Breaking News:
HDB resale flat prices rose 3.8 per cent over the third quarter which saw prices going up by 3.6 per cent. (Straits Times) Singapore’s economy shrank 6.8 percent in the fourth quarter to December from the previous three months… (AFP)
Seelan Palay
Is multiracialism, like our national pledge, just another highfalutin ideal?
Multiracialism is the cornerstone of independent Singapore that became a sovereign state in 1965, breaking away from the federation of Malaysia. It was open racial discrimination in the polity of Malaysia that peeved the leaders of Singapore to champion the cause of multiracialism in Malaysia.
Singapore leaders, led by the then-Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, justifiably opposed discriminatory practices based on one’s ethnic background, leading to Singapore’s independence within less than 2 years of being part of Malaysia.
On the fateful day of 9th August 1965, Lee Kuan Yew proclaimed to the world that Singapore would be an independent nation which will neither be “a Chinese Singapore, a Malay Singapore, nor an Indian Singapore”, alluding to the 3 major races living harmoniously in the former British colony.
But is Singapore’s aim to achieve a multiracial society just a pipe dream? As the National Pledge is now being described by none other than Lee Kuan Yew himself as just an “aspiration”, apprehension has been expressed, rightfully so, on whether the multiracial concept is also another “aspiration”, and not something that we should conciously aim for.
Reality on the Ground
I say this because of what is happening on the ground, especially in the service industry. Not long ago, the Sunday Times ran a story of China nationals working as restaurant assistants in Serangoon Road. It was reported that one of them had been working there for close to 2 years on a work permit. The person featured in the article (below) had also said that he had to work for 10 hours a day for a salary of $1000.
Following this startling newspaper report I went to Serangoon Road and was able to speak to one of the restaurant owners who said he could not get India nationals on work permit to do the same job. The Manpower Ministry, after a couple of unsuccessful applications to bring in India nationals, had told this owner verbally that if he were to apply for China nationals his request would be granted immediately. Why only verbal explanation? Why not put it down in black and whilte?
As far as the policy of the Ministry is concerned, there is no discrimination along racial lines when it comes to the issuance of work permits. The MOM policy is country specific and not race specific – at least that is what the government says. However, it looks like there is an unwritten policy not made known to the public. It has come to my attention that not only restaurants, but also other sectors such as departmental stores and freight forwarding agencies have been affected by this obscure policy that goes against the grain of multiracialism.
Why must it only be China nationals or Chinese ethnicity? What happened to the foreign talent policy of allowing people to work in Singapore based on one’s ability alone? Is foreign talent just a myth, a disguised form of racism which Lee Kuan Yew vehemently opposed when Singapore was in Malaysia? Are Mr Lee’s multiracial, multireligious and multilingual concepts also figments of his imagination?
Mandarin for all?
Yes, it looks like it, especially when one recollects what Mr Lee Sr had said in March this year: “In two generation, Mandarin will become our mother tongue,” And taking the cue from the Mentor Minister a government official said that Mandarin will become Singapore’s predominant common language. Singaporeans are being encouraged to speak fluent Mandarin, said the civil servant.
A major shift indeed from preivious position that Mandarin would only be promoted among Chinese Singaporeans.
This tacit policy is beginning to be noticed clearly in everyday life. It cannot be hidden that the recent Singapore contingent to SEA Games was mainly composed of China nationals. In certain sports, the “new citizens” even dominated totally, leading some of us to wonder since when China became part of Southeast Asia?
Besides, the PAP’s deliberate manipulation of the country’s demographics through the unpopular “dumping” of aliens, is causing great stress and despondency among average Singaporeans.
Insidious Foreign Talent Policy
Critics of the government’s foreign talent policy have rightly condemned it as yet another move to depress the wages of our workers and turn them into cannon-fodder for foreign multi-national corporations (MNCs) looking for cheap labour. This naked exploitation of our workers, who form the vast majority of our people, not only continued but intensified even during the time of Singapore’s economic meltdown, resulting in the projected contraction of the economy to minus ten percent for 2009. When daily hardships are the order of the day for our desperate workers, the government, unmindful of their plight, allows the influx of aliens in the name of its foreign talent policy.
It is obvious that the so-called foreign talent policy is a euphemism for something insidious that is best known only to the PAP top echelon. Like everything else, PAP says one thing in public, and does something else on the quiet.
This deceitful foreign talent policy of the government would definitely lead to alienation of a sizeable section of our people from being loyal to the country that is Singapore. Patriotism and love for the nation are under great strain.
As what Lee Kuan Yew of yesteryear said in 1965, let’s work towards a Singaporean Singapore. Not a divisive nation pulling along different directions based on ruinous tendencies of ethnicity, religion and language.
Seelan Palay is an artist and activist whose blog can be read at http://seelanpalay.blogspot.com
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Hoping for somebody to give you wonder-answers in the comments? You ask too many questions in your article without answers.
This article sounds like a subversive man trying to suggest sex with to a minor without asking for it. May I suggest you go find answers to your own questions then write the article.
As deceitful as the government may be on their immigration policy, your use of questions to suggest unsupported ideas without saying it is equally deceitful.
Foreign talents also must fit into Singapore’s racial percentage and quota system. Maybe they are afraid of race politics.
“leading some of us to wonder since when China became part of Southeast Asia?”
Refer to: http://theonlinecitizen.com/2009/12/dna-suggests-chinese-origin/
Kinda slow on the uptake. )))
Us Chinese knew that this was way of keeping minorities quiet. BTW this multiracialism thing seems to be unique to people whose racial origins can be traced back to the Indian sub-continent.
Don’t hear Malays talk abt it. And the Chinese, never.
In one more generation, Singaporeans, regardless of race, will be reduced to the minority. The lucky ones would be working for Asian CEOs and managers but their positions are not secure. These Asian MNCs will slowly lobby government for their fellow countrymen to replace locals, by granting easy PR status or removing the quota system. Locals will be reduced to cleaner and taxi driver positions. GLCs will also prefer foreigners as they distrust the disgruntled locals, just like how MM Lee prefers Gurkha security.
What struck me was the “Mandarin for all” paragraph, checked it out and MM Lee did indeed say that (http://www.mandarin.org.sg/2009/downloads/SMC2009-Speech-MM_Lee_Kuan_Yew-English.pdf).
He says it’s a clear trend that mandarin will become the nation’s mother tongue in 2 generations, but I do not follow .. is not one’s mother tongue dependant on the individual family in question? Or does he mean that within the Chinese community their mother tongue will move from Hokkien, Cantonese etc. to Mandarin within 2 generations, in Singapore.
I sincerely hope MM Lee did not mean that Mandarin would become the whole nation’s mother tongue .. because as he gives the example of Sri Lanka later in his speech he is right that tinkering with language can lead to very real conflict and marginalization.
If Seelan Palay is suggesting that it is difficult for indians to get work permit, go take a walk at Serangoon road on a weekend. It reminds me of a street in Madras.
It has been reported that in Malaysia many Indonesian & Filipino Muslims have been give new ICs indiscrimately for the sake of getting more voters to vote for BN party.
I am just wondering whether PAP is doing likewise with the new influx of Chinese immigrants under the guise of foreign talent ?
If that is what really happened in Singapore, then thus it mean that no politician, not even LKY, can ever be trusted for their words. What say you ?
To 2) Nickname on January 4th, 2010 12.50 pm
“leading some of us to wonder since when China became part of Southeast Asia?”
Refer to: http://theonlinecitizen.com/2009/12/dna-suggests-chinese-origin/
When I asked the question, I did not mean to make any references to genealogy.
To 3) A Tan on January 4th, 2010 1.57 pm
“BTW this multiracialism thing seems to be unique to people whose racial origins can be traced back to the Indian sub-continent. Don’t hear Malays talk abt it. And the Chinese, never.”
I’m sure you have reasons for your claim but I disagree that the ‘multiracialism thing seems to be unique to the Indians’ because I personally do not hear more Indians talking about multiracialism.
I have had conversations with Singaporeans from all ethnic backgrounds on such issues, though they may not be using the word ‘multiracialism’.
We should also note that before LKY and PAP’s aspirations of ‘multiracialism’, the Barisan Sosialis had already practiced the idea amongst their ranks, and began encouraging it among the people of Singapore.
I think Mr Palay should define what he means by multi-racialism. In strict definition, Singapore is already a multi-racial society, whether anyone likes it or not. We have multiple races living in Singapore and hence = multi-racial.
What Mr Palay is suggesting is racial amalgamation ie that Singapore culture is not defined by race differentiation and where we identify ourselves as Singaporeans rather than by our race.
I commented on this in 1989/90 in a seminar and the comments were published in ST. I suggested that we can start by identifying ourselves as Singaporeans first rather than by race (as a prelude to developing a Singapore identity as opposed to a race-based identity). The verbal response from Mr George Yeo was that it was idealistic to expect this to happen. It has been 20 years since then and I have to admit there is some truth in what he had said.
The alternative is to acknowledge that a non-race based Singapore identity cannot be achieved and that any Singapore identity must necessarily take into racial considerations ie instead of race amalgamation which is unachievable, one chooses harmonious race relations instead.
The allure of a racial-blind society may be idealistic but its something I believe is worth achieving. Having said that, I think Mr Palay himself provides the perfect example why it cannot be achieved.
If one has been to China, one can find Indians, Eurasians and people of all races speaking mandarin. If the aim of encouraging mandarin speech is to allow people to understand the chinese better, I don’t see why that should be an issue for people of indian, malay or any ethnic origin (chinese included). Why can’t anyone regardless of ethnicity learn a new langugage? The tone itself betrays the race differentiation that is already so ingrained in our culture and belies the difficulty in achieving race amalgamation.
There is equally no reason why Indian/Malay languages should not be encouraged so that people can understand Indians better. Its not a race issue but one of communication.
The last issue on foreign talent is a failure to recognise history. Singapore has always been a country that accepts foreign talent. Most of us have relatives that at some point in time were immigrants (go back far enough). The issue to Singaporeans is not foreign talent entry but unfairness in foreign talent policy. FTs get same privileges eg subsidies/tax breaks/no CPF contributions without the responsibilities eg NS. In Singapore, FTs should be welcomed but Singaporeans should always come first.
#10,
“In Singapore, FTs should be welcomed but Singaporeans should always come first.”
What is your definition of FT?
Its easy to say FTs should be welcomed. But who are welcomed?
Can you prove all that come in are FTs?
Your T or my T?
What if many non Talents are let in? Will this not depress wages of citizens?
“It has been reported that in Malaysia many Indonesian & Filipino Muslims have been give new ICs indiscrimately for the sake of getting more voters to vote for BN party.”
Has this been independently verified? You know some people are very quick at jumping to conclusions and making up stories.
Even if the above-mentioned was true, Malaysia has the land to accommodate immigrants while Singapore does not.
come on! multi-racial a new aspiration for true blue singporeans?
some folks are utterring nonsense…we have been harmoniously multi-racial
but if some miw smart asses arethinkimg about “multi-nationalism”, they can wait long long epecially when they give everyhting we own to these aliens log stock and barrel!
it is the only place you will find an Indian congregation that big because they come from all over Singapore
A Tan
The Malay already know they are the bumiputera of Singapore even LKY has said their special status is enshrined in the constituition so why talk about it when it is basic law
I think it is only a minority will understand a minority feeling. The simple fact is the Asians in the USA want equal opportunity in every arena in a politically mature democratic society.
This has been enshrined in the constitution of the USA so ask yourself if the Asian would except if the US government was to turn around everything that Asian in the US worked for?
I think it is only when a minority will understand a minority feeling. The simple fact is the Asians in the USA want equal opportunity in every arena in a politically mature democratic society.
This has been enshrined in the constitution of the USA so ask yourself if the Asian would except if the US government was to turn around everything that Asian in the US worked for?
“It has been reported that in Malaysia many Indonesian & Filipino Muslims have been give new ICs indiscrimately for the sake of getting more voters to vote for BN party.”
Clement Tan,
I you think this is a make up story, just ask any Malaysian around you and I’m sure they can tell you whether this is an open secret for the Malaysian govt.
Seelan,
I think you’re missing the forest for the trees. While I agree that multiracialism is not an easy aspiration to achieve, LKY has never made it a secret that he believes the current racial mix is a successful formula and one that his Government will not knowingly change. So, unless you’re privy to the whole-picture and proportions of FT’s brought in, I don’t think you’re in any position to judge.
Whether you can find this racial-mix ratio formula in writing is a whole different question.
“I you think this is a make up story, just ask any Malaysian around you and I’m sure they can tell you whether this is an open secret for the Malaysian govt. ”
I believe in facts and statistics and not unsubstantiated hearsay. People from developed countries tend to do that. When the Malaysian opposition takes over in the next General Election, come up with an independent census then I believe you. The Malaysian Opposition has a track record of exaggerating facts and jumping to the conclusions, such as the nude Malay Girl turned into a nude Chinese Girl magic trick debacle.
Are you aware during that time, Singapore has had a running commercial at your expense? It featured a chef in a kitchen with his back turned to the camera with the sound of a liquid streaming into a body of water. Some people assumed that it was featuring the chef urinating into the kitchen due to some suggestive body action but it turned out he was pouring something.
So far in comparison the Singaporean Opposition has been nothing but honest. Especially in exposing the NKF scandal without ANY exaggeration whatsover.
In any case from what I read from some Malaysian Opposition, the Chinese demographic is already dwindling due to emigration and low fertility rates.
I am not sure as to how Malaysian Malays feel about non-Malay Muslims themselves. If there was an extremely large influx, I am quite sure they would not be happy either.
A more interesting question would be if Mainland Chinese (most probably Muslim) were allowed to migrate into Malaysia, how will the Malaysian Chinese feel?
When a chinese south east asian open their mouth, it is always about discrimination. Even when they are the most prosperous ethnic.In Singapore, to discriminate other ethnics is the a way a chinese will feel they are not being discriminated. That the formula for Singapore success , they said. Chinese majority must be sustained.
So, when Malaysia kick Singapore out from the federation, they really know what kind people they are dealing with. Really its crocodile tears and all the bull shit about Malaysian Malaysia when infact after 44 years, when the steering is in their hand Singaporean Singapore is only a dream…..
Good essay, Seelan.
Why must it only be China nationals or Chinese ethnicity? What happened to the foreign talent policy of allowing people to work in Singapore based on one’s ability alone? Is foreign talent just a myth…?
Even back in 2000, it was an open secret (at least amongst us IT folks) that Employment Pass and PR applications for ethnic Chinese would be processed faster and easier to get approval than the other ethnic groups. If you’re ethnic Chinese, the ICA will automatically send you an application for Citizenship when you’ve just about to complete the minimal required period. Including reminders if you did not respond immediately.
I am impressed and touched by many Roti Plata shop owners who employ Chinese employees especially those who teach them how to make Platas but you are now painting a picture that they employ these Chinese becos they fail to get permit for Indian nationals.
Will you question the Authority if local employers employ more workers of other nationality in their construction or other service sectors?Security companies can only engage guard from Malaysia and not other countries and the majority belong to certain race.Why that doesn’t caught your attention to question till you see a Chinese making roti plata?
I agree with you on the written in black and white issue .They have difficulty in that .If they can give black and white ,my towkay won’t be punished for something that is not his fault but due to their negligence and inefficiency .
But on the country specific and not race specific issue,I have faith in them.
Mandarin for all?You will be at a advantage if you can speak one more language but no one can force us if we have no interest.Need not be sensitive and take it too seriously.
@ post no 10
Mr Lim,
There is a portion of your comment i would have to disagree with:
“If one has been to China, one can find Indians, Eurasians and people of all races speaking mandarin. If the aim of encouraging mandarin speech is to allow people to understand the chinese better, I don’t see why that should be an issue for people of indian, malay or any ethnic origin (chinese included). Why can’t anyone regardless of ethnicity learn a new langugage? The tone itself betrays the race differentiation that is already so ingrained in our culture and belies the difficulty in achieving race amalgamation.”
Now, the above may hold true is one HAD been to china. However, Mr Lim, this is not china. This is Singapore. If one of the cornerstone of this country is based on racial harmony, then i would see this move for a promotion of the language pertaining to a certain race as a violation of that cornerstone. Furthermore, may i have the liberty of reasoning, based on the very concept put forth in your statement “why only mandrin? Why can’t people of all races in singapore learn the four languages that make up it’s people?”
Furthermore, it is best to clear the air i believe on the whole issue of race amalgamation. The racial quota in singapore is has it is (ie: Majority = Chinese. 2nd minority = Malay, 3rd minority = indians and other races), is cause both the goverment and the common people like yourself support such a notion. Therefore, i believe if you are of this mindset, you should and would not be in a position to talk about the racial amalgation of this country as it is not a notion borne of free will of all in the country but of a selected few that thrust such misfortune down the throats of other races in singapore.
Indeed it is as disgusting and hypocritical a notion that If singapore is to truly achieve what it pledges to do, to achieve racial harmony, then it should start with the proportionate racial quota in singapore. It is hard to feel singaporean if in the eyes of both the public and especially oneself, he appears a minority.
On a more personal note, i would just like to state the following incident i has witnessed the other day. I saw this singaporean couple of chinese ethnicity, teach their kids of not more than 3 years (at least to my perception) not to go in the same lift as an malay couple who was holding the lift for them in chinese. Being born and bred here, i can understand basic terms of the chinese language and that it self made me wonder, if parents are teaching such stuff to their kids and also teaching them to call names (this is pertaining to another incident where i saw the same chinese couple teaching their kids to refer to the indians as “appunene”), from my perception a very degradatory term in sound, irregardless of it’s meaning.
In the US and Britan as well as australia, developed countries on par or even higer than that of singapore, they have laws against such forms of racism that are practised. However, i can see very clearly here that this vile poisonous notion is fed to the kids in their early stages. No wonder there is such an issue with both the attitudes of the majority race and “race amlgamation” problem.
In closing, i would like people like you and all those reading this comment of mine to understand that however you justify, if racial harmony is to be achieved, there must be a equality acheved in the racial quota and the respect that the other races in singapore so justly deserve should be given. They should not and are not to be looked down upon just cause they are the minority. Until then, the portion of the pledge would forever be drowned in hypocrisy, a great injustice to the composer of the pledge has been done and i have never been more ashamed to call myself a singaporean for this fact if hypocrisy that travels deep within the nations blood. Thank you.
If I’m not mistaken there appears to be a policy that require employers to employ at least one Chinese migrant worker for every x number of workers. I’m not sure what’s the real rationale.. maybe because the gahment don’t want migrant enclaves to appear based on national/ethnic grounds. Having said that, I’m also not sure if it’s the smartest method since it does increase tension and opportunities for miscommunication and misunderstanding among the workers.
what seelan palay failed to point out is the following…. during the rule of LKY, he promoted multi-lingual society. he insisted everything to be in four languages.
during Goh Chok Tong era, he insisted bilingualism and gave up multi-lingualism. instead of everything being in four languages, many things started to be in two languages. it was at that period when Singapore started to become highly racially polarised with the minorities being totally isolated from the majority except in superficial ways.
one reason was because the ruling politicians felt they could control the minorities effectively with their laws, police and ISD. the JI fiasco showed the cracks in the whip of the Tyrant. it was only around post JI fiasco that the notion of race relations and integration was taken seriously.
likewise until the mass exodus into singapore by foreigners, the chinese population refused to accept the quiet but frustrated appeals for equal opportunities etc by minorities. they refused to consider them as equals. today they want to seek coalition with the minorities against the foreigners. only the sideline, PAP is still playing the race card and frightening the Chinese about what the minorities will or wont hypothetically do.
two potential future scenarios exist
1) minorities join the foreigners
should malay, indian and eurasian votes swing to PAP now and forever along with foreigners, the singapore chinese will be outnumbered in votes and subsequently be isolated from everything
2) minorities join the singapore chinese
this is unlikely to happen as singapore chinese dont want minorities to have fair opportunities in military, ministeries, jobs etc. they wont even accept a minority PM
3) minorities, singapore chinese and foreigners remain highly isolated divided groups
this is another possibility in the future in which case Singapore will be socially a high risk society waiting for any adverse events to erupt any moment like between ethnic groups in Iraq.
solution to all this remains unity and equal opportunities… but in kiasu singapore, that will be impossible
Here, Chinese is not China, Indian is not India and Malay is not Malaysia. We, as Singaporeans are totally different from the mainlanders. We are We, Singaporeans are Singaporeans. We should protect the very natural existence of Singaporeans, or else we will end up like the movie Avatar. Not exactly like the movie, i say part of it.
Your efforts striving for change has not gone unnoticed.
I support your ideal!
We should all look at similarities among us, not differentiate. White,Yellow,Black,Brown,Smart,Stupid,Poor,Rich,Handicapped,Fat, Pretty,Ugly,etc etc-the list goes on and on. When are we all gonna learn that the only way to live in peace and harmony is that there should be equality and justice for all. We are all human beings on this planet. The more we look at one another with hatred,bigotry,racism etc, the less bright the future will be for us and our children and the folowing generations to come. See the big picture – United we stand, divided we fall!.
Multiracial, multicultural, whatever name it is called, is a reflection of what’s happening around the increasingly borderless world. Learn from the lessons of USA’s melting pot and multiculturalism in Canada. How can we adapt foreign talent policy with less friction? China and India being the fastest growing economic and population centres are more likely to have the skilled labour that many developed countries are after. Singapore is not alone in trying to assimilate migrants smoothly. How we wish to view other human beings of different backgrounds – racial, social, economic, will affect the harmony and stability of our society.
Multiraciailsm at its best.
Check our the Serangoon area which lives up to its name “LIttle India”. The roads, big and small, everywhere you see nothing but Indian foreign workers come weedends. Hundreds of thousands of them . . .
Indians are recruited mainly in the shipyards, construction businesses, etc. Already the inflow of Indian immigrants into Singapore has breached their proportion.
It’ll surprise one to note that there are even Malaysian Malays, the so-called bumis, making a living today in Singapore as gardeners, cleaners, etc., in many of our private condominiums.
Chinese immigrants are more in absolute I believe and they being quite restless are visible in shopping malls. In fact many are in the restuarant business. Indian immigrants however are rather homely and prefer to stick to themselves especially the northern Indians.
((As what Lee Kuan Yew of yesteryear said in 1965, let’s work towards a Singaporean Singapore. Not a divisive nation pulling along different directions based on ruinous tendencies of ethnicity, religion and language.))
Well said Seelan. Let’s do away with PAP’s ethnic-based divisive organisations such as CDAC, Mendaki, Sinda, AMP, et cetera that stand in the way of promoting truly a Singaporean Singapore. Let’s abolish Lee Kuan Yew’s racial quotas in HDB estates. Get rid of SAP schools.
The British kept us divided along racial lines to prevent us from focusing on colonial oppression and exploitation. The PAP, under Lee Kuan Yew is doing exactly the same. LKY is stressing on “racial balance” and “ethnic quotas” so that Singaporeans will remain divided and forget about PAP’s oppression and exploitation
It’s important we learn to accomodate one another. Practise the spirit of give-and-take.
Look at the curry campaign down under in modern-day Australia today.
Being racial is only skin-deep; only the hypocrites pretend it doesn’t exist to advance their agendas. Racism is a primodial instinct.
India, home to 1 000 000 000 Indians. Go there one day and you’ll see racism at its best. The Caste System (though outlawed) lives in the hearts & blood of all Indians I must say. Anyway, it’s not my business to go beyond.
So wherever we are we should practise tolerance and goodwill. Be wealth creators ourselves to spread it to others.
The other extreme is to be like the ruling UMNO politicians across the causeway; brandishing the kris and mouthing “May 13″ frequently to intimidate their minorities.
A 10 year old Singaporean prodigy studying in HELP college, KL. Apparently he was turned away by local universities, despite completing O and A levels. (Results not revealed)
Surprisingly, this was published in LianHe WanBao not in the Straits Times in Singapore, NST and not the Star in Malaysia. (At least for the online versions)
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/articles/4ina/Article/index_html
What has the malays ever done to the majority to invoke such discrimination and prejudice from some sectors of the majority population? What? You tell me?
Teaching and educating the young to label other ethinic people with derogatory terms are indeed low class and says so much about some people’s mentality despite having 1st classs wealth, or so they believe…(read: living on credit)
We see comments made about Singapore Idol winners are good examples. They are Singaporeans, voted by Singaporeans. But yet we see people making remarks which are obviously out of jealousy for nothing.
Do not ever argue about the immigration policy becaseu as far as we are conerned, I think this region has ben our native hinterland,thus the name , the malay archipelago.
The minorities, the malays included, have been way too quiet to be vocal on this issue!
We wonder what does PAP MP Halimah Yacoob, or any other PAP Malay MP feel about this recent comment by LKY:
“Well, we make them say the national pledge and sing the national anthem but suppose we have a famine, will your Malay neighbour give you the last few grains of rice or will she share it with her family or fellow Muslim or vice versa?” – Lee Kuan Yew
For those Malays to stay on in the PAP is a disgrace to their very existence, they are spitting on the graves of their ancestors.
Visible Minorities in Canada which UN terms “racist” :
http://www.oneworldtalk.freeforums.org/post3145.html#p3145
fae : what LKY says is true to a certain extent for clannish groups whether we like to admit it or not. The Indians, Muslims, Japanese, Koreans and Jews operate as groups and take care of their own kind first. Don’t even contemplate sharing with the Chinese because each believes in helping oneself first before family and friends. The off the cuff interview is politically insensitive and incorrect but ask if you want to be a Chinese in Malaysia or a Malay in Singapore?
“The off the cuff interview is politically insensitive and incorrect but ask if you want to be a Chinese in Malaysia or a Malay in Singapore?”
I want to be a Malaysian in Malaysia and Singaporean in Singapore.
In a Singaporean Singapore there is no place for racists like Lee Kuan Yew who wants “racial balance”, HDB quotas, SAP schools, Malays deprived of deployment to certain SAF units.
Those who criticise Malaysia for racist policies should not remain silent or approve of what Singapore under Lee Kuan Yew is practicing.
Not totally true.
I am in the shipping services sector.
i know for a fact that many shipping agencies employ many
South Asian nationals, Indians, Bangladeshi, Pakistanis
even Nepalese.
Mind you, these guys are not only in the lower end of the scale,
but in the middle rank hierachy. the purchasers, the forwarders,
the shipping coordinators, the software engineers.
And some of these thump their noses on us.
What could we to do, their companies are our customers
Some of you want to defend LKY’s crap by comparing with Malaysia, in fact you are siding with the oppressor.
Racism is racism whether its practiced in Malaysia or Singapore.
Just cause there are more people starving in Africa, does that mean we should not feel pity for someone starving in Singapore?
Race… is one of the saddest and most simplistic take of human identities. When we could and should find the ancestral and cultural history of a single person highly interesting, the invention of the term ‘race’ kills off much curiosity in many of us towards any individual.
While I might share certain physical features with many, but many of us are uniquely different in terms of where we are from, especially in a place like Singapore.
If my father is born here, with both parents from Hainan Island, and my mother a child from small village in Shanghai and Fujian – while your paternal grandparents are from Guanxi, and your maternal grandparents are a mix of Shengyang and Xi’an, we are Chinese?
If my father is from Java, and my mother is a mixture between Kedah and East Timoh – while your dad’s dad is from Bali and your mum’s heritage is from Sumatra, that makes the both of us Malays??
I find that absolutely ridiculously uncreative and meaningless.
The beauty of our complexity in our heritage cannot be generalised and labeled by general geography or our similar skin colour or similar physical features.
So who are we then? How do we identify and understand each other a bit more accurately? By communication and interaction in the most personable terms, and not stereotyping with shallow knowledge by visual means.
We shall call out each other by our given names (or even names we give ourselves), and shall find out and learn our shared interest and common language, culture, habits, similar roots and differences.
Racial tolerance?? We are suppose to TOLERATE each other? No, we should accept each other and the one thing we SHOULD NOT tolerate is violence and discrimination.
The fact that we are able to meet is already quite special if we are able to trace as far back as we could to figure out how we arrive here.
The ratio system in estates and HDB just doesn’t work. In my opinion, if estates and flats are created in the form of special general interests, where you would might like to move into Tiong Bahru because it is an artists village, or that you would like to go to Chao Chu Kang because of high population of motor enthusiasts, or decide to start a family in the music community of Clementi – we will have a real community where we can come together with shared love creating positive atmosphere… Perhaps then, we would in turn create more belonging in any area, nostalgia in our estates, ability to identify ourselves towards our sporting teams like in the S-league that will no doubt evolve natural sporting rivalry. Every estate then would be special rather than the conformed design we see now.
I have deviated a little, I’m sorry.
We must not be led to believe that there is multiracial factor here. Only multi cultural, multi complex heritage and one human race.
There are no strangers, only friends we have yet to meet.
Very well said wui!
@ 48) wui on January 6th, 2010 8.21 pm :
Totally agree where you say, “We must not be led to believe that there is multiracial factor here. Only multi cultural, multi complex heritage and one human race.” ..
unfortunately a phenomenon around the world is that humans have being identifying and even defining race through ancestry and such. The reality is we are all one human race, the origins of which nobody at this stage is sure of (whether we evolved from another species e.g.).