Before this one starts, a quick note on why I didn’t go in-depth on how racism presents itself in Singapore especially in the perspective of a minority: I think that has been getting a lot more air time and really all you need to do is look up the myriad of IG pages and articles that have popped up of late. These individuals probably have more illustrative stories than I do to be honest and I’m aware of the various privileges I’ve actually benefited from despite being a minority. Truth be told, I’d say I’ve been rather lucky all things considered.
Hence, the decision to mull over and ramble about other aspects and implications of what’s been going on.
With that said, let’s go into Part 2.
I had a family friend over the weekend and by chance we happened to land on the topic of job progression. My parents are immigrants from South India and so were my family friends. Both had kids doing rather well academically, had stable jobs and had converted to citizenship or were in the process of doing so, so really just imagine your picture-perfect immigrant story. The argument I was currently having was whether my background should place me at a disadvantage (note the operative should). I held the some would say idealistic notion that if we work hard enough, my race should have minimal impact on my prospects. My parents and their friends on the other hand believed that there was nothing to complain about even if I were to face discrimination. To them, such distinctions were (read are) inevitable.
You’ll only hurt yourself by getting your hopes up too high.
In their eyes, having minority leaders in a country itself was a feat that should be commended. The GRC system was a necessity, a dam against having their representation wiped out. A non-Chinese PM? Their version of high fantasy.
Was this just the manifestation of a generation gap? Or was there some truth to their perspective?
1 – Let’s set up the background or context of where we are
A quarter of weddings these days are interracial. From the very get-go, even as wide-eyed 6 or 7 year olds who probably don’t know what race even means, we’re drilled with the ills of racial intolerance. We are told to be careful with what we say out loud, even if behind closed doors words are harsher and finger pointing becomes so much easier. We need to maintain the Singaporean exceptionalism of being a vibrant melting pot, or at least we have to make sure it looks like it. So ask anyone on the street and they’ll tell you racism is bad, I’m not racist. And they probably aren’t in a certain sense of the word racist.
As a society we’ve grown to the point where we know “racism is bad”. That’s a very basic premise. Ok so let’s then consider this question: are we ready for a non-Chinese PM? It’s a pet topic and does have significant ramifications so it would be interesting to unpack.
Given our ruling party’s relative stability (even if it isn’t viewed under a shining halo as before), putting up a non-Chinese PM is unlikely to equate to a landslide loss of votes. They would still have the public’s trust by and large to carry out their duty. They would very likely still retain their majority. And yet, time and time again, even till now, there is a staunch resistance to that idea. DPM Heng drew enough flak for even considering it and yet even that hasn’t really affected the ruling party’s stance on that matter.
With that in mind, let’s consider the incidents of late. If anything, it’s shedding light on biases beliefs that have always been there. Sure, you’re not openly racist (no one wants to be blacklisted for slander). But bring up terms like Chinese privilege, brought about purely by being the majority and its consequent benefits and you’re bound to ruffle a few feathers. Workplace racism continues to be underreported because what if I’m just being overly sensitive? And are a few harmless jokes really enough to label me as racist? In juxtaposition to the social maturity claimed in the analysis before this, what is becoming painfully apparent is that we’ve never truly contended with racism and what it means for us as a society. We’ve opted for tolerance in place of uncomfortable conversations and shared growth. And we still continue to choose the “easy” way out.
2 – What happens otherwise
So given that this is how things stand, let’s consider the hypothetical that we do put up a non-Chinese PM at this very moment. I’m going to go ahead and say that what we’re likely to see is unspoken discontent or perhaps even stronger and overt aggression. An interesting parallel to this would probably be when Obama was elected as President. His election is oft sited as a win for Black Americans because of what it said about their progression as a society. It was meant to be the first step on a journey of reparation and healing. Dig a bit deeper though and you realize that the outcome was quite on the contrary. As a result of a variety of factors such as income inequality and increasing police brutality, over the period of his presidency, racial relations in fact grew worse.
Even if the two weren’t correlated i.e. his coming into office and the unfortunate spate of public police brutality and the economic downturn, for someone who has deep seated pre-existing notions about a particular minority, this isn’t going to improve how they view individuals of that race. In fact, the optics created would be frankly damaging instead. And the trendline above proves just as much with a very clear gradual decline in public opinion on race relations over the course of Obama’s presidency.
Translating this to Singapore’s context would mean two things. One, the appointment of a non-Chinese PM would create the illusion of being post-racial when in fact nothing would have changed because this would not immediately equate to any change in ground sentiments. Two, whichever minority is brought in as PM now would be treated as an exception, a miracle worker and consequently be expected to represent all minorities, particularly those from his/her race. Given the heterogeneity of all these groups and the problems they face, that is a pretty tall order. Achieving anything short of that would translate to having failed at their role as PM no matter how much progress they might have generated. It would also embolden the perception that a non-Chinese PM is not suitable for Singapore. All you have at the end of the day is a disappointed minority and a select group of majority that feel alienated and unfairly punished.
Which is why it confuses me when on one hand we have minority advocates highlighting the prevalence of racial inequality in Singapore while in the same breath insisting that we as a society are ready for truly open and unmoderated systems.
3 – What do we then need to be able to take in a non-Chinese PM
Throughout all of this, one question hasn’t really been answered. Why does a non-Chinese PM even matter? And no, I don’t think the answer is too obvious. To break it down, when your highest position of power and leadership in the country is helmed by that of a minority that was elected in an open and democratic manner, it reflects that the country as a whole is willing to look past his superficial traits or background. Practically, it would mean representation for causes that may otherwise have been brushed aside because the minority group in question lacked sufficient clout. Symbolically, it creates hope for individuals of the minority race to not be barred by their background in what they aim for (which is in fact a form of internalized racism). The question of are we ready for a non-Chinese PM is really at it’s very basic, a proxy to reflect whether we’ve overcome biases based on superfluous features such as race.
Putting all of the above together, we seem to be stuck. We need more representation to advocate for minority specific issues to come to light in a society that is antsy on dealing with subtle racism head-on. Yet, if we were to bring in the representation first and ignore how well (or poorly) our society understands racism in its entirety, we run the risk of alienating those actively perpetuating these practices especially if it’s done unknowingly.
This conundrum is only a conundrum at all if we assume electing a non-Chinese PM occurs in a vacuum. There are thus a few pre-conditions that need to be met. One, we need to first have open conversations where race isn’t a taboo and two, have people are equipped with knowing how to tactfully discuss these issues. Because to elect a non-Chinese PM is to say that we’re ready to be race-blind. Which we aren’t for all the reasons above. The solution seems to be a no-brainer. But while I keep hearing promising sound bites such as “foster(ing) open, meaningful, and responsible conversations on race and religion” (MP Cheng Li Hui), I have my doubts on whether this has actually taken place. If it has, it needs to happen on a much wider scale because without the assurance of a safe space and with continued fear of walking on the wrong side of law, we’ll never have meaningful conversation.
So maybe there is some truth to my parents scoffing at my suggestion that we’re currently ready for a non-Chinese PM. As it stands, this statement asserts a level of societal maturity that hasn’t really been reflected in any of the incidents that are being spotlighted now. Is my change in opinion just an extension of internalized racism? I would think not but I’m open to have that contested.
Will we then ever be ready? In that I’m more optimistic than my parents. While we can’t wait for the utopia of being able to be completely race blind, we can take steps to minimize the gap that currently exists. That is probably more important than distracting ourselves with the single win of a non-Chinese PM. That’s just the cherry on top that we’ll get to.
Step by step but eventually.
And no I’m not setting my hopes too high.
For further reading:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/obama-legacy/racism-during-presidency.html
https://www.pewresearch.org/2017/01/10/how-america-changed-during-barack-obamas-presidency/
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/13/barack-obama-legacy-racism-criminal-justice-system
Thoughts of a Goldfish 