TR EMERITUS
The Voice of Singaporeans for Singapore
Racial discrimination: We need to be understood not labeled!
December 26th, 2011 | 
Author: 
It was an incident a few days before a Christmas party that it dawned on me the simplistic, if not ignorant, view certain groups of people have of other groups and thus in turn has inevitably created a negative impact on racial harmony within the work place.My company has set aside some budget so that its worldwide subsidiaries can hold Christmas parties, as a way for staff to bond together.
Our office manager was tasked to run the event for the Singapore office and she informed us that she will be booking a restaurant so that we can have a Christmas lunch together.
I am not sure where she studied her English from, but a Christmas ‘lunch’ is definitely not a Christmas ‘party’ one would have imagined. Anyways, a few days, before the Christmas ‘lunch’ was to take place, I noticed, she was talking….no, she was whispering to each and every one of the minority staff in the office. I was puzzled at her behavior, but I kept quiet and concentrated on my work.
Soon, she came over to my desk and she informed me that she had booked a restaurant that served non-halal food. And she asked, would it be okay, for me, if she requested the restaurant to serve vegetarian, or order halal food from somewhere else and bring it to the restaurant?
I voiced out that, first of all, I’ve never heard of any restaurant that allows outside food. Secondly, a budget has been set aside for the party, and while the rest of the staff gets to enjoy a sumptuous meal……the rest of the minorities was expected to eat vegetables? – Sorry, to my vegetarian friends. Thirdly, why was the staff never consulted and a consensus taken to which restaurants we would like to have our party?
And before I could offer other alternatives, she exclaimed, ‘Why are you so strict?!’
Readers may claim that I may be reading too much into her statement. But, it is probably because they have never faced any form of racial stereotype or discrimination in their life and may never feel how the minorities races felt when they are put in a tight spot.
I asked a valid question but it was dismissed as a religious view.
More importantly, I realized I was not seen as a staff of equal stature but more as a Muslim staff whereby our ‘narrow’ Islamic view prevents us from bonding with the rest of the staff in the company.
Ironically, I work better with our Hong Kong office and seem to be closer with them than the staff here in Singapore.
Well, suffice to say, when the other minorities heard what I said – including some of the Hindu and Buddhist staff – they all decided not to go to the Christmas party.
I was labeled a troublemaker by the office manager. Suffice to say, the Christmas lunch didn’t go well but it was ‘reported’ that everyone enjoyed the party…
Anyways, this article is not about my office.
It’s about how I was labeled, so that it would be easier for certain groups of people to find excuses on how they act – without the need to understand how the other party feels. It is also one of respect and care for someone that belongs to another racial group.
It’s this widespread simplistic labeling of certain groups of people that is the problem. Because of the label, it is no surprise certain groups of people are denied proper aid or assistance.
Another case in point was when I was out of work for almost 24 months.
When I had issues with my former employer, I seeked advice from the Ministry of Manpower (MOM). I was labeled a ‘PMET’ (Professional, Manager, Engineer and Technician) as I held a senior title and earned a wage that was above their cut-off point for assistance – so MOM advised me to look for help with the WDA (Workforce Development Agency).
However, when I left my employer and seek help with the WDA, I was informed by them, due to my school qualifications, I was not a PMET and to seek help with E2i (Employment and Employability Institute).
However, when I went to E2i, they informed me I was a PMET due to my work experience! I’m not even going to write my frustrating experience with the NWCDC (Northwest Community Development Centre).
No one bothered to ask me what I need (at that point of time- a job).
They took a look at my work experience or school qualification, labeled me based on the organisation’s criteria and assumed what I lack based on my label without further consultation.
I was made to feel that I am just a statistic in someone else’s report sheet rather than a person with needs and care.
What about the push for bilingualism? As far as I know, being bilingual means the ability to speak two languages, but here in Singapore, being bilingual means the ability to speak English and Mandarin.
A huge chunk of our tax payers’ money – collected from all races in Singapore – has been set aside for ‘bilingual’ education. The unfortunate part is, people who are labeled a certain race will have no access to this fund to be bilingually educated as it is exclusively set aside for the Chinese majority.
At this point, I would like to reiterate that this article is not meant to stoke racial feelings but rather to remind the general population how certain groups of people, regardless of race, can be sidelined and denied proper aid just because the staff working in our government sector like to use labels.
People who are in need of welfare aid are dismissed as lazy, or ‘born with the wrong type of genes’ or just plain unlucky to be born ‘in the wrong kind of family’.
I can go on but the only label we should have in our ID card under race should be: Singaporean.
We have the right to be treated equally as a person, regardless of the colour of our skin or belief.
Race based aid has no place in a multi-cultural society likes ours…period.
.
Shafie
* This article first appeared on Transitioning.Org, a non-profit society specially set up to cater to the emotional needs of the unemployed Singaporeans.
Share and Enjoy:
Posted in RELATED POSTS
Being a Muslim does not mean u are less sporean.Our govt leaders must set examples in both words n deeds.It is quite clear that most non-Muslim sometimes associate Muslims with violence or extremism due to many you-tubes n many western media.
(i) no need to have lunch or party cos not everybody can agree
(ii) the choice of restaurant will be that of the majority