MAY I HAVE A CUP OF FREE TEH-O-KOSONG?

 

Recently, an innocent post by retired architect Prof Tay Kheng Soon got lambasted by the Speaker of Parliament. A jovial post, all in light-hearted good fun, saw an over-bearing response from one that rules over us who spilled the delectable teh all over the table.

Prof Tay Kheng Soon:
"I had lunch yesterday at a malay family coffeeshop restaurant in Permas Jaya surburb of JB for a special johore laksa, very different from what we are used to. The atmosphere was very happy friendly. Come paying time they just ask you what you ate and you say you ordered such and such and then pay accordingly. They trust you. After paying i suddenly wanted a teh oh kosong, asked how much the cashier similingly said, "i belanja you"! So different! Wonderful feeling! This is Malaya all over again. How different, we have become so money- minded in Singapore!"

Speaker, Brigadier-General Tan Chuan-Jin:
"What I find amusing and sad is how some Singaporeans use their anecdotal experience in Malaysia, such as some coffee shop owner offering free drinks, to pull down our own nation and who we are as a people. There are many kind and generous souls here too btw. And the usual folks jumping on board to wax lyrical about how great it is on the other side of the causeway and how poorly we are in comparison. But they are entitled to their views.
We are certainly not perfect and can be better and will improve. But I’m proud to be a Singaporean and don’t spend my time running my own country and people down.
And of course there are the usual suspects that celebrate their politicians…Oh well.

1. By referring to "some Singaporeans" instead of TKS by name, the Speaker insults multitudes of Singaporeans. He makes a mountain out of a molehill. Don't we all make comments similar to TKS? We visit countries all over the world, don't we make comparisons of the good, the bad and the ugly?

Is the Speaker trying to shut us all down the way he famously shut down that young undergraduate in a public dialogue session for an inconvenient question some years ago?

2. By using 'anecdotal' he spits on your personal experiences as questionable. Did TKS really have his free teh-O-kosong? Are we deplorables, not to be trusted with a narration of our simple experience?

3. "So different! Wonderful feeling! This is Malaya all over again. How different, we have become so money- minded in Singapore!" This comment of TKS pissed the Speaker who likens it to "pull down our own nation and who we are as a people." Really Mr Speaker Sir?

Firstly, why so touchy? Have we grown so sensitive to little innocuous jabs? My life experience, or anecdotes as you prefer,  tells me the guilty ones recoil at innocuous truths. The innocents simply laugh it off.

Secondly is it not a fact we are now so money-minded? Grace Fu's S$470,000 garbage bin centre says it all. Do you remember your own negative reaction to the 'promotion' to Speaker position which was a 'demotion' of pay scale by 53%? Maybe you can take the opportunity to disclose if there has been any side-arrangements to compensate you? If there isn't any, then I feel for you, really.  How about multi-millionaire ministers - will they consider a pay-cut to help out the fiscal which I understand an increase in GST is necessary to balance the budget.

Thirdly, TKS mentions "Malaya" whilst you twist it to "Malaysia". TKS alludes to the past, a time of sitting under coconut trees, where community spirit was high and people less touchy. You bring in the politics in "Malaysia".

4. "There are many kind and generous souls here too btw." Tsk tsk that you needed a straw man. Did TKS say there aren't any kind souls in Singapore? You would be right to chide TKS for suggesting there are no smiling cashiers in Singapore, and no coffee vendors who will belanja anyone a free teh-O-kosong. But to bring in a whole gamut of Singaporeans who make generous contributions to the needy is a disproportionate attack against a kind teh tarek stall keeper across the causeway.

5. "We are certainly not perfect and can be better and will improve." Ahhh a rare bit of humility. That is good. But is that patently Singaporeans only? Certainly it applies equally to Malaysians and everybody else, right?

6. "I’m proud to be a Singaporean and don’t spend my time running my own country and people down." That's very good Sir. We have a crisis of inflation and CECA issues, I'm just wondering how you found the time from your busy schedule to criticise a good old professor on Facebook for a simple innocent tid bit of his day.

6. "And of course there are the usual suspects that celebrate their politicians".
Oh really Sir? Naughty, naughty.
Do you have a list of suspects?
So you do have AI and surveillance?
Am I on that list?
Are we not allowed to praise Malaysian politicians where they have done well, or other politicians for that matter? Psst I noticed you have praised lots of other foreign politicians and dignitaries when they visited Singapore and your office. How come?
Are you disparaging those Singaporeans who say things that you disagree with?

I reminisce my days in the Army. When a soldier says something that the superior doesn't like, out comes "Stand to attention when you speak to me, soldier!"  In contrast and to round off, here's Prof Tay's response to the Speaker's post. It's a class act.  I really hope we can see more of this from the men in white. Wishful thinking I know.