Yesterday, I was somewhat taken aback by an “adjective” used to describe me – “anti-China”. I think some clarification is in order. Most of us do things with a purpose. The report says that Rurusama is going all out to “satisfy her fans”. I’m sure she’s not doing it for the money. I have nothing against Rurusama and her fans, but if people close to me were to go head over heels and and spend money to get slapped, I would be tempted to post stuff on social media to mock such behaviour.
By the same token, when I see people close to me falling for a certain regime’s propaganda, thinking that it’s doing everything right and the rest of the world should follow, I would feel inclined to share information in an attempt to wipe out that illusion. Recently, Mr Tan Kin Lian shared that he had joined “the party” on social media. Someone must have tipped off the authorities and he received a message from the Ministry of Home Affairs.
It’s a little strange for someone of Mr Tan Kin Lian’s stature to joke about something like this. It would be irresponsible for our MHA not to investigate, especially after the Interpol Red Notice debacle. People who follow Mr Tan would know that like some of our left wing activists, he is very pro-China. I have more than 30 friends and relatives on social media who are just like him. One of them, who is constantly tuned in to Chinese propaganda channels, tried to share Chinese propaganda on YouTube with our relatives in China. He had no idea that YouTube is blocked. Only privileged folks, with specific duties specially assigned by the authorities have access to the world wide web. In the beginning, I had figured that the misconceptions held by these people are due to a lack of knowledge and information; not some religious faith. I did the obvious. I shared “behind the scenes” information, hoping that they could be “converted”. When they got annoyed when I commented on their misguided posts, I moved the information to my profile. When they started unfollowing me, I started a group and shared only with those who were interested. My biggest lament is this: 小粉红生长在墙内，会这么想是很好理解的。最难理解的是生长在墙外的人为什么会钻到墙内去被洗脑呢？Perhaps I was wrong. These folks identify themselves at “Chinese” and embrace the ethno-nationalism that is currently promoted by China with the hope of mobilising “overseas Chinese”. In many ways, it does seem like a religion. I remember debating with someone on China’s ownership of the South China Sea. When he ran out of facts, he blurted ” you are a disgrace to your ancestors” and blocked me. These Sinophiles also have another thing in common. They are racists or at least they believe in the superiority of our race. Someone who visited Vietnam and saw how quickly the country progressed, saw all the Chinese words and attributed the diligence and intelligence of Vietnamese people to Chinese colonisation. The mocking of Filipino resistance to Chinese bullying is concerning. Scary, don’t you think? Remember how that German leader mobilised his people and started a world war?
On the radar of those keenly observing the latest developments in China is the recent documentary made by Taiwanese influencer Ba Jiong and former pro-China Taiwanese influencer 陈柏源 Chen Bo Yuan. They collaborated on a shocking documentary uncovering how the PRC bought over Taiwanese influencers to persuade Taiwanese people to accept PRC rule. Even though it’s something that everyone knew was happening all along, the documentary with surreptitiously recorded phone conversations and documents, laid bare a systematic, high stakes plan to brainwash Taiwanese people. The same could be happening in Singapore. I just don’t have proof that so and so is receiving money.
But while Chen Bo Yuan’s “defection” has tremendous impact on those who have been naive about the PRC, it should be noted that he is an exception. There are probably thousands of Taiwanese businessmen and artists who swallowed their pride and principles and remained loyal to China because there is no turning back. The even more discouraging thing is that Chen Bo Yuan might never have “defected” if he had not been subjected to gross injustice in China while he was serving his NS in Taiwan. We hear how the “experts” claim that those who don’t know how to navigate the business landscape in China are stupid (unlike them). They boast about the connections they have but in Chen Bo Yuan’s case, it’s precisely his closest “connection” that betrayed him, stealing his content and poaching his employees. Son of 晋江台联会会长, the culprit even lives in a district with judges as neighbours. Not surprisingly, the police told Chen that they couldn’t locate him. It’s joke, except that it’s not funny.
Chen Bo Yuan has money that Byte Dance still owes him. Prior to his “defection” he still had millions of fans in China even after closing down his production company, he could still start anew. And many who had been served the “iron fist” would do just that. After suffering injustice, they pick up the pieces, swallow his pride and principles and move on. Witnesses hope and pray that the same doesn’t happen to them. It’s not about principles or rule of law. People can survive or even build wealth without all that. The question is, can you accept all that? I know I can’t. Some people can. I have nothing to say to them. Some people are still in the dark. That’s the group I hope to enlighten and thus appear anti-China.