Views on Singapore Cricket Club denying Maids' Entrances

The news on the Singapore Cricket Club's denying of one of their member's maid's entrance certainly got my attention in the past few days. Not because I am a member at the club, but more of a funny (yet true) caption online I saw of this issue, "This is what Inequality looks like". 

For the uninitiated, one can view related news articles at https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/singapore-cricket-club-allegedly-asks-maid-to-wait-in-carpark-while-employers-have-dinner and https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/good-old-timey-discrimination. 

In short, Singapore Cricket Club has garnered negative attention for their longstanding policy on disallowing maids in their club grounds. They disallowed a maid from entering the club to dine, even when her employer attempted to sign her in as a guest. Such a move garnered much heat from netizens, many criticizing how backwards such a policy is, and how discriminatory it is against maids, who to many have been accepted as part of one's family. There were also some sporadic comments defending the policy, citing the large crowd of the club during peak periods and how members pay a premium for the exclusivity of the club (hence the caption on inequality as above).

I will explain my views on the matter in this post.

Initially, I too was disappointed and bemused by such a policy. I agreed with a majority of the netizens that this by-law had no place in a modern setting and reeked of elitism and discrimination. I was even more surprised that at least 3 other clubs - the British Club, the Tanglin Club, and the Tower Club had similar by-laws. If the issue is really privacy and overcrowding, these clubs, which collect fees from members and are (presumably) high in revenue, can always build and expand their premises to accommodate more people, and maybe even build more private rooms for larger families! This shouldn't really be an excuse to bar maids from joining the families in their outings.

However, as I was thinking deeper into the issue, a thought came to me. As much as we can condemn the club for a poor by-law, we cannot really do anything to stop them. This is because fundamentally, we do not own the club, and we do not pay to be in the club. We have no say in what goes on in private organizations. The stakeholders in the clubs, be it the executive committee, board of directors, and members are the only ones who can decide what goes on in the club. As mentioned in the article, the issue can be put up for discussion at the Annual General Meetings (AGM), which will then be put up for debate and thereafter voted upon. If the stakeholders do not see a reason to change this by-law, then that is what they have decided for their club. Frankly speaking, we as outsiders cannot interfere with what the club wants for themselves in their own land.

Yet, we cannot say that the club can do whatever it wishes without consequences. It is also incorrect to think that we cannot criticize what the club does. While the club does not need to answer to the public, the public can denounce the club for its poor management, decisions, or by-laws. The club must face the consequence of its actions (or inaction), be it public criticism and a Public Relations (PR) nightmare, or maybe their own members deciding to take action, or even a boycott of the club. The club is free to run their own business and agenda, but ultimately they cannot control what others think and feel about their policies and by-laws. 

Allow me to liken this to a personal level. We are all free to choose what we want to be, what lifestyle we want to live. We can choose to go vegan, we can choose to eat unhealthily. We can choose to drink and smoke, or we can choose to stay clean. We can choose pre-marital sex, or we can choose to be virgins till marriage. We can even choose who we love, well, maybe, I guess. There is no right or wrong answer to these matters, but we can choose to live our own lives. But that doesn't absolve us from others judging us for our actions. No matter what we do, there will be those who approve, and there will be detractors. Whatever we choose to do, we have to live with the consequences.

On a personal level, we can always say "screw the haters", which ain't a bad idea. However, for a profit-driven business, where PR and money are involved, the decisions made may not be so clear cut.

As much as I wish for the clubs to do the right thing, we must recognize that the clubs have the sole discretion to do as they wish. Just like how we abhor other countries for interfering with our domestic affairs, the clubs are "sovereign" in a sense to manage themselves. But they must, and will keep in mind the consequences of their actions from the public and their own members.

In Chinese, there is a saying. 人在做，天在看。What the people are doing, the heavens are watching.