To My Haters: On NYT’s Racist Coverage of COVID-19 in Singapore
By Ivan Hong
To everyone who took the time to thank me, correct or curse me — here are some reflections on my original piece that went viral. It’s short this time, I promise.
Megan K. Stack is an American journalist living in Singapore with her husband, and her two children. She wrote an article in the New York Times denigrating Singapore’s COVID-19 response. Her entire story hinges around one event: she didn’t take the mask-wearing law seriously, ignored her husband’s reminder, and got reported by a neighbor for it. She could have simply ‘fessed up, apologized, and promised to be an adult about it.
But no — she chose to weave her faux pas into an elaborate fantasy of how she was an innocent white girl duped into wandering through a scary Asian land, and ended up being targeted by hostile, mind-controlled indigenous dwellers.
My fiery takedown of her racist drivel went viral.
In just 5 days, over 300,000 people read it.
Since then, I have received an overwhelming outpouring of support from both locals and the expat community in Singapore — but equal amounts of hate. Here are my responses to the most common criticisms I’ve received.
Was Megan Racist?
Her “West-is-best” attitude contains an assumption about a racial hierarchy — one in which the West is naturally perched above the backward peoples of the Orient. Thus, for Megan, the laws and policies of Asian societies are not products of careful deliberation, and local adaptation. No, they are obviously the habits of a more crude civilization.
She rattles off a list of all the laws in Singapore she doesn’t like as if they were obviously reprehensible. No elaboration needed.
To the colonizer, these backward habits are to be gotten rid of — either through scolding — or in the past, imperial dominion. If that is not racist, I don’t know what is.
Puck Magazine, 1898
Artist: Louis Dalrymple
Source: Beinecke Rare Books & Manuscripts, Yale University
Too Harsh?
Megan came as a guest to Singapore’s dinner party, excited by the menu and beautiful interior. She gushed over the impeccable service, and the lovely furnishings. But she found the etiquette restrictive, and the chicken’s feet served quite offensive to her sensibilities. Yet she also felt upset with how things back home looked comparably somber to what she saw here.
So as Megan prepared to leave Singapore with her husband, she felt the only appropriate way to express her feelings to her hosts was to drop her pants and defecate on the living room carpet. As a resident here, I merely scooped up her waste onto a plate, and served it back to her face.
Many — including other guests — cheered me on. Some booed her to hasten her exit. Others gasped in horror at what I’d done.
Amidst COVID-19, Asians all around the world — including Singaporeans — have been jeered at, spat on, and even beaten in the streets for the color of their skin.
So when neocolonial racism rears its ugly head, are we to grin, bow, and say “please” and “thank you”?
Many who criticize my shock-and-awe response to Megan’s obnoxious whinging seem to forget this fact. They seem more worried about how Megan’s soiled hair will reflect on Singapore’s hospitality when she heads out to the next party, or how she might leave our establishment with a scathing one-star Yelp review.
To think that Singapore is faultless is both naive, and inimical to our continued survival. Like the chefs who work tirelessly to keep their Michelin stars year after year, there is always something we can do better. Our work is never done.
But when we are spat on for being Asians in Asia, we must draw the line. There comes a time we must stand up — look the fellow in the eye, and say “not here, not today”.
If it isn’t clear by now — Megan wrote the article as a parting shot. She was planning to leave with her husband who got a job in Washington. She planned it all along. She only pretended to care about the migrant workers in Singapore.
Still think I was being too harsh?
Can the Foreigner Speak?
The idea that foreigners cannot comment on local affairs comes from Singapore’s bad encounters with the sort of shallow, self-righteous finger-wagging foreign journalists like Megan indulge in.
One could say “Some data overseas show that the death penalty does not have a clear effect on reducing capital crimes. Why is that? Does the death penalty work in Singapore? How can we be sure? Is it ethical to perform a trial? Are there equally-effective alternatives to death sentences? What are the trade-offs in each policy path?”
Or like Megan does, one might screech: “These backward people still practice archaic execution and torture. See how pitiful these drug mules are! Shame!”.
The latter seeks to vilify, shame and self-promote. The former seeks to empathize, identify and solve problems. One will be welcomed, and the other shown the door.
I hardly think you would do differently if guests threw tantrums in your own home. So why should it differ in our countries?
East v. West?
My article struck a chord with both locals and foreigners living in Singapore. I think the debate over what good governance should look like cuts across national lines — especially during times of crisis.
Amidst the global pandemic, civilizational rivalries pitting Eastern versus Western systems of governance have intensified.
Like students comparing test scores on a final exam, nations’ evaluations of their own self-worth is at stake.
Since my article went viral, I have been accused simultaneously of being an anti-American yellow dog, and a brainwashed race traitor sullying the good name of China. Depending on who you speak to, I am guilty of being either being too Western, or of reverse racism.
First, let me be clear of one thing. America was never great. Neither is Singapore, nor is China. But not because of all the shortcomings of each country I have listed, no.
These countries were never great because to my mind, a place can never be great — only people can.
Recall every instance where you felt proud to be an American — or Singaporean, or a China citizen. From the rescue workers who died trying to go back in to save just one more life on 9/11, to the medical doctors in China who risked their lives and careers to warn us about COVID-19.
In each of those memories, our flags flew higher only because ordinary men and women had the courage to pursue what was right and true — for the many, not the few.
Greatness is mostly borrowed. It is a quality born of challenging times like these. Greatness is a quality for which each new generation must rise, and earn its place.
Second, just because the West isn’t best, does not mean the East must have it all.
The Chinese invented guns and gunpowder, which the Europeans conquered the world with. Modern mathematics taught in schools today was invented by medieval Arabs — who borrowed from the Greeks and Hindus. Einstein fled Nazi Germany, only to give America the concept for a nuclear bomb. A Singaporean invented the USB flash drive that made the floppy disk obsolete — and the rest of the world ran with it.
In every field of industry and society, human progress happens when we borrow from the best of each other. But borrowing is not mindless copying.
Thanks for Listening.
When I wrote the article, I had within me a deep sense of purpose.
Language means a lot to me — despite our technological advancements, it remains one of our only means of brain-to-brain communication.
Throughout history, language has been used both by the oppressor, and the oppressed. For too long, smug journalists like Megan have used their skill in language to assert their racial and cultural superiority.
Well Megan, we may might not bite back — but we certainly can, and will write back at you.
And if no one else can find their voice — you can bet I will.
In 1945, the world saw the horrors of race and empire: death camps in Germany, live human experiments by Japan, and a world that lay ruined fighting over gold and glory.
Against this backdrop, George Orwell wrote an essay — yes, the Orwell many like Megan enjoy wielding like a stick to beat other countries with.
To borrow his words: Megan, I hope that someday you will overcome your “habit of assuming that human beings can be classified like insects … that whole blocks of millions or tens of millions of people can be confidently labelled ‘good’ or ‘bad’”.
If the world we live in today looks frightfully more like the one Orwell left behind, we must not let his words be forgot: “Whether it is possible to get rid of (those habits) I do not know, but I do believe that it is possible to struggle against them, and that this is … a moral effort.
It is a question first of all of discovering… what one’s own feelings really are, and then of making allowance for the inevitable bias.
If you hate and fear Russia, if you are jealous of the wealth and power of America, if you despise Jews, if you have a sentiment of inferiority towards the British ruling class, you cannot get rid of those feelings simply by taking thought. But you can at least recognize that you have them, and prevent them from contaminating your mental processes”.
I hope that wherever you come from, and wherever you call home now, that you will find a way to be proud of your roots — while honoring the best of other peoples and places.
Thanks for listening.
