There is a post on Living in Singapore where I made a comment, saying that ‘racial harmony’ in Singapore is not all it’s cracked up to be. The author, based on her personal experiences, begged to differ, stating (and I paraphrase) that
- there are hardly any incidents where racial slurs are directed toward an ethnic minority
- race is not used as a political tool, and
- there is a lot of racial tolerance in Singapore.
I also respectfully begged to differ, and stated my reasons in the comments. It got me thinking about race issues, though.
For full disclosure purposes: I’m born and bred Singaporean, of Chinese ethnicity. I went to a Chinese (Catholic) school. I must say that my social and school life did not tend toward a mixing of the races (but! My best mate in junior college was mixed Chinese/Indian/Malay! Therefore I must be okay!).
My instinct is that Singapore society is not, on its own, particularly enlightened when it comes to race relations. We take orders from our leaders, and they say, “You will all get along, regardless of race (language or religion).” Luckily most people are nice, so we all, generally speaking, get along anyway.
But (there’s always a but), how many Singaporeans have heard or told stupid racist jokes? My father’s a die-hard hater of anyone who’s non-Chinese (and ‘hate’ is not too strong a word to be used), so I’ve heard far too many. When he learned how to use e-mail, I learned how to reflexively use the ‘delete’ key. Others I know profess to not be racist at all, but then turn around and say, “Well, you know Indians / Malays are all lazy (or any other fairly similar comment).”
I don’t think any person is insulated from forming discriminatory opinions based on ethnicity, it just depends on how we deal with them when they come up. We grow up listening to our parents, relatives, and their friends. There are more than likely to be a few bigots among them. I am lucky that I am part of the ethnic majority in Singapore, and I think it makes many Singaporean Chinese blind to the casual racism Malay, Indian, and Eurasian (and all our other racially-mixed) people face.
The fact that Singapore’s racial harmony requires government-mandated programmes indicates, to me, that all is not well, all has not been well, and all will not be well for a while.
Further reading:
- did sweet FA until Saturday night
- had dinner at Bellagio (fantastic Taiwanese restaurant, a must-try)
- visited the latest and greatest pub in town, the Jazz Bar (which, inexplicably, does not play any music resembling jazz, there’s a pretty decent Filipino cover band – but it’s not jazz)
- was taken to NASA (even less likely to play jazz, although Freddy vs. Jason was on the big screen – on mute, though, this is a techno music wonderland)
- closed NASA (Neil and I got to talking while everyone went home)
- slept all day Sunday
- watched Nineteen Eighty-Four (Neil was all prepared to rave about it, but it got a little too weird for him – I need to read the book again)
It turns out that hippos make their own sunscreen:
The researchers collected sweat samples from the face and back of a hippo at Ueno Zoological Gardens in Tokyo.
…
They found unstable red and orange pigments that turned out to be aromatic compounds, naming the red one hipposudoric acid and the orange one norhipposudoric acid.
The researchers then set out to find out what these pigments did.
As the pigments reflected light in the 200 to 600 nanometer range of the spectrum, the researchers concluded they acted as sunscreen pigments.
Is it only a matter of (evolutionary) time before sun-worshipping humans also start to manufacture our own sunscreen? In the meantime, I’ll stick to my Banana Boat SPF 50.
The British army will be sending the Black Watch back to Iraq. With more troops likely to be deployed after the June 30 handover.
The US army is, of course, also reportedly in for the long haul.
“But we also expect that (for) the unity of command and to make sure there is no confusion as to what we’re doing with respect to security, they will put those troops under the direction of the multi-national force commander, who will be an American.”
Who is not answerable to the International Criminal Court, I’m sure.
Back when the US government refused to ratify the ICC, their reason was to avoid politically-motivated suits against their citizens. It appears to me that their behaviour since this event would probably have caused far more allegations against them, political or not, had they ratified it.
Is the US government incredibly psychic and evil? Inquiring (and conspiracy-loving) minds want to know.
Many, many years ago, before homes enjoyed broadband service, before weblogs were cool, and instant messaging was all but unheard of, I used to hang out on IRC – the Australian Undernet server on the #singapore channel, to be precise. I made a lot of online friends in those days, much more than the few Neil dubs my ‘online pals’. One, in particular, stands out.
His introduction came by way of a private message, or PM. He wasn’t one of those creeps trying to type with one hand, he was an international student, like me, and very, very shy. He was more than a little infatuated with a girl in his class, and had no idea how to chat her up. For some unknown reason, he came to me for advice.
I gave him advice. Our friendship thus bloomed, and we tended to hang out most weekends. He’s a few years older than me, and despite his relative inexperience with women, treated me like a little sister he had to take care of. Except for that time I got him falling down drunk (his first experience with alcohol, too) and had to drive him home. He saw me through dating one inappropriate guy after another, a keening lust for his flatmate (most worthy stalking material – I wonder what he’s doing now?), semesters with too much partying, and finally, graduation.
As can and usually does happen, he stayed on at university and I went home, so we lost touch. A few years after I last spoke with him, I was pleasantly surprised to receive a telephone call from said friend, looking to meet and catch up. I was really looking forward to seeing him again.
We had a great time reminiscing and embarrassing each other. As it turns out, not only had he managed to date girls with increasing confidence, he’d even got serious with one. He wistfully told me that she was still back in Australia, finishing off her degree. Then he told me he’d been getting horny without her and would I, as a friend, to make him feel better, shag him?
Or TIC, as my friend here likes to call it.
I forget who told me this, but people do have ‘freedom of speech’ in China. You can talk and complain and discuss all you like, but if the government decides you, with all your talk, are inciting violence and unrest, watch out.
It’s just like being back home!
… photos of an attempted suicide make the national news.
I wonder what that was all about. This house could be in any of the small neighbourhoods (小区). Hell, my friend in Singapore told me about a building collapse in Xiamen last year before I found out it was in Huli – where I live.
A comment from mdmhvonpa drew my attention to this topic: Hepatitis B in China. The flood of information first began with lifeinjiangxi, which then spread to Asian Labour News (1, 2 & 3), and then to The Peking Duck.
I don’t personally know any Hep B carriers in China, but I do have relatives back home who have tested positive, and two who have since passed away from liver cancer. I can’t even imagine how impossible life must be for someone in China who is a carrier. People get pigeonholed and stigmatised for all sorts of stupid reasons, but this is really something. It seems to be part of the ‘ignore the sufferers, they’ll die, and the problem will go away’ sort of attitude that causes so epidemics. Remember SARS?
The Scotsman reports that Britain is one of the most xenophobic countries in the world, according to a poll:
Ipsos, a Paris-based polling firm, found 60 per cent believing that immigrants were a bad influence on Britain – the highest proportion of all countries surveyed.
…
Internal polling from Labour and the Tories shows that voters have more faith in Mr Howard to take a firm grip of migration. But the UKIP is shown to make high progress in opinion polls.
For a second there, I thought they were talking about Australia.
Anti-Scottish sentiment has entered the campaign in London, where an Essex-based party named the “English Democrats” has sent leaflets through letter-boxes highlighting Scottish Executive policies.
“By paying £10 billion extra to Scotland under the Barnett Formula, Scots now have a better education, transport and care with free prescriptions, residential care for the elderly and now top-up fees,” it reads.
“All at the expense of the long-suffering English taxpayer! This is the real North/South divide.” The party is campaigning against devolution for the English regions and also calls for withdrawal from the EU.
Cross-party MPs say immigration is not playing anywhere near as strongly in Scotland, where ministers are worried at the reverse problem: failing to attract enough migrants to stop depopulation.
Ah, the English. We love our former colonial masters, they’re just so wacky!
According to a local Chinese woman who is married to an acquaintance of Neil’s, Chinese people speak slowly and carefully to ‘Westerners’ because they were taught – in school – that all white people are stupid.
And that wiggling your pinky finger at a mainland Chinese will start a fight. It means the one being wiggled at is insignificant and unimportant. The ultimate insult, apparently.
Not that one should lead on to the other or anything.
It’s going under testing in China. So they get to be first if it’s successful. Which is good, since they let the disease get so far out of hand in the first place. And if it isn’t successful and the ‘dead’ version wakes up, they’ve infected their own citizens with SARS.
Goll-y.
Singapore to make spammers pay – literally:
Although laws in Singapore will do little to protect users in Singapore from spam coming from North America or China, it will at least cause spammers to think twice about setting up shop in Singapore, which prides itself on its hi-tech telecoms infrastructure.
I remember at my first job, my employers required me to spam their customers on a regular basis, their rationale being it wasn’t illegal in Singapore. Needless to say, I didn’t last very long at that highly ethical place of employment. It taught me something, though. When your colleague tells you to give up your ideals in order to stay employed, it means it’s time to go.
From a bunch of links Terry sent me:
Wu Wei, founder of Chinese forum Democracy and Freedom, sure has more tenacity than I would have. Although I imagine I am that stubborn.
China’s trying to control computer game content now. Because we know hackers can never find ways around regular programming code.
The US wants to buy stealth bomber detection equipment to ensure China doesn’t get its hands on it: “But it is also reportedly concerned that China could use the system to detect US ships and aircraft off Taiwan.”
This is a call to all singaporeans who wishes to have a better life outside of singapore. Come to southern china, the food is good, cheap and housing is affordable.
The prostitutes are cheaper, too, and there’s no shame (or illegality) in going to nightclubs that are one step away from strip joints. Why, you can even get your rocks off at a hairdresser (the ubiquitous Handjob Parlours™)! The food is drenched in MSG and expect your housing to always have problems. Your kids will be sure to start drinking as teenagers because there are no alcohol licencing laws.
Southern China’s not a bad place to live, but I wouldn’t say it’s any better or worse than Singapore.
The Nation covers Punkvoter, an effort to get the angry yoof of America into the voting booths this November.
At the very least, Punkvoter and its allies present an alternate mode of political organizing–one that may succeed in reaching nonvoters where the traditional approach fails. But if the Democratic Party does get the young, pissed-off vote, it should be prepared to work much harder for long-term loyalty. Anger at Bush may only get Kerry as far as Election Day. “On the first Tuesday of the month, we may be voting for you,” warns Lazu. “But on the second Tuesday, it’s your ass.”
Stories like this show that there are alternative ways of making your voice heard. Political organising is not all about rallies and speeches, or going door-to-door. Although I’m not one to knock traditional methods that have always worked, in some situations, these traditional methods are not possible. Especially when traditional methods are considered ‘out of bounds’ for your organisation.
(If memory serves, Hunter S. Thompson did a remarkable job getting dopeheads to vote when he ran for Sheriff of Pitkin County. I think this was chronicled in Fear and Loathing in America : The Brutal Odyssey of an Outlaw Journalist – I’ve read enough Hunter S. Thompson books to forget what was recorded where.)
It may not always be about supporting a political party or candidate. It may just be about making people aware of the world and its issues outside their houses, cars, and jobs (or schools). It may be about informing people that it’s okay to be passionate about issues, to fight for what they believe in. And it may be to convince people that we don’t have to give up on our ideals, because we can make a difference – even if it’s a tiny one – if we just try hard enough.
As you can probably tell, I’ve deleted the somewhat-new WordPress weblog and all my hand coded entries. As Neil asked over SMS, Why?
My response? Because I can. It’s only words I’m erasing, and I’m not so foolish as to delete without archiving a copy first. I’ll probably post a few past entries now and again if I’m in the mood.
I’m not sure what precipitated this move. I think it was exasperation as I tried to upgrade my version of WordPress, with things not working and my not knowing why (now I know why, but I really can’t be arsed any more). I then started thinking that my website directory is a mess. Too many sections. Too many photos all over the bloody shop.
Some of my posts this past year have told you that I’m feeling frustrated and generally pissed off at my situation in Xiamen. Consider this my acting out. As Neil says, it’s a shame I’ve deleted so much (all posts saved, but comments since the migration to WordPress are gone), but seriously, who gives a fuck?
So there you go. All new now.
Maybe I’m being stupid by getting rid of so much history (by Internet standards). I probably am. This sort of action could herald the end, or it might not. We’ll see.
It’s only a weblog, after all.