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2003-05-12 - 8:49 p.m. Four at a table, all Singaporeans. There is a sudden lull in their conversation, until one of them mentions something she has read in the day's papers. 'Did you read that article about the maid who got her nipple bitten off by her employer?' she asks, her voice rising. 'That was heinous.' 'That's how we treat foreigners who come to work for us here,' another answers with the nonchalant tone of someone who wishes to create the impression that what is news is in reality yesterday's news. 'I don't see that as any different from the story of that construction worker who suffered a worksite accident. His employer drove him away from the site and promptly disposed of him, still bleeding, in a monsoon drain. The man had a head or spinal injury and was paralysed from the waist down.' The third among them then clears his throat to speak. 'You're talking about foreigners who come to work in this country. What about those people overseas affected directly by this country's policies? You know, Singapore is one of those remaining countries which have not ratified the UN treaty banning the export of landmines. As recently as the 90's this country was producing landmines designed by an Italian company, to be sown in the fields of countries like Iraq. There's a harvest out there of Iraqi civilian amputees due to the sowing that takes place in those defence plants in Boon Lay.' The first speaker is outraged. 'You know that useless Speaker's Corner we have at Hong Lim Park? That embarrassing monument to free speech which never took off because of all the absurd conditions placed on people who want to speak?' 'Yes,' the third speaker replies, 'You have to register first, give a short synopsis of your speech, and you're allowed there only from 7 AM to 7 PM. And it must be very liberating to know that you're just metres away from a police station.' The first speaker continues, 'We should line these people up: that Indonesian maid, that Bangladeshi worker, that Iraqi farmer. We should let them speak about what this country has taken from them.' 'Yes', the second says, 'A shameful inventory. A nipple, damaged nerves, and a leg.' The fourth person, who has been listening intently all this while, is moved to interject. 'We should have a fourth person at the Speaker's Corner, along with the three of them. A Singaporean.' The third asks him, 'And what, pray tell, has been taken away from him, on the scale as atrocious as those other victims we have mentioned?' The fourth hesitates before speaking, because he knows that soon after there will be another lull in their conversation. All eyes are on him now, as he barely manages a weak smile. 'A voice,' he says.
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