Song of a Reformed Headhunter

Palinode VII Remember that construction worker run over by the bus, setting off a riot? I see him in every Indian here, short or tall, handsome or devastated, starving or sleek-headed and satisfied. I can’t help it. Why can’t I see Rajaratnam our Deputy Prime Minister or the guitarist Alex Abisheganaden instead? I go up, like getting on a bus, to every Indian here and I ask, are you Sakthivel Kumaravelu? And they say, every one of them, smiling, or grimacing, or furrowing the brow, Don’t you wish for me to be him? Reuters: Migrant workers fear massive Singapore dormitory lockdown is coronavirus timebomb. Image: Centurion Corporation

The column below is written for Singapore Unbound's weekly newsletter. Sign up here .  Social change activists are often perceived as trouble-makers. This happens not only in Singapore but all around the world. However, this wrong perception is even more egregious in Singapore because Singaporeans have forgotten or suppressed their own local tradition of activism. The mistake is thus prevalent and stubborn. To unearth the history, theory, and practice of Singaporean activism, the news magazine New Naratif interviews former student activist TAN Tee Seng and civil rights activist Jolovan WHAM in their podcast series Political Agenda . In the interview, New Naratif's THUM Ping Tjin referred to a theory of activism propounded by Bill Moyer. This is not the beloved American political commentator. This Bill Moyer (without an 's" at the end of his last name) was a United States social change activist who influenced Martin Luther King Jr. and James Bevel to focu...