhaps no better than those stuck in North Korea.