Dr Chen Xin Yu, a Taiwanese dentist, is the daughter of ex-presient Chen Shui Bian. From the time her father first took office until the latest money laundering scandals, she has been hounded by the media. I guess one of the reasons why the media loves her is because she is so “cute”. Her angry responses are so entertaining that entertainment programmes in Taiwan often feature Chen Xin Yu lookalike and imitation competitions.
You don’t have to be a dentist to know that people who behave this way are quite harmless. Gosh, even I am enjoying this.
Last night, as I was watching the Olympics, Mark Richmond said that a team was going for … Jade Seah said gold and Mark said: “Now that’s one four-letter word you can say.” They laughed and so did I. The duo has improved a lot since Day 1.
And I thought that was a smart way diffuse the tension around a little unhappy episode.
I’ve never been a fan of Jade Seah. She might look good in a bikini, but I thought her sports presentation was awful and to make matters worse, she uttered the F word when some technical hitch caused her microphone to be kept on when she was fumbling with the Hanyu Pinyin pronunciation of a platform diver’s name - Feng. Realising her mistake, she said the F word. It was recorded by viewers and posted on YouTube. See below. You need good earphones to hear it properly.
You know what happens when such things happen in Singapore. People quickly mounted their moral high horses and started throwing stones. They admit that they swear too, but they excuse themselves because they are not sports presenters and insist that they would never say such things over the air intentionally or unintentionally (if they ever get the chance). A vindictive few even made it sound like the lady deserves to go to jail for that. Apparently, they have very different standards for Singapore’s star blogger, Xiaxue. This woman doesn’t mince her F words and Singaporeans love her so much that she doesn’t even need a real job.
For me, I’m more worried of my children seeing Xiaxue’s videos and reading her blog than an unintentional slip of the tongue in a sports programme. To be frank, I didn’t even notice that Jade Seah had said that word. I’m sure my children didn’t. Maybe it’s because I don’t have a HD TV. Maybe it’s because I don’t put everything I see under a microscope or wear earphones when I watch TV to pick out something that may offend me.
Check out the YouTube clip again. Jade Seah’s little blooper is really easy to miss out if you don’t listen carefully with a good pair of headphones. One of the videos even inserted text to get you ready for the fleeting F word.
Why?
Are Singaporeans so conservative and easily offended? Why are they so easily offended by an unintentional expletive while they Or are they just so bored, so repressed that they need to throw stones at people in the limelight once in a while to pass their dateless nights?
Everyone who knows me is aware that moutain climbing is my sport. I’m definitely not a fan of table tennis and I wasn’t particularly ecstatic about watching how a forgone conclusion unfolds at the finals of the women’s table tennis match. But between the predictable game and an equally predictable speech with a chorus of civil servants cracking up at unfunny jokes, I would choose to watch the former.
No surprises, Li Jiawei et al lost the game to the Chinese team and brought home Singapore’s deperately needed silver medal. Throughout the game, a non-fan like myself was neither paying attention to the score nor the lightning fast strokes. Quite noticeable, however, was the coldness that Li Jiawei showed towards her ex-compatriots and vice versa. Did they need to make it so obvious? I thought we could tell they were from opposing teams from the colour of their shirts.
Another interesting observation. The Chinese spectators were not only cheering for their own team, they were also cheering for the Singapore team. Apparently, they were as happy about their country’s victory as they were about ours. How nice. Well, we lost, but we also won. Can we say the same for the Chinese supporters?
Many people must be cheering when our girls received their silver medals, but frankly, I’m disappointed. Why? Didn’t Li Jiawei put up a good fight and were clearly no match for the Chinese team? Aren’t the girls all holders of our precious little pink IC and can probably mouth the lyrics of our National Anthem?
No, I’m definitely not disappointed with the girls. However, being a kiasu Singaporean, I am very disappointed with the folks who naturalise foreign athletes. If they could naturalise silver medalists like Li Jiawei and Feng Tianwei, why didn’t they go one step further and naturalise Zhang Yining and Wang Nan. That would win us the gold medal instead, wouldn’t it (what’s wrong since other countries are doing it)?
And why just stop at table tennis? Why not just give Ronald Susilo the boot and bring badminton player Lin Dan in as well? Give him an offer he can’t refuse. Make sure that his girlfriend follows him. That way, we kill 2 birds with … I think we still need 2 stones.
Yeah. Naturalise all of them. Our folks will love them. China will definitely still love them. Cheer on, Singapore. Cheer on, China. We all need some excuse to celebrate.
Come on, Jiawei. All your tear-jerking, heart-warming memories are in China and with Chinese people. Singapore reminds you of 48 mosquito bites? Can’t you even make something up? Maybe some Singaporean licked your tears when you were crying. Not even that bit of contribution to your success. Perhaps the most telling part of the interview is what she said at the end.
One of my favourite dishes at the basement food court of Lucky Plaza is the stewed beef brisket 牛腩. The stall is managed by a Chinaman and a female colleague. I had no problems with them until one fine day when a group of 4 very well-dressed Chinese beauties came to the Asian Food Mall at Lucky Plaza. One of the ladies was just leaving the stall with her food when I arrived and placed my order for the beef brisket. I was placing chopsticks, spoon and chilli sauce on my tray when the lady turned back and placed another order.
The Chinaman quickly proceeded to prepare the lady’s order. I waited. Her dish was ready and the stallholder put it on my tray - all prepared with chopsticks, spoon and chilli sauce to boot. He wanted to hand everything over to the Chinese lady. I felt it was unfair and gently protested.
“这是我拿的。”I said, pointing to my tray.
The Chinaman refused to place the lady’s dish on another tray and let her get her own chopsticks, spoon and chilli sauce.
“这是我自己拿的。”I repeated.
At this point, the Chinaman looked annoyed and seemed about to throw the dish into my face.
“不是你的!” he insisted.
Walking away might have been a little petty. Furthermore, I had already paid. And fighting with a Chinagirl for a tray would certainly not be the right thing to do. She must be enjoying the good service - another customer getting the chopsticks, spoon and chilli sauce for her. Not only was I bullied by having my order pushed back when she came back to order after me, I now had to surrender the chopsticks, spoon and chilli sauce I took to her. What to do?
As I stood there, looking disgusted, it suddenly dawned on them that I’ve been treated unfairly. The Chinaman put the lady’s dish on another tray and asked her to get her own chopsticks. She walked off, expressionless. The stallholder muttered an apology and my order was finally ready. I’ll never go back to that stall again.
But I still can’t explain why they behaved the way they did. In China, someone in my position would have spat and hurled expletives at them. One thing’s for sure, the more mild-mannered and forgiving people in our society are bound to be taken for granted by a rapidly growing immigration of 欺善怕恶 folks from a very different society.
Alas, we have no choice. The 4 pretty but nasty ladies could well be table tennis players. They could be Singapore’s only hope for an Olympic medal when Li Jiawei springboards her way to the US/Canada/Australia or even back to China. If the 4 ladies were beef promoters, we may risk having no one to promote our national beer. Shouldn’t we just swallow our pride, let them in and treat them as our own even though the feeling is not mutual?
A friend once said that we shouldn’t feel that way because Singapore is an immigrant society after all. Yes, my parents came here from Malaysia. But how many contributions have they made to this country? How many economic recessions have they endured? They went through thick and thin with the nation. They were poor, working class folks who were never given any attractive packages or welfare. What about these new, pampered “immigrants”?
