4 October 2002
I’m very disturbed to find out that a sign was erected outside Seletar Camp which reads, “BIN NOT ALLOWED INTO THE CAMP”. “BIN” here refers to Muslims and in this instance Singaporean Malay-Muslims.
I realise that Singaporean Malay-Muslims have always been given no opportunity to join the Air Force, Navy, Intelligence Department & MIW. With the arrests of JI members, the Government has spoken up saying that this group of people is trying to create racial tension among Singaporeans. But I beg to differ, with this example.
Its the Singapore Goverment aka PAP & the Defence Ministry who are instilling fear among Singaporeans, putting the Malay-Muslims into bad light & segregating the community into “moderates” & “extremists”. There will always be one Islam and a Muslim is a Muslim. It is the media and people who give these labels. Rather than trying to solve the problem, the Goverment should ask itself what caused these problems in the first place?
Look at the Sept 11 WTC plane crash and the Palestinian crisis. The Americans & Israelis should ask themselves, what is the root of the violence.
I applaud SDP for speaking up for the Malay rights especially with the tudung issue, since we can’t depend on the Malay MPs in the government. I hope SDP will keep on promoting democracy in this country for the benefit of Singaporeans and try to open up the eyes of the people to see the negative impact of the PAP Government.
With all these price hikes everywhere, the people may have lost confidence in the PAP. But Singaporeans have been blinded with the New Singapore Shares and whatever else.
I hope SDP can gather this evidence at the Seletar Camp if its still there and publish it to the media. Hopefully, but I doubt it, the media will publish it.
ETAM