Are we taking racial peace for granted?

Recent controversies over racially charged remarks should make us pause and ponder

By Warren Fernandez, The Straits Times, 14 Oct 2012

Every morning, we stood in line and mouthed the words.

"We the citizens of Singapore, pledge ourselves as one united people, regardless of race, language or religion..."

You know the drill. Over the years, we must have repeated those lines thousands of times.

Did it matter?

Well, many of us grew up believing that those who make this place their home are to be treated equally and fairly, with no one unjustly set apart because of who his father is, or the colour of his skin, or which way he is inclined spiritually.

Many of us came to believe that all the effort at fostering stronger ties among the various ethnic and religious groups here was making some progress, judging by the way we seemed to generally get along, and how we responded to events at home and abroad that put a strain on community ties.

Little wonder then that developments last week have proven somewhat bewildering.

Whatever prompted a senior executive like Amy Cheong, who worked for the National Trades Union Congress, an organisation steeped in representing workers of all races, to let fly a rant disparaging members of an ethnic group in such unsavoury terms will remain unfathomable.

Whatever one makes of the swift and decisive way in which she was fired - I think the NTUC could not have done otherwise without provoking a strong backlash - the deeper question remains how someone like her might have come to hold such views in the first place.

Whatever one might say about how she was not really one of us, having come from abroad, and seemed to rush away too hurriedly, the fact remains that for a decade she lived and breathed the same multiracial ethos as you and I.

What is worse, she is not alone. In the last year, there have been at least five incidents when similarly racially charged remarks have caused a stir. Indians have been called smelly and unwashed, with one resident going so far as to write to a minister to complain about them. Malays have been dismissed as being lazy, poor, and even assumed to be terrorists.

Each time this happened, the offenders were roundly rebuked; they apologised, we wrung our hands for a bit, and then moved on. We hoped a lesson had been learnt. Everyone agreed the perpetrators should have known better, and we would have to do better as a society if we were to uphold the ideals we say we believe in.

Have we?

Some would say - and I agree - that it is best not to overreact. The offensive remarks were casually made by a few individuals; they were intended for a closed circle, and not meant to work up racial or religious hatred.

Some would say that for all the benefits that the Internet has brought, it has also amplified the voices of those who harbour racist thoughts. Armed with a megaphone and a mask, some are wont to be more abusive, or crude, than they might be in person.

Some might say that post-Sept 11, when terrorists sought to hijack Islam for their own agendas, it was as inevitable as it is unjust that there would be an untoward reaction against Muslims.

All of this may be true. But my sense is that this is not quite the full answer. Technology and external events go only so far in explaining our actions. In the end, we are what we chose to say and do; we are responsible for what we think and believe.

Yet, if truth be told, time and again I have been taken aback to hear some parents tell their kids not to play with children of some other races as they might be a bad influence. Or others who say they don't want their child in a certain school because of its racial make-up. Or businessmen who say they will trade only with people like themselves whom they can trust.

What surprises me most is that often such remarks come from respectable people who grew up in a multiracial Singapore. Surely they realise that the very reason for this country's being was our belief in racial and religious equality? It was, after all, our forefathers' determination to keep it that way that led to Singapore being an independent state.

So, here's the awkward question: Are these attitudes, and the recent controversies, signs that some of us in Singapore are beginning to take the racial harmony we have enjoyed for granted?

After all, we have had peace and prosperity for so long that many of us find it hard to imagine that things could be any other way. Suggestions that it could be otherwise are quickly dismissed as just so much scaremongering.

After all, this is Singapore. It is safe and serene, our people are sensible and rational. It would take quite a major turn of events for sentiments to be whipped up and people spurred into any sort of action, other than demanding to know what the Government is doing about the pet peeve of the day.

This perhaps explains the reaction in some quarters to the controversial film Sex.Violence.FamilyValues, which was effectively banned last week because it contained offensive remarks about Indians.

It's just satire, say those who oppose the decision by the Media Development Authority. Others point out that the script pokes fun at other races too. In other words, it is an equal opportunity offender, and we should all just lighten up and not give in to political correctness.

I have to admit being ambivalent about this. I have never been a fan of moves to ban books or films, and have argued for years for a classification system to let adults make choices for themselves.

Yet, while I agree that the film is unlikely to cause a major dust-up, I also worry about being too cavalier in dismissing the idea that others in society might take offence, since not everyone has the same threshold of tolerance.

Too cautious? Too restrictive? Too uptight?

Perhaps. But we know from bitter experience that fires come from unexpected sparks. It often starts small. A seemingly innocuous remark, a half-funny cartoon or film, a bad newspaper headline or an ill-chosen photograph. A chance occurrence, a crossed path, a bruised ego, wounded pride, could all cause visceral emotions, simmering beneath the surface, to flare up when we least expect it.

So, like it or not, the price of racial peace is this: never forgetting that our old and lingering divisions run deep, and need constant tending to mind the gaps in our society and hold it all together.

Most Singaporeans know this only too well. We have been to racial hell before, and understand the give-and-take efforts we will all have to make to ensure we never return. But some, alas, appear to have forgotten.

We the citizens of Singapore, pledge ourselves as one united people? We have to live and breathe it. Otherwise, it's all just words.