Wednesday, August 02, 2006
The Myth of Multi-Racialism.
Ladies and gentlemen, anyone who's lived in Singapore long enough - which isn't long at all - will know - or have it drilled into our subconscious, that we are what is known as a 'multi-racial' society. It is for this reason tt 'special care' has been devoted to keeping the various races living in 'harmony', such that we have events such as Racial Harmony Day, a lot of 'National Education' lessons on the two famous (and only) riots in our country's past, and also, the justification on the qualifications on our freedoms of speech and expression.
However, anyone who has travelled out of Singapore, or who is not originally from Singapore, and has been to the metropolitan cities such as New York, London, Chicago, Vancouver (which has a minority population of almost 40% Asians comprising of Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, and Indians, among other races), and even Mexico City; will realise tt while these cities do not proudly tout themselves as multi-racial, the wide and varied mix of different races - all of whom see to co-exist together, is blatantly obvious.
Even though there are no such measures to promote 'racial harmony' or to qualify restrictions of speech and expression.
So my question is, why the difference?
Inspite of the ignorance of individuals who claim that racism is more rampant in those cities than it is here, I would like to say that while it is true that in the past, there was certainly more racism there than there is here, and while it is also true that there is no guarantee that even now, a traveller in such a city who looks different from the majority will still encounter a racial slur or two from the older folks who still harbour tt prejudiced mindset; for the most part, most people, especially the younger ones who have been raised to be more accepting and more tolerant of diversity, do not practise racism as much anymore.
So seeing that Singapore is in actual fact little different from its 'metropolitan' counterparts, is there really such a need to instill the various top-down safeguards towards ensuring racial harmony, especially when ironically, racism is being practised and perpetuated to some extent by the economic biases already inherent in our meritocratic system.
Someone was telling me that Singapore was a better place to live in as compared to somewhere like Australia or the States where they might still practise racial prejudice. But for the most part, this can be rebutted as firstly, prejudice isn't a big thing in the cities anymore. It might still exist in some places where the towns are smaller and where the existing migrants there have given the rest of us a bad name, but for the most part, the people are generally warm, friendly and welcoming.
Furthermore, I think racism practised by another race is to me, more acceptable than racism practise by your own race. Hands up, whoever has gone to a store or a restaurant in Orchard Rd or some fancy hotel, and have the ang moh next to you served first, or with a bigger smile? How about when you and an ang moh both turn up in shorts at a fancy restaurant, and the ang moh gets allowed entry while you get denied entry, simply because you are the same skin colour as the person serving you and the ang moh? What about on Singapore Airlines; as long as you're not first class, you're not going to get better service or a brighter smile than the ang moh next to you.
Isn't that the case here in Singapore? And isn't it sad, tt our own people discriminate against us? Even the higher-ups discriminate against us. An ang moh expat doing the same job will command a higher pay than a local - why? Because of his skin colour. It's not just the financial sector, even ang moh teachers command more than local teachers. The justification for this is 'foreign talent', but truth be told, talent can never be as measurable as the foreign element.
So in this so-called multi-racial society... are we really living in so-called 'harmony'? Or should we just wake up from this myth and realise tt we're being spoon-fed too much rubbish for our own good?
now playing: hotel costes - cafe de flor
However, anyone who has travelled out of Singapore, or who is not originally from Singapore, and has been to the metropolitan cities such as New York, London, Chicago, Vancouver (which has a minority population of almost 40% Asians comprising of Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, and Indians, among other races), and even Mexico City; will realise tt while these cities do not proudly tout themselves as multi-racial, the wide and varied mix of different races - all of whom see to co-exist together, is blatantly obvious.
Even though there are no such measures to promote 'racial harmony' or to qualify restrictions of speech and expression.
So my question is, why the difference?
Inspite of the ignorance of individuals who claim that racism is more rampant in those cities than it is here, I would like to say that while it is true that in the past, there was certainly more racism there than there is here, and while it is also true that there is no guarantee that even now, a traveller in such a city who looks different from the majority will still encounter a racial slur or two from the older folks who still harbour tt prejudiced mindset; for the most part, most people, especially the younger ones who have been raised to be more accepting and more tolerant of diversity, do not practise racism as much anymore.
So seeing that Singapore is in actual fact little different from its 'metropolitan' counterparts, is there really such a need to instill the various top-down safeguards towards ensuring racial harmony, especially when ironically, racism is being practised and perpetuated to some extent by the economic biases already inherent in our meritocratic system.
Someone was telling me that Singapore was a better place to live in as compared to somewhere like Australia or the States where they might still practise racial prejudice. But for the most part, this can be rebutted as firstly, prejudice isn't a big thing in the cities anymore. It might still exist in some places where the towns are smaller and where the existing migrants there have given the rest of us a bad name, but for the most part, the people are generally warm, friendly and welcoming.
Furthermore, I think racism practised by another race is to me, more acceptable than racism practise by your own race. Hands up, whoever has gone to a store or a restaurant in Orchard Rd or some fancy hotel, and have the ang moh next to you served first, or with a bigger smile? How about when you and an ang moh both turn up in shorts at a fancy restaurant, and the ang moh gets allowed entry while you get denied entry, simply because you are the same skin colour as the person serving you and the ang moh? What about on Singapore Airlines; as long as you're not first class, you're not going to get better service or a brighter smile than the ang moh next to you.
Isn't that the case here in Singapore? And isn't it sad, tt our own people discriminate against us? Even the higher-ups discriminate against us. An ang moh expat doing the same job will command a higher pay than a local - why? Because of his skin colour. It's not just the financial sector, even ang moh teachers command more than local teachers. The justification for this is 'foreign talent', but truth be told, talent can never be as measurable as the foreign element.
So in this so-called multi-racial society... are we really living in so-called 'harmony'? Or should we just wake up from this myth and realise tt we're being spoon-fed too much rubbish for our own good?
# posted by Kitana @ 8/02/2006 10:15:00 AM 
