Hot on the heels of lack of minority representation on ATM consoles, comes the spotlight on TV Mobile, a service we can't ignore whenever we step onto a bus even for a few stops. A disillusioned member of the KLKlan writes in to state her discontent:
As a concerned citizen of the society who takes public transport regularly for lack of the luxury of being chauffeured around, i propose that SBS Transit put up the following notice on all their buses installed with the devil's spawn: TV Mobile.
Hello. welcome to SBS Transit. Your "used to be friendly until we installed TV Mobile" local bus operators. We hope you have a pleasant journey with us. We also hope you enjoy the annoying broadcasts we have lined up for you on TV Mobile, available in 2 out of the 4 official languages of Singapore. English and yes, Chinese. For the rest of you poor souls who were so unfortunate that you had to be born as a non - Chinese speaking individual. tough luck. Being the minority does not entitle you to the privilege of enjoying TV Mobile shows in your mother tongue. So please, bear with us for catering to only the majority population. If you find that difficult, please either take up mandarin language courses, or alight and take either a cab or an SMRT bus. thank you for your kind understanding that it is in our nature to sideline and marginalize certain groups of this society.
P.S. Feel free to write in to ST forum if you wish. but rest assured that we will delay in responding to your queries and also try our level best to ensure that we still do not include minority language programs.
Is it just me or is SBS transit showing a blatant disregard for the minority groups in Singapore by ignoring the discomfort, pain, suffering and overall unhappiness of these people when forced to watch mindless Chinese and Korean variety shows on the extremely pixelated and unstable TV Mobile?
Is it any wonder than that we'd rather pay ridiculous amounts in road tax, bid for exorbitant COE rates, and pay handsomely for a moderate to average car than to undertake the hazardous and highly nerve-wrecking experience of taking public transport? And since when are there more Koreans than Indians or Malays in this little red dot?
Ever since the introduction of TV Mobile into SBS Transit buses, life for me as a commuter has been nothing short of miserable. i have been force fed Chinese variety shows, breakfast shows, MTVs and commercials. Dude, if i were that inclined towards these programmes, i'd watch channel 8 or channel U. Is it any wonder then that foreigners ignorantly sometimes go "Singapore? That;s a part of China right?".
You claim that English is the lingua franca of the country. and yet you insist on televising Chinese drama serials on TV Mobile. well if you really think that the Chinese aunties and uncles will die from the barrage of English flooding their poor sensitive "mandarin only" ears, then what about our Malay and Indian aunties and uncles? You think they like having to tolerate listening to English constantly attacking their hearing? I'm sure as hell they don't appreciate it. And then what do you insensitive imbeciles do, but add mandarin gibberish to their agony. It's like rubbing salt on an open wound no?
All i'm saying is if you're not going to cater to the minority groups by giving air time for Malay and Tamil programs. then please be considerate and save us the horror of sitting through Chinese and Korean shows.
If you're gonna torture us. then at least keep it to English which is more universal and less bewildering. And if you insist on further damaging our already short sighted population by unleashing flickering screens and pixelated images. at least make sure you have a large variety of programs to keep us sufficiently entertained.
i realize that repetition is the way to imprint messages onto the subconscious. But why in heaven's name would anyone want to have Eason Chan's latest concert dates and songs imprinted in their subconscious? Be warned. the next time i have a nightmare of Eason Chan in his tight gay singlet and tatty denims or of Diva on a Dime putting together another tacky outfit, I'm gonna find some grounds to sue SBS Transit for emotional trauma.
Korean variety programs that display giggly, high pitched, and annoying hosts who get retarded contestants to behave in increasingly embarrassing ways are just not my cup of tea, thank you very much. By the way? I don't speak Korean.
You may also be interested to view a Chinese man's response to the furore, HERE.
21 comments:
the tone of the article makes your points less convincing.. why are you trying to be witty when talking about this kind of issue? not many indians find it funny.. do you find it funny? if not why force yourself? wtf?
"discomfort, pain, suffering and overall unhappiness of these people when forced to watch mindless Chinese and Korean variety shows on the extremely pixelated and unstable TV Mobile?"
typical tamilan style.. if one, must say nine.. u exaggerate until like that who will take you seriously? hmm? your friends in nus who giggle at your post and go "wow, you're so radical"?
klk, please qc before posting random shit on your blog pls..
terrible post...i am sure it should have occured to this misguidedly "impassioned" writer that no one gives a fuck about "minorities"...i am sure one has been around long in this little country of ours to realise that. The views of the "chinese man" is perfectly sound to me. It is all about demographics, and the sooner we come to terms with and learn to live with that, the better it is for the "minorities" amongst us... Then there would be no need for all this self pitying whineging tripe.
hahaha...tell me about it. I hate having those mindless chinese and english shows stuffed right in front of my eyes! i hate sitting near those tv box thingeys! Although i have laughed out loud to one of those gag show thingeys once! just once!
I don't think QC is an issue here. We accept all submitted pieces and edit them minimally for clarity not language.
Might I suggest you write one to air your thoughts?
cheers
mr.anonymous i beg to differ with your point of view that the tone makes the points less convincing...
humour is always appreciated when handling sensitive issues...even though it is very sarcarstic..but anywayz i got the point of the article...im sure most indianos did...i bet u did...
the point is...tht we dun wan no cheenah show on tv mobile...as it is alr irritating enuff in english let alone chinese or korean...
i appreciated and in fact enjoyed reading the article...and kudos to klk for allowing people to air their opinions...
dear one and all. you can choose to interpret my article as you wish. i have no control over your views and opinions. but just to clear up a few points.
mr/ms anonymous-
no one says im radical. and none of it is contrived. i simply penned my thoughts as they flowed. the style may not suit you. but i think i got the msg across to a handful at least
mr/ms WUMmy-
maybe its true that 'no one gives a fuck about "minorities"' and yes i have 'been around long in this little country of ours to realise that.' 21 yrs to be exact. but that does not mean that the minority should continue to be ignored. and it most definately does not mean that we should not air our views just because 'It is all about demographics'.
maybe if the minority groups stopped thinking that the views of the "chinese man" were sound, and started lobbying for greater representation, then more people would start giving credit to them.
in the end its about how you choose to react. you can either be a sheep and follow the masses. or you can voice your opinion about the way things are run.
I have no problem with wat anonymous says... he just doesn't appreciate humour in his writing and tts ok... but then maybe u shouldnt be telling the moderator wat he should and shouldnt put up... Who r u? The thought police? Wah... But Mr. Self-Righteous after thats even worse... wummy, im sorry u dun believe in equality for all men... maybe u could become an ambassador n go around the world n tell all e minorities not to whine... just sit by an accept ethnic cleansing... I thought it was a good post anyway...
what a load of bollocks!listen here loveee, if you feel "minorities" should start lobbying for greater representation, why don't you take it upon yourself to do something about it instead of sitting there behind a computer screen blowing hot air...and as for being a "a sheep following the masses",i fuckin guarantee that is exactly what you've been doing all your life consciously or not in one way or another...and if you think you haven't,...you're deluded. end of.
as for hoola hoop over here,equality is the biggest fuckin myth ever.Try as you might to want to strive towards it, its a thankles task...at any level.so get over it you idealist wanker:)...
anyways, i would like to state that i have nothing against people expressing their views ,regardless of how fuckwitted it is,... but i was feeling mildly irritated by the annoying writing style of this entree and was feeling a little bored on a sunday evening,...so forgive me if you feel i've been a little over the top;):D
very interesting..the comments
klk..do u plan to do something abt this..istead of "instead of sitting there behind a computer screen blowing hot air"? Im just curious. The comments are really interesting.
Yes, WUMmy has brought up a valid challenge. The old "what have YOU done" question. My 2 cents worth:
1. What else do YOU have in mind WUMmy except letters to a "regulated" forum and blowing "hot air" on the internet?
2.I'm sure if you set the precedent or state your personal response to the "what have YOU done" question, it'd be fair to your comments.
3.Otherwise, if WUMmy's only irritation was not to change the status quo but to state his dislike for the writing style, then there is NO discussion anymore, is there? Lobbying is by political outfits, comments however any decent bloke who is a citizen has a right to make.
People like wummy are the reason mass genocide and ethnic cleansing exist.
why thank you...that's the biggest compliment i've got in quite awhile...well flattered.
That wasnt a compliment btw. If u wanna be a dumbass and take it as a compliment,then go ahead.
Stop whinging about being a minority...its all about how u perceive urslf, unless of cus u secretly wanna be a chinaman urslf. Your naivete can possibly be cured if u lived overseas for awhile (but then again, u might find something else to cuss about).
Anonymous......You do realise that u dun make any sense at all right?First off,she's not complaining abt being a minority. Secondly,the national languages of Singapore are English,Mandarin,Malay and Tamil, so why only air mandarin shows? Finally,have u ever lived abroad? In some countries,the ppl whine abt the minorities being treated better so there....
How confusing is it when 1 anon responds to another anon.
Is it so hard to leave ur names for the sole sake of differentiation?
My apologies for creating some confusion. The comment about whinging abt being a minority was posted by urs truly. Anyways, (to the REAL anon), if u read between the lines of the original post, u will understand why i said wat i said.
If u havent realised already, indians are the minority race in singas. Nvm the fact that tamil is one of the 4 official languages...it just doesnt make sense to air tamil progs in a country where there are more chinese!! SOunds ridiculous to me, if utopia is what u are talking abt, u are not gonna get it anywhere in the world, my fren.
ANd fyi, i am living abroad and dun be self assuming, alright??? So try and expand ur worldview, u can start by getting outta the well u are stuck in.
-grapevine
Hi, I share the same views with yourself, and would like to direct you to a post i made regarding discrimination not only on tv mobile, but also on other forms of media: http://kennygoh.blogspot.com/2006/10/television-papers-mandarin-i-turned-on.html
However, I differ from your post in differentiating different language speakers by race, i.e. not all Chinese are necessarily Mandarin speakers, and vice versa. Thus, there is discrimination against non-mandarin speakers, but not necessarily against non-Chinese.
Hi, I share the same views with yourself, and would like to direct you to a post i made regarding discrimination not only on tv mobile, but also on other forms of media: http://kennygoh.blogspot.com/2006/10/television-papers-mandarin-i-turned-on.html
However, I differ from your post in differentiating different language speakers by race, i.e. not all Chinese are necessarily Mandarin speakers, and vice versa. Thus, there is discrimination against non-mandarin speakers, but not necessarily against non-Chinese.
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