I’ve been trying to stay away from this topic because that would mean I have actually read and watch videos on it…. but I guess my sister’s (Melissa) right…
It’s inevitable…
talking about Ris Low is bound to come up sooner or later….
So culture… Singapore is a High Context Culture whereby ’saving face’ is very important and explicit communication style is seen as rude, coarse and insensitive. Although I think in truth, as the generations go by, explicit communication is becoming more and more common but that is for another time, another entry.
Ms Low’s atrocious command of english in her ‘BOOMZ’ video was what got her all the attention on the island. The only thing that crossed me mind was, ‘What were the judges thinking….’. In a straitstimes article, the organiser said (quote) ‘During the Grand Finals competition held at the Shangri La hotel on the July 31, she spoke perfectly good English, had a good answer (short, sharp and sweet) and performed very well to impress the 11 judges that she was good enough to win.’ (http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_435832.html)
Hmmm…. yes…. keyword… SHORT. I found an interview on youtube with Ms Low (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZO_3wokogSs) and found out just how slow she can speak. As you can see, she does keep her answers short and sweet. Also STOMP, someone has posted Ms Low’s facebook page with it saying ‘”‘YA I SUCK IN ENGLISH AND I GOT A1 FOR MY ENGLISH O LEVEL AND A1 FOR MY COMMUNICATIONS. YES, I SUCK IN MY LANGUAGES. =)’” (http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/stomp/sgseen/caught_in_the_act/259912/ris_low_claimed_she_scored_a1.html)
Everyone has been giving this girl a hard time about her english and say that her representing Singapore would be embarrassing and thus ‘no face’ but the question I pose is, How many of us speak good english? The fact of the matter is, most of us don’t speak proper english either, so who are we to criticize? And I speak from personal experience when I say, what we get for our O Level English does not mean anything. You can speak well but get B or less on your O Level english or get an A and speak like Ms Low. Are we being too hard on Ms Low? Some of us can turn on and off our singlish if we need to and speak perfectly good english and apparently so can she when she needs to (Ms Singapore competition).
Aside from Ms Low’s terrible command of english, her credit card fraud conviction is another topic. ‘How can we allow someone with a record represent Singapore?’ is the question on everyone’s mind. In hopes to distance herself from her wrong doings, Ms Low went to officially get diagnosed after heeding a suggestion by her lawyer. So now she’s blaming it on bipolar. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ris_Low). I guess the issue about her retaking her exams for the diploma course in hospitality and tourism in MDIS also has something to do with bipolar. (http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_438756.html)
The thing that makes me confused it when it comes to the conviction of Ms Low and her stepping down due to it, is that the government talks about giving people a second chance. The whole yellow ribbon project. We see posters, ads and even marathons to support the yellow ribbon project but the truth is, many us don’t bother about the posters or ads. How does society change their views of convicts and begin taking the first step of being more open when such a large organization like the ‘Ms Singapore’ competition does not show an example.
The media has a strong influence on us and if something as big as the Ms Singapore competition does not show us an example of forgiveness, then the stigma stuck on convicts will never change.
Our culture does not look kindly upon those who potentially make us lose face. Are we being too arrogant and unforgiving to a girl who sadly, like many of us, do not speak proper english and is trying to be a beauty queen even with a conviction? Could the organization have turned this into a positive thing and not a circus act?
October 23, 2009 at 9:06 am |
As much as the Singapore government is trying to convince the public to give ex-offenders a second chance. We are still primarily a country with the majority of the population having roots to ancient china due to our population being mainly Chinese.
The Chinese often perceived ex-offenders as “a blight upon the family name” and this viewpoint has spread among the various races due to the close proximity that we live in.
This together with the culture of “not standing out among our peers” has led to corporations and society at large discriminating against those who are perceived to be miscreants and using them as a case in point to pacify the population.
The herculean task to change the mindset of the population will unfortunately fall upon the shoulders of the educators as the current generation is already too set in their ways.
October 23, 2009 at 11:57 am |
whatever happened to the pageant being aired on television? i would like to see how ris low made it through the pageant and won with her short and sweet answer. shouldn’t the winner be someone Singapore can be proud of and show off to the world, as well be a good role model?
in my opinion, ex-convicts deserve a second chance in society. however, giving someone with a record the crown is probably not wise. it might show Singaporeans that it is okay to steal or commit other crimes because in the end you’ll be forgiven and everything will be okay. with that mindset, how will they learn that what they did was wrong?
October 28, 2009 at 4:33 pm |
I think this was vastly blown up. A certain blogger made much sense in stating the fact that does anyone know any of the winners in the past few years? If not, then why when someone screws up, we have to make a big fuss about it when the win didn’t matter. If you didn’t give a shit then why give a shit now? Singaporeans should just lay off her. Although my hong kong friend’s been irritating the shit outta me by saying ‘BOOMS’ the first thing when we talk on msn. And as always i scold the shit outta him. But yeah it’s stopped. A little disappointed that the competition didn’t manage to filter her out normally.
All in all… If you didn’t give a rats ass then don’t try pointing fingers now. Just makes you look stupid. But i have to agree that she has done enough damage to singapore’s rep. Which brings a heads up to the Singapore Govt. what exactly happened to the Speak Good English Campaign.
October 29, 2009 at 2:33 pm |
Terrence – Sadly, I think for the future generation to have a changed mindset and having the majority finally gives ex-offenders a chance, educators have to believe it themselves cause how can you convince someone to do something when you don’t believe it yourself?
But I think this part of our culture isn’t going to change any time soon…. maybe 50years down the road?
October 29, 2009 at 2:36 pm |
Vans
Hahaha…. I was thinking the same thing…. Why didn’t we know the competition was going on?
and well, I think the judges thought Singapore could be proud to have Ris Low as a representative. Well, her being an ex-offender was one thing but lying about it during application and thinking it wasn’t a big deal was another and she shouldn’t have done that.
October 30, 2009 at 2:14 pm |
I would think that the initial uproar about her standard of english was that as she was going to represent our country at the pagent, it will be quite a “lost of face” if someone who cannot give good answers and has a poor command of english is to represent us at a international level. What will the other countries think of us??
With regards to her conviction, it would be better if she was more honest about it and not want to hide it from everyone and worse still lie about how the pagent organizers know about her conviction. If she was honest from the start, I think that lesser people will be so hostile towards her. And yes, although there is the yellow ribbon project to try and make people more open to convicts in society, the fact that she kept lying really makes it very hard for people to accept her and to believe that she has learnt her lesson.
October 31, 2009 at 5:30 am |
Personally, I don’t get what the big hoo-ha is about. Singaporeans never really cared about the Miss Singapore pageant. This is reflected in the television ratings; the viewership ratings for the yearly pageant were so bad, they decided to stop airing it on television. I think the general consensus among Singaporeans is that the really smart and pretty ladies do not bother with such a competition.
So why slag her just for saying “Boomz”? We never really cared about the competition, so why the sudden interest now? The public’s dislike of her seems to be more on a personal level, rather than our national interests.
As for the credit card thingy, well all I can say is that a public figure will never be accepted by society if they have a conviction, especially for such a role as hers. Its just the way the public feels about it, however sad it is, and I don’t think it’ll change any time soon.
November 8, 2009 at 8:15 am |
BW – True true…. Singaporeans have never really cared much about Ms Singapore…. and I think in a few weeks they still won’t… right now, I think it’s isn’t much about a public figure but rather it has given people something to talk about… people need something to talk about…. and our culture as Singaporeans is part of being a busybody…. sadly… so when the opportunity arises they take it…