Tuesday, April 1, 2014

MH370: Why involve your flag?

This is from ST yesterday.

I wonder why they have to bring the Chinese state flag into this? What has this got to do with the country?

The Chinese is a nagging worry for us because they have grown to become so nationalistic.

No country I know of would bring out their state flag under such circumstances. It is just incredulous what a missing passenger plane has got to do with inter state relations. It is as if Malaysia was trying to systematically do in Chinese citizens, a completely absurd idea.

There is another angle to this. The friends and families of Chinese passengers on MH370 are trying to bait public opinion - and they succeeded, so that in turn the government muscle can be brought to bear. This is even more worrying as it would cause you to wonder when it would be Singapore's turn to get into a difficult situation with them. There are so many Chinese nationals here.

The whole saga also suggest that the Chinese government mandate to govern has weakened even further and constantly have to prove itself fit to rule to the people. Every Chinese on the street think the government is corrupt and is just tolerating it. They are quite skillful at borrowing Beijing's dagger against local officials suspending knowledge that the central government is not cleaner. It is a very complex and unique relationship. ST Kor Kian Beng had a very good article on his subject which is beyond most western journalists and thinkers are capable of grasping.


No comments:

Post a Comment