I think one thing that we should keep in mind when we talk about racism in Singapore is that it has been around for a long, long time. Having race and religion as an OB marker has been a problem as weve not been able to talk openly and honestly about race and prejudice, which has led many to think that Singapore has achieved ultimate racial harmony or something like that. But putting on another ethnic costume at your schools Racial Harmony Day actually does zero against racism; it just papers over the cracks. The truth is that Singaporeans havent been colour-blind in a very long time. As a Chinese Singaporean, it is easy for someone like me to say oh, theres racial harmony, Singaporeans are all really not racist and very nice actually! But as part of the majority race I have enjoyed freedom from numerous prejudices and discrimination and both macro/microaggressions that might be faced by minorities. Just thinking back I can remember my grandma telling my mum not to put my brother in a neighbourhood kindergarten cos he will get very dirty from the coconut oil in the hair of Indian kids when they play. Or my mum still gets her Chinese Singaporean colleagues say that Little India is a dirty place. How many of us have laughed and talked about apunehneh like Indian men are bogeymen? Its all racism, but when I was a kid it was totally normalised. For us, that was being Singaporean. But an Indian Singaporeans experience of that would be very different. This is something that I recognised late. I spent many years growing up without questioning my privilege. It is only now that I am trying to catch up. So I think that if were going to have a proper discussion about racism and xenophobia and prejudice in Singapore we need to acknowledge that its not just Singaporeans and foreigners, but within Singaporean society and within ourselves too.
Posted on: Tue, 22 Apr 2014 10:08:35 +0000
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