A racist Singaporean in Exeter: racism works both ways

This morning, I stumbled upon a post that seemed to be directly addressed to me - well, it didn't mention me by name of course and perhaps it is a little egotistical of me to imagine that it is all about me, but nonetheless I am in a very good position to answer this blogger's questions. Ibrahim C. Abdullah (whose name I shall abbreviate to ICA in my post if you don't mind) asked, "To Singaporeans who emigrated: Are you happy with your decision?" Well, the short answer is yes, very much so, thank you very much. But I would like to respond to some of the points that ICA has made in his post and offer my perspective, if I may please. I have been in Europe since 1997 and long gave up my pink IC, having settled very happily in London. As I have turned 39 years old a few weeks ago. I am now getting to that stage where I have nearly spent the second half my life in Europe and the first half growing up in Singapore.

Exeter, where ICA currently lives 

Firstly, ICA wrote that, "having secured a place with a Solicitor's Firm, (I) will be working in England. Sadly this isn't my choice but those of my parents and I will say that I am not as happy as I would be back home in Singapore. " That left me rather puzzled to put it mildly. If he really wanted to return to Singapore and his parents really wanted him to work in England - why didn't he speak to his parents about his wishes and reach an amicable compromise? Does he not get a say in that decision? Surely at his age, he is now an adult capable of making informed decisions about his future - why is he allowing himself to be overruled by his parents, when he is clearly unhappy about the decision to work in England?  If he really wants to return to Singapore, if that would really make him happier, then he should just do it. Otherwise, he can reach a compromise agreement with his parents, to work in England for say X number of years to secure some international credibility then he will return to Singapore.

ICA talks a lot about racism in the country and I must say, my experience has differed from his. I hardly faced any racism at all in this country and the one time when someone made a racist joke at work, I was able to take control of the situation by making an official complaint about them. My union got involved and I was offered a groveling apology by those two who pleaded ignorance. One of them was even crying her eyes out - I didn't think she was maliciously trying to be a nasty racist, she was just being plain stupid in thinking that a racist joke could be funny. The fact is, I was able to stand my ground and deal with the situation - I didn't just cry and run back to Singapore the moment I encountered racism: after all, you can't spend your life running away the moment you meet any kind of difficulty or problems. You really have to stand your ground sometimes and triumph over adversity by standing up for yourself.

ICA alleges that he faced racism at his university

ICA gave some pretty extreme examples of racism and I did cover this in an earlier blog post when I interviewed three people of ethnic minority who grew up in this country and experienced racism. And yes, they each encountered a lot more racism then I have over the years but we came to a conclusion that was pretty obvious: I had come to this country on a scholarship to a very good university and then managed to get a good job upon graduation. I have always had money. My wealth and my privileged position in society has effectively protected me from a lot of racism because I wouldn't have to live where poor people lived or do the kind of jobs that poor people do. There was a huge correlation between poverty and racism: the richer you are, the less likely you are to experience racism. The poorer you are, the more likely you are going to feel insecure, unsafe and experience not just racism: but all kinds of xenophobia, sexism, homophobia and discrimination. We are living in a material world, where money doesn't just talks - it directly determines the quality of your life. Hence a rich black or Asian person can have a very good life in the UK, whilst a poor white person living on a council estate will have a pretty miserable existence. 

ICA speaks about "roving mob of English Defence League hooligans" who throw beer bottles at ethnic minorities: I think it is time for a geography lesson. England is a pretty big area (130,395 km²) of huge diversity: you have big cities and plenty of countryside and you have very prosperous areas where rich people live and quite nasty areas where the very poor people live. The kind of extreme right-wing racist anti-immigrant politics (EDL, BNP, UKIP) that ICA keeps talking about has taken root in areas of extreme deprivation in England: areas where the poorest of the poor live. When the local white people become so poor and desperate, it is easy and convenient for them to then turn on immigrants and non-white poeple, to make them the scapegoats for their poverty. Ironically, a lot of this xenophobia has mostly focused on Eastern Europeans from places like Poland, Romania and Bulgaria - migrants who are white, rather than black and Asian migrants. Did ICA even attempt to consider the complexity of the situation? No, he didn't. 

Eastern European migrants have caused unease amongst some Brits.

From the way ICA has described his experiences of meeting roving mobs of EDL hooligans, it sounds like he living in a rather deprived inner city. I live in central London, I have one of the most desirable postcodes in all of England (W1) and I assure you that we certainly don't get hordes of roving EDL racist hooligans roaming the streets of Mayfair, Knightsbridge and Belgravia. No, because these are posh neighbourhoods where very rich people live. There is a huge difference between Mayfair and the nastiest English inner city ghettos. You don't need to be an expert on British geography to realize what that difference is. I'm sorry to hear that ICA is currently residing in a part of Exeter that unfortunately resembles an inner city ghetto a lot more than Mayfair, but let's be fair and realize that not all of England is anything like the dodgy area where ICA currently lives. Those of us who can afford it choose to live in much nicer areas where we can have a far more pleasant experience walking down the local high street. 

I can see from ICA's Quora profile that he is a student at the University of Exeter. His university is ranked 19th on the league table for all UK law faculties - so it's okay, it's so-so, it isn't bad of course but then again, it is hardly impressive either. And if he wants to talk about the EDL in Exeter, well he is presenting a very one-sided story and misrepresenting the situation. In 2013, when the EDL tried to march through Exeter, they were massively outnumbered by a counter-demonstration, condemning the EDL. That is the reality of the situation: yes there are racists in Exeter in the form of the EDL - but the vast majority of the locals oppose the actions and attitudes of the EDL. Is ICA willing to accept that? No, he just wants to tell his Singaporean readers that white English people are evil and racist - but isn't ICA being incredibly racist against white people by trying to misrepresent English people in this way to Singaporeans then? Duh. Singaporeans can be incredibly racist towards white people too and this is a prime example.

ICA is misrepresenting his university to Singaporeans.

Is Singapore a safe place to live? Of course it is, but let's look at the root of the problem: money. Life is good for those in the UK for those who can afford to live in nice areas: is that any different from life in Singapore - where life is great for those who can afford to live in those futuristic looking condominiums, shop at the designer boutiques in Marina Bay Sands and dine at the finest restaurants in town. What about those who are living in ordinary HDB flats, having to complete with the influx of PRCs, Indian nationals and Filipinos and are struggling to make ends meet? By that token, Singapore's situation is pretty much the same as the UK's - in both countries, you need money to enjoy a good life and if you are not rich, then good luck to you. Such is the harsh reality that few people are willing to acknowledge. Besides, ICA is Malay and Muslim - if he returns to Singapore, he could still face discrimination at the hands of the Chinese majority in Singapore, it is a different kind of discrimination but perhaps one that he is more familiar with? 

Certainly, we can make choices about the kind of people we choose to include in our social circles: if anyone used a racist, sexist or homophobic term in my presence, then that's it - I would cut them out of my social circle at once. Some years back, I had this colleague Ella who used a homophobic term on Facebook - it wasn't even directly at anyone in particular, but I instantly deleted her as a friend from Facebook and stopped talking to her. I didn't even feel the need to confront her and lecture her (the way some people might have felt compelled to) - I just thought, screw you Ella, you're ignorant and I have plenty of other friends, goodbye and get lost. I refused to let her homophobia and ignorance get me down, I simply cut her out of my life. ICA talks about 'friends' who are racist and extreme-right wing, who are xenophobic and say horrible things about immigrants and Muslims: erm hello? Don't you have any kind of quality control at all when it comes to whom you wish to have as your friends? Why are you even talking to these people in the first place? Look, we can't eradicate stupid, ignorant, racist, bigoted, nasty and xenophobic people from this country (and Singapore has her fair share of them too) but what we can do is to make sure that we exclude them as much as possible from our lives so we do not allow their ignorance to become our problem on a daily basis. 

Do you have any quality control when it comes to your friends?

ICA wrote, "Back in Singapore, I didn't feel as if I had a lack of freedom of speech". Let's get real ICA, in Singapore, you have the freedom to praise the PAP and talk about anything that doesn't challenge the status quo. But the moment a 16 year old kid makes a Youtube video that is controversial, he is arrested, becomes public enemy no. 1 and has the book thrown at him. You do not miss what you do not crave - if you have never had the burning desire to criticize the PAP, then the lack of freedom to do so would not bother you at all. It's like the way my dad bemoaned the way I couldn't eat durian when I was living in Europe (hint: my dad totally loves durian). I had to point out to him that I didn't actually like durian - well, it's not like I hate the smell or taste of durian, but I am just not too fond of it and I am actually quite happy to go without durian for the rest of my life. Indeed, different people have different needs: my dad likes durian very much, ICA doesn't feel the need to speak up about politics in Singapore - fair enough, everyone is different and has different needs. Let's remember that and not impose our standards on others.

ICA wrote about his his experience in England, "As a Singaporean, from what I have seen or heard, I do not have the Freedom of Speech as my opinions are never valued." Oh dear ICA, I fear you have played the victim's card out of turn this time. If you want your opinions to be heard, if you want to be taken seriously by your audience, then you have to first learn to earn their respect before they will start listening to you. ICA is still a student at university and perhaps he expects some teacher to wade in and ensure that his classmates listen to him during group discussions - well he is in for a very rude shock when he starts work and has to deal with the complexities of office politics. Besides, even back in Singapore, what makes him think that people are going to respect his opinion and listen to him? Why, just because he is a Singaporean? No ICA, get real, it doesn't work like that in the real world: respect is earned, not demanded. 

Why should anyone listen to what I have to say then?

I certainly face this all the time as a blogger - the fact that my blog is currently ranked 14th in Singapore is pretty incredible to me, after all, why should people want to listen to me and take the time to read what I have to say? Who am I to them? Why should they even take me seriously and value my opinion? Why should they read my blog and not the blogs of thousands of other Singaporeans out there who are also blogging? Quite simply, I earn the respect of my readers when I write well - as a blogger, I have to constantly monitor the traffic to my blog and I can see how some blog pieces can go viral and be read by thousands within hours whilst other pieces barely attract a few hundred views even after a month. This process is actually very democratic and is based entirely on meritocracy - the figures don't lie and they tell me exactly when I write well and when my writing is of no interest to the redaers. 

If ICA wants those around him to value his opinion, then he has to look at the way he delivers his message. I can see from his blog piece that he is whiny and not very persuasive - he resorts to presenting a very worst case scenario to justify his point of view and plays the victim card from the start. Did he once take responsibility for his predicament? No, he blames everyone else: from his parents to his university  to UKIP. How about this ICA: let me put this  in plain English: you are a poor writer. Your English may be good but you have failed to put together a cogent argument because of the way you have presented a very one-sided argument. It surprises me that you are not any more persuasive despite the fact that you are a law student (which makes me think that a career in law probably isn't going to be suitable for you). ICA, it is time you actually took some responsibility, like an adult. This has absolutely nothing to do with your nationality but it has everything to do with the way you have failed to put together a convincing argument - trying to use your nationality as an excuse is just lame: no, you do not get to play the victim's card on this occasion. 

As for ICA's other complaints, let me deal with them quickly. Expensive groceries: there are a whole range of supermarkets to cater for all budgets in the UK. You can spend over £5 on an organic salad from Waitrose or M&S, or you can spend under £1 on a bunch of vegetables from Lidl or Asda and make your own salad at home. How much you want to spend on your groceries is up to you and how is that any different from the situation in Singapore where you have supermarkets like Cold Storage catering for the higher end of the market to Sheng Siong, catering for the budget end of the market? As for "the lack of nightlife", that has probably more to do with the fact that ICA's university is in a town with a population of just 117,000. Now had he been in London (the population of the Metropolitan urban area of London is 13.6 million), then this wouldn't be an issue at all: he chose to study in a small town and he wants to complain about the lack of nightlife? Do you know the difference between a small town and a big city? 

And as for his claim that it takes him 6 hours to get to London, that's complete bullshit. The fastest direct train from Exeter to London Paddington takes just 2 hours 8 minutes. How a 2 hour 8 minutes journey can turn into 6 hours is beyond me - I could even get to Brussels in Belgium in just 1 hour 55 minutes by train. Okay, I am sure that there have been instances where some kind of terrible major accident, where some serious signalling fault have left trains services severely delayed - but for ICA to try to portray those extreme situations as the norm is once again misrepresenting the situation to be far worse than it actually is. This is a big country and the trains are pretty decent. 

Public transport in the UK isn't as bad as ICA claims.

As for ICA's comments that his friends want to move to Singapore, well allow me to offer you a different perspective on the issue as a person who has worked in many countries. I really don't think it matters what country you live in: the quality of your life depends primarily on your ability to find well-paid work. Take a rich country like Switzerland for example: there are poor Swiss people in Switzerland, unemployed people in Switzerland and Swiss people working dead-end jobs struggling to make ends meet in Switzerland. The fact that Switzerland is a very rich country doesn't impact on their personal wealth, it is not like the money is equally shared amongst all the citizens of the country. You don't move to another country to become richer - you move because you think you will be happier in that other country, but you had better have the skills and talent to find work there. Furthermore, ICA's English and Russian friends who move to Singapore are likely to face anti-Angmoh xenophobia and racism in Singapore which can prove to be a volatile cocktail of pressure in a severely overcrowded little island.

I note also from ICA's profile that he wishes to study medicine after he completes his law degree. That seems puzzling to say the least - if you genuinely want to study medicine, then what the hell are you doing studying law at Exeter university and then pursuing a career in law? Why is he wasting his parents' money like this then? The infamous Alvin Tan dropped out of NUS law school after he realized that he had no desire to pursue a career in law - at least he had the foresight to cut his losses when he realized that it was not what he wanted to do with his life. I say, good for Alvin for having the guts to do so. But ICA just comes across at best as a very confused, angry young man who doesn't even realize that he has contradicted himself in his article. He condemns life in England - yet he has not only chosen to study at an English university but also followed that up by choosing to work in England. What is going on here? If you are so patriotic about Singapore, if life in Singapore is so amazingly good, then why didn't you study at NUS law school like Alvin Tan and then pursue a career in Singapore then? What the hell are you doing in Exeter in the first place? 

Now I understand that his parents wanted him to work in England - but action speaks louder than words. If you really feel that strongly about your cause, then you will fight for what you believe. Can ICA even try to stand up for himself? Certainly, he could have made a greater effort to convince his parents that he would be happier and more successful in Singapore if that is really what he wants - but did he actually try to challenge his parents' wishes? Let me give you two examples from my own family when it came to this: my late grandmother didn't like my mother at all when they first met. My father's family is Hakka and my mother is Hokkien - my late grandmother had expected my father to marry a Hakka wife and she was appalled by the idea of having a Hokkien daughter-in-law. Did my father dump my mother because of my late grandmother's initial objections? No he didn't - he cared enough about my mother, wanted to marry her badly enough to convince his mother that this was the woman for him, this was the woman he loved and was going to spend the rest of his life with. My grandmother wasn't happy but gave in eventually: my parents are still happily married today. My father stood up for what he believed in and stood his ground. 

After I graduated from university in England, my parents had assumed that I would return to Singapore to find a job there - after all, my older siblings and cousins would be at hand to help open doors for me. But no, I believed that in the long run, I would be happier and more successful in England than in Singapore. So I found my first job without any help from my family and worked hard to prove that I could succeed in London - thus proving my parents wrong with my success. At the end of the day, actions speak louder than words. ICA's actions are directly contradicting his words. Imagine if a man kept telling you that brand A's coffee is much better than brand B's coffee and he goes out of his way to tell you how awful brand B's coffee is. Then you have a look at his kitchen and you realize that not only is he drinking brand B's coffee instead of brand A's coffee, you see that he has just ordered another year's supply of brand B's coffee. When a man's actions contradicts his words, the word hypocrite comes to mind - for all the anti-England pro-Singapore rhetoric that ICA is spouting, he's either a hypocrite or a coward (probably both) at the end of the day. 

"Don't drink the coffee that I keep drinking - it is awful..."

Talk is cheap ICA, actions speak a lot louder than words. You can wax lyrical all you want about Singapore, you can condemn England all you want - but at the end of the day, you're still here and you have no plans to return to Singapore. Really, there is absolutely nothing to stop you from getting on that next plane back to Singapore if you are so bloody miserable in England. Go on, you know where Heathrow airport is. Please leave Exeter and go back to Singapore you hypocrite. ICA, you are a adult, you can choose what kind of life you want and I would encourage you to follow your heart and dreams if that is what will make you happy. However, given the way ICA has blamed everyone but himself thus far, I am sure he will find someone or something to blame if and when he returns to Singapore. 

Finally, I had a look at the comments left on ICA's blog post. I would say that there are a number of people who have pointed out to him that Singapore can be an extremely racist country towards anyone who is non-Chinese, there were some who claimed that they had lived in the UK and had not experienced the kind of extreme racism that he had described. And then there are of course, the extremely racist Singaporeans who were so keen to spout their anti-Angmoh racist venom they had conveniently ignored the fact that ICA is a cowardly hypocrite who has no intention to return to Singapore any time soon and intends to work in England. Do I have any intention to contact ICA and speak to him directly? No, I had another idea: I have contacted his university since he has made allegations of racism about his university and that does impact upon his university's international reputation. Here is the email I have sent tonight: 

Let's see what ICA's university thinks about his blog.

From: alex liang 

Sent: 30 April 2015 00:59
To: 'ssis-lawoffice@exeter.ac.uk'
Cc: 'k.m.c.blackmore@exeter.ac.uk'; 'ssis-admissions@exeter.ac.uk'; 'abuse@exeter.ac.uk'; 'intoff@exeter.ac.uk'; 'pressoffice@exeter.ac.uk'
Subject: Racist Singaporean student at Exeter university law school spreading hate speech online

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing to you because I wish to bring to your attention a Singaporean student (Ibrahim Conrad Abdullah) at Exeter Law school who wrote a hateful, racist blog piece about his life in England. In the piece, he grossly misrepresented English society to be a vile and racist place and you can read his blog piece here. https://www.quora.com/To-Singaporeans-who-emigrated-Are-you-happy-with-your-decision His quora profile can be found here: https://www.quora.com/Ibrahim-Conrad-Abdullah

Here are some of the things he has said in that piece:

The fabled "Freedom of Speech" the UK has works wonderfully against foreigners, because they have the Freedom to denounce us and spew hatred against our Muslim friends and our "chinky-chong religions" (ie. Buddhism and Taoism). I have had English friends, initially friendly, later 'converted' into believing that Asians are a blight on Britain because, hey, "Freedom of Speech" given to the likes of the BNP and UKIP supporters taught them so. 

Back in Singapore, I didn't feel as if I had a lack of freedom of speech. Quite frankly, I felt free to walk the streets safe at night. I felt free to meet my friends wherever and whenever and I felt free to know that a roving mob of English Defence League hooligans wouldn't throw beer bottles at us.

As a Singaporean, from what I have seen or heard, I do not have the Freedom of Speech as my opinions are never valued. I do not have the freedom to walk the streets at night safely knowing some herion junkie may make an attempt at my wallet, and I do not have the freedom to feel safe from walking the streets in the day time because the racist English Defence League have the "Freedom of Speech" to "protest" (ie. Angry mob wrecking shops and attacking anyone non-Aryan). 

Throughout my 3 years in the UK, I have faced racism from the University's student body and everyday Englishmen. The term "fucking Chink" seem to be quite a favourite here. 

I find the final allegation most shocking – for he is directly claiming that he faces racism from Exeter University’s student body and suggests that the term “fucking Chink” is used on campus at Exeter university. Of course, allow me to assure you that I don’t believe a word that Mr Abdullah has said. I was born in Singapore, educated in the UK and am now resident in London after having spent half my life in the UK. I am appalled that Mr Abdullah has the audacity to make such wild claims on his blog, particularly when it comes to directly implicating his university since he claims that he suffers from racism at your university. I urge you to take this very seriously because Mr Abdullah’s blog piece has gone viral in Singapore via a website called Singapore Daily (which compiles different blog posts which may be of interest to Singaporean readers) and this piece could go quite a long way to tarnish your university’s otherwise good reputation in Singapore. Although I am a Londoner, I have visited Exeter several times before and no, I have never ever come across these roving mobs of EDL hooligan supporters smashing up shops and attacking anyone non-Aryan or heroine junkies trying to steal my wallet in your lovely city.

It pains me to have to say this, but racism does go two ways: there are Singaporeans who can be extremely racist towards white people and they do so by misrepresenting white people as nasty, evil, drunk EDL/UKIP/BNP supporters who go around abusing Asians. In perpetuating this terrible misrepresentation of white people in England, Mr Abdullah is being a racist and his blog post does tantamount to hate speech – certainly, he has brought your university and city into disrepute and I would very much like to know how you intend to deal with this racist student. As someone from Singapore myself, it is extremely embarrassing to realize that someone like Mr Abdullah is from my home town and I want to assure you please that not everyone from Singapore is as ignorant, hateful and racist.

Thus it is with a sense of duty and obligation that I felt I had to bring this to your attention. I have included my phone number below should you wish to speak to me further about this issue. Thank you very much for your attention."