Singapore's strange media silence.
You could be forgiven for
thinking that Ainan was not Singaporean. You might form that impression
by reading the Singaporean newspapers. You see, what was remarkable
about them, over the past couple of weeks, was the absence of any
mention of Ainan in them. Only one newspaper, the Zaobao, made mention
of Ainan's scientific discovery of Velociperception, at the age of 8 -
but even that was a very strange article for it claimed that Ainan's
mother was a Malaysian (in other words, "Ainan is no loss to Singapore,
because he doesn't even come from here".)
Now, I find this all
very odd. Firstly, Ainan's mother, Syahidah is a Singaporean by birth.
However her MOTHER was Malaysian by birth. Thus Syahidah is half
Malaysian by blood and half Singaporean Malay by blood - and Singaporean
by citizenship. Ainan was born in Singapore and was thus born into
Singaporean citizenship. It is odd, indeed, therefore, that Singapore's
national media should almost entirely ignore a Singaporean born boy who
made a scientific discovery at age 8. Any other nation on Earth, would
be so proud of such a development that they would scream it to the world
at the top of their media lungs. Not so Singapore. Singapore, it very
much seems, cannot be proud of the achievement of a half-Malay boy. No,
you see, in the unwritten script of the national Singaporean story,
Malays achieve nothing worthwhile and all the kudos goes to the dominant
Chinese. It doesn't fit their national script to have a half-Malay boy
achieve anything, let alone become the youngest person in history, to
discover anything scientific, as he is.
There is something else
interesting about the Zaobao story. Firstly, they called Ainan's mother,
Malaysian, to rewrite his script as no loss to Singapore, because he
wasn't from Singapore in the first place. This is, of course a lie.
Secondly, I recall that they referred to Ainan as "Yinan". This is very
interesting, for this is a CHINESE name. They are reframing Ainan's
Malay success story, as a Chinese success story.
Now, I don't
know whether these are innocent mistakes on the part of Zaobao - whether
they, in fact, picked up this misinformation elsewhere and simply
repeated it. I know this, however: the Zaobao article has been PULLED
from the internet, since then and Google is no longer able to find it.
Old links that point to the article now go to a blank page on Zaobao.
This is very interesting. It seems to show that Zaobao's coverage,
though minute, was not approved of, by other members of the PAP power
structure - and even that little coverage was pulled once they realized
it had gone out. The idea, of course, is that Singaporeans should not
ever know about Ainan's growing achievements. I believe that Singapore
will follow a rule regarding Ainan: the more he achieves, the less they
will write of him. In the long term, this will mean that the people on
Earth least informed about Ainan, a born Singaporean, will be the
Singaporean people themselves.
None of this really matters to us,
personally. If Singapore wants to keep the truth from its people, there
is little we can do about that, except perhaps write a comment on a
blog that only a small number of people will ever see. Eventually,
however, the people of Singapore will work out what Singapore is doing.
They will see, for instance, Ainan's growing presence on the internet
and the many articles, IN OTHER COUNTRIES, referencing his achievements,
and they will realize, that their local media have been unaccountably
silent. They will understand, then, what is happening. Will this improve
the impression Singaporeans have of their media? I don't think so. It
will just show them what kind of media they have. It will show them
that, more often than not, the most interesting stories, are the ones
they never get to hear.
Imagine a future in which Ainan wins a
major scientific prize, one day. It doesn't have to be the Nobel. There
are other science prizes, too. What would happen then? Well, I think it
would be very instructive for any Singaporeans who keep an eye on the
internet for news of Ainan. If Ainan should one day win a major
scientific prize, or make a major scientific discovery (in a way he
already has...), the whole world will be alive with news of it, except
for one, very quiet little island. In such an eventuality, the only
country that would not know about Ainan's achievement, would be
Singapore itself.
What a strange, little country Singapore is. Is
there anywhere else in the world, outside of Soviet Russia, China,
Burma and North Korea, capable of such a thing? Clearly, Singapore is
keeping very interesting company, in the way it conducts itself. I
wonder if the powers-that-be ever reflect on their own nature? What do
they think of themselves and what they are doing?
Now, this post
is written with two background facts in mind. Firstly, the only article
to make it, briefly, to the internet, from Singapore, was the Zaobao
article. No other article had an online presence. Furthermore, none of
our relatives in Singapore heard of any news articles about Ainan.
Therefore, I am assuming that there were no other articles of which I am
unaware. If you know otherwise, please comment below.
Given that
our relatives didn't hear anything, about Ainan, in the papers, it is
most likely that there are no other articles - certainly not in the
English or Malay press. That, in itself, is enough to support the
analysis of this article.
It is funny to contemplate that, in the
long term, the people least informed about the life and achievements of
Singaporean born Ainan Celeste Cawley, look set to be the Singaporean
people themselves. Now, how strange is that? By contrast, all other
Chinese speaking countries in the world, and all other Chinese speaking
newspapers in the world, gave significant coverage to Ainan's discovery.
The question is: why didn't Singapore's media do the same?
Answers, please, below.
You can tell how much is wrong
with a nation, by how often it lies. So, by that measure, Singapore must
be one of the worst nations on Earth...because it tells among the most
lies.