We all get along. Really!
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:
Comments
Yeah being Canadian we live under the constant illusion/truth (???) that there is no real racism since we live in a “multicultural tapestry” — compared to our southern neighbour’s “melting-pot.”
I don’t know what the true answers are, I would also think I’m safe (having traveled 25 countries and having to think 5 minutes to come up with a “true” Canadian friend).
However, I was truly ashamed when it became an issue of parliament for a Sikh police officer that wanted to wear his turban on duty (a warriors symbol in Sikh traddition); or again, a kid that wanted to wear a tradditional Skih knife to school; or, Iranian girl forbidden to wear the veil in school.
I am male. I am white. An I am wondering what my fellow “whities” are doing!?!
what a load of crap. Obviously you haven’t recited the pledge before. Perhaps you were always sleeping during assembly?
Frickin’ loser, disparaging the country that raised you when you’re safe and comfortable elsewhere.
Think you’re so smart ? Why don’t you form a frigging opposition party or something.
[WordPress makes it much easier for me to edit and delete comments. And just because I re-started the weblog from scratch doesn't mean I've forgotten my previous warnings to you.]
oooh oooh the pap smear is back!
Ooh ooh! I’m so excited! PAP Smear is obviously so enlightened and doesn’t hold any preconceived notions that might betray himself to be a prejudiced individual in any way. Or a sycophant.
Philippe, veils and burqas are an invention of the 20th century. Look at photos of arabic women from before about 1920, when the Saud’s clawed their way to power and were then further enabled by finding oil, and you won’t see them. It is a fairly recent adoption by ultra conservative sects like Wahhabism to combat evil imperial cultural ideas like equality between the sexes.
Singapore’s situation in race relations seems similar to ours (in the US). I can’t tell if it’s any better or worse, but the one economically/politically dominant group, the “I’m not racist, but everyone knows XXX group is lazy and stupid” comments and the fact that race is still a hot (though sometimes unacknowledged) political issue sounds familiar. The one thing we don’t have is outright propaganda advocating better race relations, as Singapore does. Do you think it helps?
Terry, but surely those who choose to wear the headscarf / veil should be allowed to. And here I don’t mean their parents.
I think having an outspoken policy on race like Singapore does helps on a superficial level, Jeff. However, it enforces the ‘nanny state’ attitude and encourages more to think less.
All the races have their myths, jokes and slurs about each other. In my parents generation, I have encountered full-blown racists, as well as the most racial-tolerant people, or rather, people who truly celebrate the diversity.
Amongst my colleagues, some are sensitive and others are clueless about racial issues as they are about other things. What surpises me is when seemingly educated young people believe the predjudice handed down by their parents. But then they also believe crappy tv adverts.
Don’t be too disheartened by the government having to tell us what to do. I believe they shouldn’t stop. E.g. After more than 30 years of annual anti-littering and hefty fines, people still litter. And every year during the morning of the international coastal cleanup programme in Singapore, we still remove tonnes of rubbish from the shorelines, 60% of which originate from land. Even in East Coast Park where you might be ssome 20 bins in a small area (we counted once). It’ll take a long while to get a message across completely and for people to care enough.
Racism too will take awhile. I just ensure I am objective myself and enjoy the many examples of objectivity and true neighbourliness I see demonstrated on a daily basis. They easily outweigh the incidents of true unpleasantness.
When I yakk with friends, I realise we tend to critique only our own race. There’s enough grief to fuel a morning’s worth of complaints about our own race, let alone others!
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