David Meets Goliath
Today in Little India I saw a strange event, a (HUGE) group of
PAP members were doing a walkabout around Tekka Market and Reform
Party was there as well. Needless to say, the two groups ran into
each other. The PAP group numbered about 30-40 people, while RP was
much smaller, about 10-15 of them. The two groups ran into each
other outside the Tekka Market busstop, and a rather long
‘interaction’ occured. I was waiting for a bus and managed to catch
the whole exchange happening.
As I watched, the PAP group members came up, some of them shook
hands with all the RP members, and handed them their party
magazine, ‘Petir’. RP members, not to be daunted, gave them copies
of the RP newsletter, New Dawn. There was a lot of discussion and
shaking hands, but you could sense the tension between the groups.
While both groups were uniformly civil and pleasant with the other,
as a bystander, I could detect some level of discomfort in both
camps.
The PAP group was made up largely of very young adults, probably
in their early 20s, and very senior people, easily in their 50s and
60s. Most of them appeared rather reserved, some of them looked
downright uncomfortable even being there, likely because this was
their first time there. The leader of the PAP group appeared to be
this big man in a pink/offwhite (couldn’t make out in the
lighting), who took the initiative to shake hands with all the RP
members, followed suit by a few of the other PAP members as well.
Most however just tried to back further and further up till some
appeared to go right through the glass of the jewellery store they
were standing in front of! The image most PAP members portrayed was
one of apprehension, nervousness and uncertainty. To be fair to the
PAP group, most of them probably had never done this before, and
appeared to be there just to fill up numbers or act as mobile racks
for the stacks of ‘Petir’ they were giving people. They were all
dressed in office wear or very sombre collared polo-tees, like it
was a dress code enforced on them. They would not have looked out
of place in a government event outing, complete with tucked-in polo
tees and obligatory party badges.
The RP group was far more interesting and lively. First of all,
most of them were dressed in bright yellow teeshirts, so they
pretty much stood out in the mob, despite the small numbers. Also,
most of them appeared to be far more comfortable around the young
PAP crowd. Also, unlike the PAP, the RP members appeared like
ordinary Singaporeans. Some of them, including one pretty young
lady, wore office wear. Others wore the yellow party crew neck
teeshirts, and yet others were in comfortable teeshirts and
bermudas. One man was even dressed in a bright yellow Jimi Hendrix
teeshirt and faded jeans, with a heavily pregnant woman who
appeared to be his wife. Amongst the two groups, the RP group
appeared more relaxed and more outgoing.
What was extremely unprofessional of the PAP members was the
overtly intrusive way they were snapping pictures. It seemed like
there were at least 5-10 cameras clicking away at RP, from safe
distances, as if they were photographing a freak-show. The RP
members were cordial, but you could guess that the number of
cameras snapping away did appear to irritate some of them. The RP
team had cameras with them but none of them took pictures of PAP
members, or at least I didn’t catch any of them.
One incident particularly stood out. As the PAP members were
shaking RP members hands, one RP woman was proudly proclaiming to
each person who shook her hand, ‘I am Jane and I am a proud RP
member’ (I can’t remember what her name was, and it would not be
good to say it here even if I did). Not ONE PAP member responded
saying, ‘and I am a proud PAP member’. They all looked sheepish at
this overt display of party loyalty. The leader of the RP group,
rounded off the handshakes by professionally saying, ‘We may
disagree, but in the end we’re all Singaporean’. He wished the PAP
members well and they proceeded on.
This whole exchange took about 10-15 minutes, and there were
some conversations between individual RP members and PAP members,
but I didn’t catch the details.
From my point of view, it appeared that RP appeared more
‘human’, compared to the PAP. The PAP members all looked almost
identical in behaviour. Most of them were quiet, didn’t say
anything and preferred to watch from the back and sides. They all,
as I said before appeared like young civil servants, and some even
appeared to be part of the ‘elite’. Their attitude came off as
slightly condescending. RP on the other hand appeared to be a party
of individuals who were different. Despite the fact that most of
them wore yellow, RP appeared like the more diverse group. There
was a heavily pregnant young Indian woman with her husband, a young
Chinese female executive, a big smiling gentleman, a middle aged
Malay man, an old Indian man, the bold elderly Chinese woman, and a
few young Chinese, Malay and Indian youths. I asked an RP member
(the young man in the Jimi Hendrix teeshirt) if their group was
pre-selected and he said no, these are volunteers who chose to
come, and were not pre-selected. I didn’t really feel like talking
to the PAP guys but it appeared like they were chosen to come to
represent ‘multiracial’ Singapore (though I don’t think I saw a
Malay in the PAP bunch). They were all, as said before, very young
and very old, predominantly Chinese with about 5 Indians. There was
nothing remarkable at all about them, except for their leader who
appeared a boisterous gentleman who was the only PAP member who
appeared somewhat at ease in the PAP camp. I wish I could shake
hands with the woman who proudly told the PAP, ‘I am a proud RP
member’. She, by that one action exposed the PAP’s vulnerability
when faced with a situation they were not familiar with. RP took
this event in their stride and appeared to be far more confident
about themselves and more importantly, enthusiastic than the
PAP.
In other words, the PAP behaved like the HAD to be nice. RP
behaved nice because it was the right thing to do.
Let’s hope other opposition parties take courage from this
interaction and the fact that it’s not the size of the dog in the
fight that matters, but the size of the fight in the dog.
.
David
