The face of
his friend proudly posing with him has been masked, but you can see the main
hero wearing a mask of an African American person hanging loose with his light
skinned hands.
Also note
the attire.
The
Occasion: Racial
harmony day
Racial
harmony day is when students are encouraged to dress in the attire of a
different culture to celebrate the diversity of races and cultures in Singapore.
He chose to
dress as a food panda delivery person.
The
location/belonging:
RI
For those
who do not know, RI is one of the most prestigious schools in Singapore. To
give context: “How did he get into RI?”(2) was a remark made by am MP when criticizing
the speech of an opposition MP, also “he is illiterate”(2). The two MPs alleged
to have been involved are today Singapore’s Ministers of Foreign Affairs and
Singapore’s Minister of Manpower. So yes, RI is prestigious, some may say elite(ist)
school. The two young people in the picture represent the cream of Singapore.
The
aftermath or what
pisses me off
Mr Aaron Loh, principal of RI:
"The student who was dressed inappropriately had taken the
photo as part of current trends around social media memes involving a
basketballer… He had no intention to make fun of any group or community."(3)
In
an interview where he also confirmed that
“the
school had told students they could dress in traditional ethnic attire for its
commemoration of Racial Harmony Day”
Some points
to bear in mind, from the mouth of the school principal:
- It was for Racial Harmony Day
- The school allowed students to dress in "traditional ethnic attire"
- A student decided that dressing as a food panda delivery person may be “traditional ethnic attire”
- That student decided to do a dark faced mask to complete his "traditional ethnic attire"
- According to the principal this was in line with current trends
- According to the principal again, there was no intention to offend
To me this
is normal Singapore racism, and to make things worse, the behaviour of the
principal excuses condones this behaviour. The principal probably does not see
any racial element here.
He could
not be more wrong.
My own
experience
2 of my
experiences when I had just moved to the hostel in NUS would shine some light
on my disgust at the RI principal’s attitude.
1 Non-Chinese friends
A few weeks
after I joined the hostel, that was during orientation, one of my friends
admitted that I was the 1st non-Chinese real friend he had made in his
life. He came from one of the elite schools and had always had the best
education. He was/is a very bright person. He further explained that during his
school days, the only non-Chinese he really saw were the people employed by the
school as janitors/caretakers for example.
This was
decades ago.
I wouldn’t be
surprised that the only non light skinned people this boy from RI interacted
with were people who delivered food to his house. Hence he associates skin colour
and the food delivery uniform.
2
Basketball players
Still in
the hostel, when I was a senior, we had a bunch of basket-ball crazy freshmen
join my block. They would crowd around the TV in a room and watch NBA games. (I
also got into NBA and was a fan of the mail man Karl Malone). Once I overheard
a statement that one of the guys (who was until recently C level in NTUC)
claimed, he wouldn’t mind being black if he obtained these basket ball skills
in exchange.
I had the
chance of getting to know these guys earlier, and do not think they are knowingly
racist. But this statement made me realise that there are many people who hold
racist opinions without realizing it; sub-conciously he thought his less dark skin
was better than dark skin and he was willing to exchange this for basket ball
skills.
Calling this
out was needed to make him realise. Not saying it was part of a social trend to
say bein awe to NBA players.
So what I
am saying is that more than a decade down the road, the same thing still
occurs. But it it worse.
Why is
this worse than decades ago?
Singapore has
evolved, non-Chinese are at all levels of society. There should not be a reason
not to have met non-Chinese people. However, in the elite schools (at least in
RI) it seems that it is possible.
Here note
that the Raffles name is a brand, and many students are in the Raffles brand all
the way to junior college. Also school affiliation (parents having been part of
the Raffles family for example) is an advantage for admission. RI is also an
independent institution, free to charge for admission, have their own programmes,
academic or otherwise (4)
For an institution
that supposedly has the cream of Singapore, but still allow students to live in
such bubbles is scary.
Far worse is
the reaction of the principal of the school.
Mr Loh
finds this acceptable. Would he have said the same if say someone had dressed
as the Covid19 virus while making “slant-eyed” gesture?
Mr Loh is
defending what I see as a double problem within his students (economic and
racial discrimination/elitism), and even ascribing it so social media trends.
Mr Loh, remember, every time you point at something else, the rest of your
fingers are pointing towards you.
To make
things more interesting, Mr Loh is himself a product of the Raffles brand; you
can find more details about the principals and vice-principals at the RI page
(5)
Mr Loh is seated
third from the left.
Conclusion:
Racism is
something that is around in Singapore (6) and trying to address it is nothing
new (7). Even current prime minister waded into the matters by commenting on
students in pre-primary who prefer to be with their own race by saying ““human
instinct to be comfortable with our own””. Prof Goh retorted that “a lot
of that instinct is learnt by young children in their homes and in schools”.
I agree
with Prof Goh; racism is taught and influenced; if it is not caught early and
addressed, it may lurk in the background and rear its ugly head unexpectedly.
Attitudes like that of the current principal of RI are certainly not helpful, and could even be considered harmful.
- https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/raffles-institution-student-foodpanda-delivery-rider-blackface-racial-harmony-day-4504466
- https://sg.news.yahoo.com/ceca-debate-hot-mic-catches-illiterate-lousy-school-remarks-094425230.html
- https://www.asiaone.com/singapore/ri-students-disciplined-and-counselled-after-1-dressed-inappropriately-racial-harmony-day
- https://www.moe.gov.sg/education-in-sg/our-schools/types-of-schools
- https://www.ri.edu.sg/about-us/people
- https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/courts-crime/former-ngee-ann-poly-lecturer-charged-with-making-racist-remarks-insensitive-comments-on-religion
- https://lkyspp.nus.edu.sg/docs/default-source/ips/today_teachers-play-key-role-in-educating-students-to-identify-racism_250621.pdf
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