The Great Racist Blog

I have lived in Singapore pretty much all my life. Other than the 3 years I was away in York, I don't think I have been around much. Well, I was in Tekong for about 2 months. And onboard RSS Perseverance and RSS Excellence for another 2 months each when I was a midshipman. Both ships have retired from service.

I came back to Singapore in 2002 amidst the tudung brouhaha. I thought it was rather ridiculous having the almight Government step in on a minor issue like the wearing of tudung. Was the uproar warranted? I don't know. Was it subversive? I doubt it. But anyway, muslim kids who wish to attend regular schools which regular people like you and I attend are not to wear tudung. There are muslim schools or madrasahs for people who insist on wearing them. Usually not the kids, but their parents, the community. But we leave it there. Under the carpet.

Recently, a certain Dr Bernard Loo came down to base for a talk. Part of nationa education of somethign. He was babbling away when he let loose that he "had a dislike for the Chinese people in NTU because they spat everywhere". I put the above in parenthesis because I cannot for the life of me remember verbatim.

Then there was V, complaining about her immediate supervisor, and giving her various nicknames because of her skin colour (the supervisor, not V's).

Got me thinking. Are we racists or are we just very irritated by certain characteristics, behaviours, traits, customs, etc etc that are predominant in specific ethnic groups or nationalities.

How many are put off by the oily and smelly stains found on the windows of buses that ply along Serangoon Rd through Little India? I am very sure we all jump to the conclusion that it must have been a dozing Indian who left the stains there. We must have complained more than once or twice that the we don't like Indians because they are smelly.

See what I mean. We don't actually care if they are Indians. We object to their social presence because of their smell. Not bacause of their colour. The Indians and Pakistanis I study with in York didn't smell any worse than the rest of us. In fact, some of the continental Europeans smell worse. Something about their way of life and having not much time for baths or not enough water. Blah...

We typecast. That's what we are fond of doing. And probably unless we can stereotype people, put them into identifiable boxes, we won't be comfortable. We like to size people up so that they are in bite-size processable chunks instead of a mystery.
Indian men are drunkards who beat up their wives. If we put an Indian couple in an area with palmtrees, meadows and rolling hills, they will start playing hide-and-seek.
Malay girls screw around and become unwed mothers. Malay boys are either drug addicts or delinquents strumming guitars at the void deck.
Chinese men have small dicks. Only 1 in every 10 chinese girl will be able to fill a c-cup naturally.
Ang mohs will get drunk and stop taxis in the middle of the road (this is true actually). Ang mohs are more romantic (this could be true as well). Ang mohs are richer and superior and hence deserve better service, more attention and get their fucking way.
Actually, when I was back-packing in Vietnam, many of the hotel staff I chatted with said that the ang moh back packers are the poor ones. That's cause they are usually students.

I choose to believe that we are not racists. We will not hesitate to like or dislike another person. But that is not because of the person's skin colour. But because of the perceived social behaviour associated.

If a chinese ah pek stands next to me on the bus and he is smelly, he is equally disgusting as the smelly indian who smears his oily hair on the bus window.
If a drunk ah beng screams profanities at me, he is equally rude as the drunk ah moh who jump the taxi queue and got into my cab. Hey, in fact, I should think lowly of the cab driver as well.
If a malay man hits his wife, he is equally uncivilised as the indian man who bashes his wife.

So what is racism in singapore? Is there any particular class domination? I don't know. I went to schools that accept people of all class and race.



If my indian friend smells, I tell him like I would to my chinese friend.