It’s a fairy-tale-like ending to the condo saga. Ramesh, whose unruly behaviour last Friday was captured on video, had “apologised many times” to security guard “Uncle Steven” as he was known by Ramesh.
They even had an hour-long conversation to sort things out and settle the matter once and for all. Despite the police reports each lodged by Ramesh and Uncle Steven, and the police are investigating, this building of bridges between Ramesh and Uncle Steven will go a long way to show the remorse of Ramesh and the magnanimity of Uncle Steven.
Just a little background. Ramesh is technically not a FT. According to MHA, he is married to a Singaporean who was born here. He thus obtained his citizenship on the sponsorship of his wife under the Family Ties Scheme. It seems he has made up his mind about his nationality, a decision which he had arrived at because of family.
I guess MHA deigned such info as relevant and urgent enough to make it public because they do not want any misinformation or misconception concerning FT to get out of hand.
Curiously, I suspect there is a different level of contempt and ire reserved against FT as compared to FW (Foreign Worker).
Maybe it is the arrogance and condescension shown that differentiate them, and the general perception is that you would expect a wealthy FT to show more contemptible behaviour than the min-wage FW due to the income gap. Somehow, materialism and individualism tend to give one an intolerant sense of entitlement and haughtiness.
However, I earnestly believe this is universal regardless of whether you are a FT, FW or a local (or a newly minted local).
I am sure as Singaporeans, we have been at the receiving end of such differentiated treatment by another Singaporean arising out of the inflammatory fault-lines of the income and social divide.
Ultimately, the common denominator in all that is one’s attitude towards money, both the lack and abundance of it.
The love of money, or the obsession of it, regardless of whether you have a lot or little, often turns others into a means to our ends, rather than an end in itself. The rich exploits due to their sense of superiority and the poor abuses due to their sense of insecurity.
Such monetary obsession reduces human relationships into a transaction. And even family ties are devalued by a serfdom mindset where loved ones are taken for granted, cruelly manipulated, and emotionally abused by the rich as well as the poor.
In a recent NUS Whisper chat, an undergraduate witnessed how his/her cleaner/father was treated by strangers. This is a typical scenario of how insidious the social divide can become.
The writer wrote: “While buying the noodles, the father took another customer’s chilli by mistake. When the customer return to claim it, she made sarcastic remarks at the older man while eyeing him. The father apologised, explained the situation, and offered her the chilli, but the customer was not satisfied. She allegedly replied in Chinese, “I don’t want it cause you’ve touched it. So dirty.””
He added: “(My dad) is used to (such treatment) and it suddenly hit me that this is what he does all on a day to day basis. He apologises and lets people walk over him. He is invisible. I always knew my dad worked hard and is always at the mercy of others but seeing it with my own two eyes was an entirely different experience.”
It reports that “the writer was so distraught that he or she started crying during the meal.“
Alas, for those who have much, it is the arrogance and self-conceit that dehumanise them. That is sadly displayed in the above treatment of one’s father who is a cleaner.
Yet, mind you, for those who are struggling with little, it is the discontent and envy that rot their soul. At both extremes, we confront the worst of humanity.
And I believe this is played out in the Ramesh-vs-the-online-vigilante public feud. Ramesh lost his head for that moment and made socially divisive remarks that he has deeply regretted. He has apologised and we should move on...right?
Well, it doesn’t seem that way. And up till today, there are still thousands out there who have signed, and I believe, are signing the petition calling for Ramesh to be fired and deported.
Alas, I would like to say that the “ugly Singaporeans” are not because we are Singaporeans. It is because we are ugly inside regardless of whether we are rich, poor, FT or FW.
In other words, at times like this, we are just ugly, regardless of race, language, religion or class.
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