Daily realities necessitate an activation of different racial, religious and linguistic identities in different contexts. How far does this statement define your life as a Singaporean?
Singapore is a melting pot of different cultures. There’s Chinatown for the Chinese, Kampong Glam for the Malay and Little India for the Indians. Different churches, temples and mosques scattered around numerous areas. Filled with various locales for diverse races and religions, the activation of different racial, religious and linguistic identities are therefore apparent in this little red dot of ours. Often, our daily necessities are affected by our different identities. Our everyday actions when faced with these daily necessities define our lives as Singaporeans. Thus I agree that our different identities are a vital part to of life as a Singaporean.
An example of one of these daily necessities would be food. Pull a local off the streets of Singapore and ask them what they think is most crucial to the Singaporean culture. “Food!” is what you will be bound to hear. Young or old, all Singaporeans take food very seriously. It is the pride and joy of us Singaporeans. It is the union of all the different cultures in Singapore. We mix and match the cuisines of different cultures, incorporating them together to get the best of many worlds. In order to truly appreciate this pivotal part of life as a Singaporean, the activation of our different identities is needed as the Singaporean food culture contains a mix of different foods, ranging from Nasi Lemak to Chicken Rice, or even Roti Prata.
It has been drilled into us since young that Singapore is a multiracial society, which activates the need to interact with people of different races, at some point in our lives. That would require an ideal amount of sensitivity to the topic at hand, especially if it is something that people of different race and religion typically do not agree to, such as privileges and equality. This requires us to tap into our knowledge of the different races and carefully craft an answer that reflects our thoughts and feelings while also keeping it sensitive to the other races and religions.
It is almost a given that we Singaporeans see people of different colors around us every day. There are many unseen compromises to be made, in order to maintain harmony among the different races in the streets of Singapore. In our own neighborhoods, interactions between the different races are constantly being made, and as Singaporeans, we have mostly adapted to certain aspects of life we have to be sensitive of. For example, being tolerant about the different practices like Muslims fasting, also known as Ramadan, where neighbors play a part in making the fasting process more tolerable for our Muslim friends, though it may take us some self-control at times to achieve an empathetic relationship with the people around us. Inter-cultural practices will definitely differ, like Christians having to attend church on a weekly basis, or the Buddhist and Taoist burning of incense paper to show filial piety to their ancestors during the Qing Ming festival, or it may even boil down to the simplest of things like an Indian neighbor cooking their traditional curry.
What better way to kill time than watch the latest blockbusters or listen to tracks released online? There is no doubt that mass media, be it music, social media, or even visual media, is an essential part of an average person’s life. With technological advancements in this society, especially living in a first world country such as Singapore, we are constantly exposed to the display of different religions and races even through the various forms of media which we mostly have access to. Many Singaporeans would be familiar with the Indian and Malay channels on the local live television, known as ‘Vasantham’ and ‘Suria’ respectively. These channels are definitely familiar to the Singaporean soul, hence making the fact that different races and religions are largely present and conspicuously exposed to Singaporeans much more apparent. Moreover, the different channels use different languages, catering to the diverse tongues in Singapore.
As proud Singaporeans, we live harmoniously in a society made up of various races, which brings about the different languages and religions present too. We have adapted to the ways of accepting each other’s cultural practices, even if we do not necessarily practice them. We constantly learn more about the different cultures present in Singapore and are continuing to discover more of the less distinct cultures in Singapore like the Japanese, Thai, Korean and many others in our homeland. Be it in school, in the neighborhood or simply the people we interact with, there is a need to learn about, and to educate others about our own unique cultural identities. This will, therefore, instigate a more inclusive and understanding neighborhood where all are able to appreciate the beauty in all cultures found in all corners of our Singapore.
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