There is some wider disinfo at work happening in many layers.
In the very specific case of Singapore: some time in the 70s, when we went English-first, it displaced and dislodged Chinese intellectuals. Basically, during colonial times we had English speaking intellectuals and Chinese ones. They briefly came together to fight the Japanese and then for independence. After independence the English speaking elite ‘won’.
That is still the mode of prestige in the upper class in Singapore. They tore down vernacular education, closed Mandarin language schools including its most prestigious university: overnight many Chinese intellectuals just became randos with no social or economic power.
These people are in the 60s and 70s now.
These people also yearn for a future in which Chinese identity is more highly prized. They also tend to be the old school socialists who identify more closely with the CCP.
These people are now our Boomers, who are now being targeted with all kinds of ‘daddy China is here to save you’ messages on social media and WeChat.
These are the same Boomers who have also often believed in ethno-centrism. The same kind of uncles (almost always uncles) who would ask me why I wasn’t proud to be a ‘descendant of the dragon’.
I hate them. They’re also racists.
#Singapore #TootSea
