Schooling Races To Capture Olympic Record And Singaporean Hearts

I have been thinking of a couple of things that have given Singaporeans reason for joy and celebration as well as some serious introspection.

The 13 of August 2016 would be forever etched in the minds of Singaporeans. The mood among Singaporeans from all walks of life, has been rather celebratory and for good reason. Our golden boy of the swimming pool, Joseph Schooling, has penned his name firmly into the annals of Singapore’s sporting history with a breathtaking win in the 100 m butterfly event in a new Olympic record of 50.39 seconds at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Photo Credits: MediaCorp okto Channel

Many Singaporeans got up early on the fateful Saturday morning to catch the race “live” on TV and rejoiced with him and his elated parents, May and Colin Schooling, as they witnessed years of strenuous, unforgiving training, sacrifice and unshakeable self-belief pay off in Joseph achieving Singapore’s 1st ever gold medal in the Olympics.

What made this win significant as well was Joseph beat his childhood idol, Michael Phelps of the U.S. into second place by almost a second. Two other world class swimmers, Chad Le Clos of South Africa and Lazslo Cseh of Hungary tied with Phelps in second place which in itself was very unusual.

Photo credit: MediaCorp okto Channel

The welcome home party at Singapore’s Changi Airport was raucous and overwhelming. A special motion was moved in Parliament to recognise Schooling’s achievement, culminating in an open top bus parade which started off from his home neighbourhood at Marine Parade.

Source: Channel News Asia: Joseph Schooling is Singapore’s First Olympic Champion

Singaporeans of all races, religions and backgrounds took pride in Schooling’s amazing achievement and were unabashed in their joy and gushing with praise for their champion. The fact that Schooling is of Eurasian descent and therefore his Olympic feat finding less of an emotional connection with Singaporeans of a certain race was never an issue. Singaporeans, no matter the race – Chinese, Malay, Indian, Eurasian or any other race – were equal in their expression of joy that a fellow homegrown Singaporean was able to achieve Olympic glory.

So you can understand my uneasiness when I read the media reports this past week on the findings of the Channel News Asia-Institute of Policy Studies survey on race and relations in Singapore.

Among the main findings were some that I found personally disconcerting. Some of these are the fact that the majority of Singaporeans are still uncomfortable talking about racial issues which has led to some unanswered questions about religious and cultural practices among the various races in Singapore.

One in three among the minority races in Singapore felt discriminated against. More than half of minority respondents in the survey agreed with statements such as “people have acted as if they are better than you”. About 60 per cent of all respondents had heard racist comments. Under half of the respondents noting that such comments were made by workplace colleagues and friends. [Source: CNA 2nd Report – Racism Still A Problem for Some Singaporeans]

And in the last of the CNA-IPS reports, the survey concluded that most Singaporeans would still prefer a President or Prime Minister of the same race as themselves. [Source: CNA 3rd Report – Most Singaporeans Want Someone of the Same Race As Prime Minister, President] 

However, the majority still supported multi-culturalism in Singapore and that all races should be treated fairly and with respect. The majority still felt that success did not depend on your ethnicity.

While race relations in Singapore is still a work-in-progress (and will always be in my view), it is good to note that the government is acutely aware of this and continues to seek ways to bridge gaps between the races here.

In any multi-ethnic, multi-religious country, the natural sway is for the majority group to exert its influence in the country’s political, social and economic sectors. It may even be argued that the minority groups have to make the effort to fit into these sectoral constructs as best they can so that they do not become irrelevant or marginalised.

However, the Singapore government has so far, not taken this for granted and has deliberately taken steps to ensure the minority groups are engaged and their concerns are heard and inter-ethnic bonds are continually strengthened.

But I sense there is a renewed urgency among the political elite to up the ante where improving race relations here is concerned. There is a new Channel News Asia documentary called Regardless of Race presented by none other than PAP MP, Minister of State, Communications and Information & Education and Chairman of OnePeople.SG, Dr Janil Puthucheary

The documentary featured a social experiment that was carried out which though simple in its aim and logic, turned out to be rather impactful in its revelation to the participants. You can check it out in the video link below:

REGARDLESS OF RACE – SOCIAL EXPERIMENT

What was revealing was that members of the minority races were surprised to find how much they underestimated their own feelings of being undervalued because of their ethnicity and how the majority race (Chinese) have never viewed themselves as being privileged just because of their race even if that is the reality in Singapore. A simple but stark illustration of this is to hear how Chinese Singaporeans felt discriminated or slighted while being in a foreign country either as a tourist or for work purposes, where they are not the majority race. The incidents they experienced are not very different from what minorities in Singapore may face.

I personally believe our Singapore youths can do much more to learn about the various ethnic groups in Singapore and to differentiate race from religion, ethnicity, language and nationality. So an Indian man may not necessarily be of the Hindu faith, may not necessarily have a beef restricted diet, neither does he necessarily have to speak Tamil, nor does he have to be born in India. And yes, he need not necessarily be dark-skinned, even though the majority are.

Perhaps the best illustration of understanding the nuances of race, ethnicity, language and nationality was the recent Olympics. In table tennis, China showcased its dominance in the event in a startling manner, not just because it swept the gold in the men’s, women’s and doubles events. China-born players represented 21 other countries, including France, Luxembourg, Canada, Germany, Austria, Portugal, Congo, Qatar and Singapore, in the event.

Being Chinese meant little to them compared to the flag they represented. They fought hard to win and to represent their country with pride. And their countrymen cheered and supported them whole-heartedly. There are just some things that transcend race, religion and ethnicity. Joseph Schooling showed us all what that was. And that is being Singaporean.

The greatest challenge Singapore and the world faces right now

Building a more harmonious and inclusive society which balances the diverse needs of its various members with the overarching guiding principle being mutual respect for fellow members and the continuous pursuit of finding more common spaces in the society. This is perhaps the biggest challenge mankind has ever had to deal with and will ever have to in future.

Two events in these past weeks have put the spotlight on this challenge in a striking way.

The first is the Israeli air strikes on Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip following its conflict with Hamas which governs the territory. Hamas is widely seen as a terrorist organisation by many Western countries chiefly because of its failure to outrightly recognise Israel’s right to exist as an independent nation with Jerusalem as its spiritual and religious centre.

This is an age old conflict complicated further by historical territorial claims and the movement of the native peoples due to invasions and wars in the political tinderbox that is the Middle East.

Why would nations want to inflict such pain and suffering on innocent children? – photo courtesy of aljazeerah

Here is a classic case of different groups of people with different religious backgrounds and ethnicities (Israeli Jews and Palestinian Muslims) who are are fighting each other for what they both claim is their homeland. There is no easy solution especially when religious beliefs frame and even define the crux of the conflict.

Innocent children are often the tragic victims of war – photo courtesy of firstpost.com

Faith which is a central foundation of any religious belief does not conform to any rational or logical reasoning or line of argument. In short, faith dictates that followers of any religion, take the leap of faith and do not question the main tenets of their religious beliefs. What’s more – these religious beliefs have been in practice for thousands of years and many thousands of lives have been lost in the defence of these beliefs. It is naive and dare I say, wishful thinking, to dismiss these beliefs with purely intellectual salvoes.

Let’s switch the microscope to Singapore. In the past couple of weeks we have witnessed the country splitting effectively into 2 camps in the aftermath of the National Library Board’s (NLB) decision to “pulp” 3 children’s books which contain narratives pertaining to alternative or non-traditional family structures centred around same sex parents/partners.

After vociferous protests from both the LGBT quarters and people who are not gay or pro-LGBT but just pro-books, the Singapore Minister for Communication and Information, Mr Yaacob Ibrahim, overturned the original NLB decision to pulp the children’s books and directed NLB to place 2 of the children’s titles in the adult’s section.

And Tango Makes Three – photo courtesy of http://www.nydailynews.com

Placing the books (And Tango Makes Three and The Swan Express) in the adults section gives the opportunity for parents to exercise discretion in allowing their children to read the books under their supervision. This was seen as a better solution to directly “pulping” the books which is tantamount to censorship.

This “middle ground” decision, however, did not find favour with some members of the pro-family camp which was quick to express its disappointment that the LGBT movement appeared to have made a small inroad in its quest to being part of Singapore’s mainstream culture.

But where is this pro-family camp’s anger and disappointment coming from? Could it be because this camp believes, as do many Singaporeans, that the traditional family structure is the basic building block of our society and is the cornerstone of Singapore’s growth as a strong and prosperous society? Wasn’t the traditional family structure put forward as part of our national value system which all Singaporeans should strive to uphold? Or have things changed so much that we have to review our national value system?

An inclusive society means one where members are willing to compromise without giving up on their values – photo courtesy of lisabauman.blogspot.com

Whatever it is, I believe Singaporeans have to deal with issues such as this in a calm, sensible and inclusive manner while respecting our fellow Singaporeans, no matter what their beliefs and value systems are.

Noone can change the fact that s/he is of a particular race or religious background. These irrefutable facts about a person do frame how one thinks about issues especially those pertaining to morals, value systems and lifestyles. And no person should have to apologise for the way s/he leads his/her life according to his/her beliefs and value systems.

Happy National Day

My National Day wish for Singapore is for us to arrive at a consensus on how we resolve conflicts, to design a framework to discuss and debate issues and settle competing and diverse needs in a rational and sensible manner. We need to make space for more middle ground. We need to create more room and time for common space. We should be a nation with an insatiable appetite to find things that unite us and are common to all of us and in time, we will be able to create a mountain of commonalities which will dwarf the things that divide us. Majulah Singapura!