By Any EFFECTIVE Means Necessary

I'd like to talk about something that happened in Singapore recently couple days back. There was a video of a I I I don't wanna yeah. It was

a

confrontation essentially of two Singaporeans who were at a routine meet the people session at a neighborhood. Okay.

What's the meet the people session?

So that's where the MP, the member of parliament that represents that particular constituency, which is which is within the boundary of, you know, it has a boundary. Right? So residents of that boundary will have a a scheduled weekly or monthly. I'm not sure what's the situation now. Mhmm.

A session with the member of parliament that represents them. They can residents can raise their concerns, raise their issues for either a solution or something. They get to meet their representative. Okay. Their parliamentary representative for a solution.

Okay. So it's always busy. Right. Okay?

Of course.

Yeah. So this is a meet the people session. It took a tense turn when two non residents they are both Singaporeans, but they are not residents of that location. Right? So they engaged in a heated they they began engaging the minister in a what was circulating online is an heated exchange between the two women and the minister.

Madam, I say MPS is for residents to come and discuss with us Mhmm. Our their issues. I have the discretion to see other people. Okay. I have the discretion.

Right. But the general rule is you go and see your own MP. Otherwise, everyone will go and see the prime minister. Technically, he's responsible for everything. Okay.

It doesn't work like that.

Okay.

But that doesn't mean that I cannot waive the rule and see. So I would suggest you be careful. I would suggest you be careful before you accuse people of lying.

The issue that they wanted to raise with him on was the one on is the one on the protection from online falsehoods and manipulation act, which is short for which is short shortened as POFMA, p o f m a, protection from online falsehoods and manipulation act.

If you say something online, you have to prove if you're given one of these notices or whatever. You have to prove that what you said is true and it's not misinformation.

Yeah. Pretty much.

And if you can prove that, then it's removed.

Yes. So the publisher will have to report will will have to publish a correction notice providing access to correct facts. So there are there are protocols. Okay. So if it has been proven that these are the facts and you cannot counter it, then there are some steps that you need to take to show that, okay.

There's this this is what you're saying, but there's all of these counterclaims. You need to present them together. Okay. So this is pretty much it. So they wanted to raise that with him.

And he said, everyone has for everyone who's seen this video, so, know, this is repeating information. But to make a long story short, he tried to engage with them as in a very civil manner to tell them that he's there for pressing issues of his residence and that they should take the matter at a time that is more appropriate and suitable and that it can be arranged until further notice. Okay? But, it just escalated to a kind of a aggressive confrontational tone because as he walked away from them, after meeting them face to face to interact and talk to them about their concerns, right, he walks away and then one of them shouts, coward. Coward.

Coward. Coward.

If you the residents here have come here, who shouted coward? Who else? There was somebody else. The residents have come here for their issues. You have come here to disrupt the meet the people session.

I saw the video actually. And even though that particular politician, I don't care for him at all. He is definitely in the right in how he conducted himself and ladies who were, I don't know, protesting or confronting him or what have you, they're definitely in the wrong, in my opinion. Their their approach was was childish. And his approach was very civil, was very respectful, was very controlled, and was what you would expect.

In other words, I'm not going to address this now. He has a very plausible excuse for not addressing it now, meaning, or or that being, I'm here in the capacity as a as an MP

Mhmm.

For this constituency, and they're meeting with me to address their issues, the issues of my constituency, and I'm not here for this. I'm not here in the capacity as the minister of home affairs or the minister of law. I'm here in the capacity as an MP for these people. So he you're already going to him at a time when he has already made excuse for not talking to

you Mhmm.

About your issue. And that's that's how he dealt with it. He was repeatedly saying, you know, we can arrange a time to discuss this, and someone will discuss it with you. He didn't he never said that he would discuss it with them. Mhmm.

But he said that your issues will be addressed if you basically, you go through the proper channels Mhmm. And and, you know, contact my office or what have you. Get the email. Send me an email, and we'll we'll work up a meeting and so on. You you should have actually been satisfied with that response because that's the response that you would have predictably gotten.

Mhmm.

I should say that's the response that you would predictably have gotten in Singapore. The response that you the entire meeting would not have taken place in The United States. This entire exchange would never have taken place in The United States because there's no such thing as what what's it called?

Meet the people

Meet the people. There's no there's no such thing as meet the people sessions in the we the people country, the government of the people, by the people, for the people, there's no such thing as as a meet the people session. There are orchestrated, choreographed town hall meetings. If the representative chooses to do that, and it's usually only in election time.

Okay. So this is once a week?

Yeah. So this is not something that you have in the Democratic United States. You don't get to meet your senator. You don't get to meet your congressman unless you've given them a million dollars. Unless you're a big campaign funder, then you have maybe access.

Otherwise, the the the general public doesn't really have access to their representatives. So this whole meeting wouldn't have taken place. And if there was any sort of a confrontational meeting like that, you would have been dragged away by security.

Mhmm.

These women were not dragged away by security. In fact, they were they were they had a face to face exchange with the man, and he was extremely polite. He was extremely civil. He was extremely disciplined and restrained Yep. In how he talked to them even when they were misbehaving, even when they were disrespectful, even when they, in my opinion, showed themselves to be completely unserious people.

Mhmm.

And yes confrontational, adversarial, confrontational, disrespectful. This really highlights what I've talked about before in terms of if you're an act like all of the steps that you're supposed to go through. I I just did a thing about this. I just talked about this recently. Yeah.

The prerequisites to activism. Mhmm. Of sort of self analysis, self evaluation, self awareness

Mhmm.

About what's really driving you. Because in my opinion, these women, they don't care about POFMA. Mhmm. This this online false Falsehood. Falsehood legislation, regulation.

Mhmm. They don't actually care about that. They don't care about addressing that. What they want is to protest. This is what they want.

This is actually what you want. You want to be the person flipping off the authorities. You you have because you have a mythology about speaking truth to power.

Right.

And so now I want to be that guy, I want to be that person. I want to be that figure. I want to be admired as the hero who stands up to power.

Right.

Who speaks truth to power. That's what I want. Yeah. It's not about solving solving any problems. It's not about it's not about having agreements that you want to get resolved.

Mhmm.

Because if you have agreements that you want to get resolved, subhanAllah, you have an incredibly accessible government Mhmm. In Singapore. Incredibly accessible. Mhmm. Literally weekly meetings with the representatives.

And you're actually speaking face to face with the home minister, which is almost like talking to the secretary of state. Mhmm. Which have having access to talk to the secretary of state. Who where where can you do that? If you if you really wanna resolve your issue, then you will approach it in a realistic way.

And you and it's not that you will just automatically go with the confrontational adversarial protest oppositional approach. You will opt for whatever approach is the most effective approach. Yeah. And the most effective approach would be for you to exactly take his advice, make a meeting, set an arrangement.

Yes.

We'll have an email, we'll have a meeting, we'll discuss it. At the right time, in the right environment, when I'm in my capacity as the home minister or as the minister of law. Right. And we can discuss it.

Right.

But not here, not now. This is not the time, this is not the place. And this isn't the way. But you don't care if that's the way or not because what you want to do is what you just did, which is to flip off the authorities. That's what you wanted to do.

And I think you should ask yourself why.

Yeah.

I really think that you need to analyze yourself psychologically. What's your psyche? Because you actually, in my opinion, you have a personal issue. You have a personal problem internally to you that you need to identify why you are so discontent. Actually, what's the real reason for your discontent?

Because it's not what you're what you're saying.

Mhmm.

It's not puff ma, it's not the online falsehood and we think that there's censorship or there's whatever these restrictions. That's not really what's going on here. Because if that's what was really going on here, then you would address it in a realistic manner. You would access the tools and the channels. Yeah.

That are available for addressing it. But you're not doing that. You're choosing to do it in a way that I'm sorry mimics protesters in The US. Mhmm. You're doing it in a way that mimics oppositional politics in The US.

Mhmm. But you have to understand that there's a reason why it's like that in The US. Because of what I just said, which is that you can never meet with your politician. You never can meet with your representative. The government in the we the people, of the people, by the people, for the people, that that government is completely unresponsive Mhmm.

To the population. There are no channels for getting your grievances addressed by your politicians, by your so called representatives. There are no channels for that unless you are a major funder. But you, you should say, because they were Muslims.

Mhmm.

You should say, you live in a society where the government is actually quite responsive Yeah. And quite accessible. Mhmm. That you can literally talk to them every week Yeah. Your representative.

And they're willing to make appointments with you to discuss whatever issues you have even when you're not their constituent.

Yeah.

You should be happy about that, but for some reason you're not. For some reason you don't appreciate that. And you this is what I'm saying. You actually have a some psychological issue. Yeah.

A personal issue that should be should be addressed. I don't want peace. I want problems This is what you

are. Yeah.

This is really what you are. You want problems. You don't want problems solved. Yeah. You want problems.

Because you I don't know. You think it makes you look brave or something. Yeah. Like I said, you're this is a performance. There's something else driving you.

Yeah. And it has nothing to do with the cause that you're claiming.

Mhmm.

It has nothing to do with that. Like you said, they just want to vent. Okay. But vent about what? Mhmm.

Actually. Mhmm. You know, like I said, in your society, you're you're basically fine.

Mhmm.

In Singapore, compared to other places.

Mhmm.

You're fine. But you seem to be angry that you're fine. Yeah. You seem to want to live in a society where the government is not responsive, where the government is not accessible, where you're really under some kind of a tyranny. Mhmm.

So that you can have some justification for being the big brave person who stands up against the authorities. Yeah. But no one needs you to stand up against the authorities.

Yeah.

The authority is standing right there in front of you talking to you in a civil manner asking you what your concerns are. And okay, I can't discuss this now but we can set a time to talk about it but you're not interested in doing that. Yeah. Means again, you're not interested in solving problems, you're interested in making problems.

Yeah. This is why I felt that what you said, you know, about shouting at the rain Mhmm. In order to stay dry. Mhmm. I'm I'm sorry.

I I I can't get it because it's your line.

You know?

So it it really that really put the picture for me clearly, Activism

you isn't what you think it is. Most for most people. Mhmm. For most people, they think activism is laying in front of a car, you know, on the highway Mhmm. Or or, you know, I don't know, splashing paint on a on a painting in a in a museum or all of these very performative actions.

Activism is people who who okay. Like, you know, like they say grassroots.

Mhmm.

When you look at the grass, don't see the roots. Mhmm. That's what grassroots means. It's people who are working really down in the dirt and you never even see them. You don't hear about them, you don't see them, you don't know what they're doing because they're just working.

They're not in front of cameras, they're just working. Like like when I used to work at emergency family assistance an an organization in America that was helping indigent families, all of the people who worked there, there were some of them who were paid and and many of them, including myself who were volunteers. Mhmm. That's activism. Mhmm.

You're you're literally helping people with no attention, no coverage, no media, no nothing, but you're actually in the grassroots helping people.

Mhmm.

And the same with when I worked for Open Door, the anti gang anti gang violence organization. These are people who are just working. They they deal with the police, they deal with churches, they deal with government, they deal with schools, education, and obviously with families, with the individuals, they go to events where there might be violence and so on. You never hear about what they're doing, but they're working.

Mhmm.

That's what grassroots is. And that's what real activism is, that you're actually active doing work to help people and to resolve the people the problems of people Right. And the problems of society. It's not turn on the camera and flip off the authorities. This is not activism.

Yeah.

Because you're this is not going to get you any solution to any problem. It's only going to cause problems. Yeah. And So society has to sorry. Yeah.

A society has to at a certain point decide how much of this kind of pointless disruption we can handle, we can manage. And and and knowing that it's actually not coming from a genuine or a sincere place where you care about social ills because again, if you cared about social ills, you would be involved in the actual work of resolving those. So it's actually coming from a psychological problem, in my opinion, a personal psychological problem that you have, that you are now externalizing in the form of activism, so called activism. Yeah. But all it is, it's not even activism, it's just disruptive.

Yeah. There's disruption.

Yes. That's what it is. Because all you you got your your brief moment of fame and all the memes are going around.

Mhmm.

Like, I'm sorry, it's very superficial, like the the the small guy going against the big guy type of memes, know, which is what that's your objective. We've met your objective now. You've got your five minute of fame, the glorification that that that that you were seeking. But as for actual work that needs to be done, that's on the ground, that's miniscule, that takes time, that yields in results. These are things that apparently are interesting and and

not You want to go straight to confrontation. Yeah. And and there are some situations and circumstances and conditions and some societies and some power dynamics in some societies that require that.

Mhmm.

That's not the case with you.

Mhmm.

And you should be grateful that that's not the case with you. And in in many places that's not the case. Yeah. You almost you will almost actually only find that to be the case in the democratic West. That's the case in the democratic West where you can never get anything done.

There are no actual channels of accountability. There are no actual channels of access to your politicians. There's no accountability and so forth. So it it kind of makes sense that in in the West, they they go directly to confrontation.

Mhmm.

Because everything else is futile. And even the confrontation is usually futile. Mhmm. Because they've locked you out completely Yeah. Of the system.

But this isn't the case in Singapore. It's not the case in many countries. Mhmm. But you jump right to that, and the reason that you jump right to that is is like I said, because that's just what you want. Yeah.

You just want disruption, you just want confrontation, you just want to make problems. And I'm saying, you need to identify what's the problem, what's your problem that you're

like that. If you don't understand that there's a civil way to go about doing things as opposed to just direct confrontation, then you're not interested in a solution.

Right. That's what I'm saying. You're interested in confrontation for its own sake.

Yeah.

Because you have a mythology in your mind. This is just like what you're saying with the memes going around about the big the the the little guy against the big guy. Mhmm. Is what you want to be. You want to be that heroic figure who just is engaged in a futile confrontation with power even if you get wiped out, but I'm a hero.

Mhmm. Okay? What I'm saying is I don't care if it's a civil way or if it's confrontational way. The only thing that matters is if it's an effective way. Mhmm.

That's the only thing that matters. And and if you're not looking at what's the effective way, then I'm not interested.

Mhmm.

And you're not serious. If you're if you're for example, if you're going if you're if you're insisting on a civil approach, when a civil approach is not effective, then you're not serious. Mhmm. If you're if you're focusing on or jumping straight to a confrontational way, and a confrontational way is not effective, then you're not serious.

Yeah.

You have to make an actual evaluation and an analysis of what are the options available strategically for you to get a grievance addressed.

Yeah.

And pursue that, whatever it is.

Yeah.

But none of you do that.

Yeah. That's when you demonstrate that you have you have personal conviction. And so you pursue it no matter what, you know. And that requires resolve. And, you know, again resolute action, you know.

You know, like, you know, it's like it's like the the very very famous statement of Malcolm X. By any means necessary. Everyone jumps to think that that must mean violence.

Yeah.

By any means necessary also means making an appointment with the home minister and discussing it with him in a civil manner. Mhmm. Because that's the way that works. Don't just jump to the most drastic, the most, you know, confrontational adversarial approach. In my opinion, a futile approach is an immoral approach.

Mhmm. Because you're you're you're as indifferent to the problem that you're claiming to try to solve, you're as indifferent to a solution to that problem as the people who are creating the problem. You're the same as someone who's completely apathetic to the problem Mhmm. In my opinion. If you're not gonna be serious enough to try to take what's an effective approach Mhmm.

Even if it's not as dramatic or as self aggrandizing as you would like

it to be. Mhmm.

It's a very colonized mindset that you just wanna be like

The West.

The West. That you just want to use the Western template of what their usual menu of complaints are.

Mhmm.

Their usual menu of like social priorities about liberalism and and free speech and freedom of assembly and Mhmm. And so on. And then you wanna also mimic their way of approaching those issues, which is to go out in the street or be confrontational or what have you. And you're just trying to apply a western, specifically an American template to your country, and it is a misfit. It doesn't fit.

Yeah. You just want to confront authorities and and you want to assume a front of, you know again speaking truth.

Truth to power.

Truth to power. It's all a kind of again, it's it's just theater. It's recreational. It's very hard for me to respect any of this.

No. Because because like in that video, when they were confronting him

Mhmm.

And he was again very civil, an activist's approach, a serious activist's approach would have been, thank you very much sir.

Mhmm.

Thank you for the contact information and I will send you a message and we'll make an appointment. Mhmm. Thank you so much. Mhmm. Thank you for your

time. Mhmm.

That's it.

Yeah.

And But you think that that's, I don't know, bootlicking, you think that's weak, you think that's subservient and passive and whatever. That's effective. Yeah. This is effective.

And particularly, if you are being recorded. Mhmm. And you have it on record that the minister is going to address it. Mhmm. So the best way to go through go along with it is to have a civil agreement Mhmm.

And then you can follow-up on him because he's on record.

Precisely. Precisely. But no,

that that was that because again, you are so fogged in your mind with this, you know And anyone

and anyone who is who is actually concerned about this thing

Mhmm.

Or Palestine or whatever the case may be, because this group is also interested in in they want so called they want sanctions against Israel or whatever. Anyone who's serious, because these people are not serious. Mhmm. Anyone who is serious about those things. Because they're not they're not like I I wouldn't be dismissive of those issues.

Mhmm.

If you have concerns, you have concerns.

Mhmm.

And if you're someone who is serious about those concerns, you need to disassociate yourself from these types of people. In my opinion. Because they are undermining your cause, they're undermining your concerns, and they're sabotaging any effort that you might make to get those issues resolved. Mhmm. Either you need to disassociate yourself from them or you need to take them aside and talk to them Mhmm.

About, you know, how strategy works

Mhmm.

How actual engagement with power works. Because like I said, in my opinion, they don't have good intentions from the beginning. I I won't say good intentions. They don't have pure intentions. Their intentions are muddled.

Mhmm.

I think that their intentions are based on personal psychological issues of discontent that has to do with something personal in their life.

Mhmm.

Because this is not the approach of serious people Yeah. To a social issue Mhmm. Or or concern about some kind of unfair legislation or what have you. You're trying to prove something about yourself, to yourself or to others or what have you. Mhmm.

You're not this is what I'm saying. It's it's not about the cause. If it's about the cause, then you are subordinate

Yes.

To the cause. Yes. No matter what I'm willing to even be obsequious to a minister, to an official, what have you. If it's gonna get the job done. If that will get the job done.

It's not about your ego. Yeah. It's about getting the getting an effective solution to a problem that you actually take seriously.

Yeah. I mean, I I have no doubt in my mind that for these types, the only functioning democracy is what they see in the West. Right. And and ironic.

Yeah. Which is so ironic.

This is an important point to raise.

Yeah. Because the because the reality is that you see people like I've said many times, you see people protesting in the streets, you see this very confrontational attitude among sort of oppositional types and groups and interests in The US because the government will never listen to you ever.

Please take note.

Because you have because in this great democracy, you have no democracy. Mhmm. In this great government of the people, by the people, and for the people, the people are completely locked out. Mhmm. You don't have like I said, you don't have weekly meetings with your representative.

You will never see your representative at all except at election time from a distance. And like I said, maybe they will organize a town hall meeting in which it's it's entirely orchestrated, it's entirely choreographed, and and this politician or that politician will place their own people in the audience to ask pre arranged questions that I've already memorized the answers to. Maybe you'll get a chance to say something, but if you say something that's out of line, if you say something that's off the script, they will pull you out of that town meeting by your hair. Private security people came, never identifying themselves as what they were Mhmm. Literally dragged her out of the place.

Okay? This is not happening in your country.

Mhmm.

This is this happens in democracies.

No. West the western democracies that you so admire.

Yeah. So there's a reason why people in America act like that. Mhmm. Because they're actually living under a tyranny. Mhmm.

They're actually living under an authoritarian democracy.

Yeah.

You know? Mhmm. Whereas in Singapore, you can literally just meet the the representative, you can meet the home minister, you can meet the minister of law, you can meet your MP, and they are required in fact to meet you every week. Imagine that. And Singapore gets called that they're an authoritarian government.

They're they're dictatorship, that they don't have democracy and what have you. And they're being accused of that by The a country that that doesn't let you say a word, and that and and your representatives will never meet you unless you're a million dollar funder of a campaign.

Yeah.

You know? So you are mimicking us as you're mimicking a society that is not like your society. You're mimicking an approach by people who live in a society that is not like your society, and it's not an approach that is required in your society. And you should be grateful for that. You should appreciate that.

And again, you should always make your approach according to what is effective.

Yeah. In your own environment. In your own environment. Yeah.

You have to under I've said it a million times. You have to understand how your society is, how your system works, how your power structure works, how the power dynamics in your society work, and make your strategy according to that reality.

Yeah.

Not according to some template from the West. America is not a functional society. It is a dysfunctional society. It's a dysfunctional system. It's a dysfunctional government.

So don't act like if you live in a functional society with a functional system and a functional government, don't act dysfunctional and don't respond to it as if it is as if it is dysfunctional because it's not. Mhmm. And be grateful for that and use the channels that are open to you and available to you. Mhmm. And there's nothing you shouldn't be disappointed that those channels exist.

Yes. Because you don't get to be confrontational. I'm sorry that you don't get to be confrontational. Yeah. Well, maybe you should just take up boxing.