Are Singaporean-Chinese, Chinese?

 

I just saw an interview with Trevor Noah on the BBC, where he had to famously defend the remark that “African-Americans” are “not African.” This interview reminded me of one of the most pressing and never-ending debates in nations that are multinational – namely the question of racial identity. Mr. Noah made the point that the problem with hyphenating racial identities was the fact that it underlines the notion that people of a certain skin tone are all the same, which is not true. Mr. Noah’s interview can be seen at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdYXp4J3jy4

In a way, the question is racial identity used to be fairly easy to define. In Singapore we had four major races, namely the Chinese, Indians, Malays and Eurasians. Our first Prime Minister, Mr. Lee Kuan Yew, went out of his way to keep our subdivisions at four, which was most clearly seen in our language policies. Malay was the national language, thus for the national anthem and drill commands. English was the working language, which all of us spoke. Since most of the Indians were from Tamil Nadu, Tamil became the Indian language taught in school as a “mother-tongue.” People from other parts of India, like the Punjabis could learn – Malay at school. As for the Chinese community, Mr. Lee had something that no British colonial administrator had – the willingness and means of going to war against Chinese dialects in favour of Mandarin. In Mr. Lee’s Singapore, being Singaporean-Chinese was fairly easy. I am Singaporean because I was born here, served in the army and appreciated the way of life in Singapore. I was also Chinese because of my skin tone, celebrated Chinese New Year as the main festival of the year and spoke Mandarin when I wasn’t speaking English.

On a certain level, this was a success. Singaporeans of various ethnic groups could take pride in being Singaporean but also being able to communicate with people from elsewhere in a different language. The world was very clear cut. You speak Mandarin with Chinese, Tamil to Indians, Malay to Malays and English to anyone with a drop of “White DNA.”

However, whilst this was very easy, it does not reflect the world as it actually is. People of the same skin-tone are not necessarily the same. I got this lesson early in life as an ethnic Chinese growing up in the West in the late eighties and nineties. One of the funniest experiences was being in Port Angeles (main economic activity – logging), in the Pacific North West of the USA, when an old lady rushed up to me to practice the one Japanese phrase she had been practicing for a while. It was very flattering that she wanted to practice the language on me and it was heart breaking for her to be told that I wasn’t Japanese.

The world is a diverse place and whilst in an ideal world, we should concentrate on the things that unite us, the human race has proved to be very good at dividing itself and at times they take great pride in the things that make them stand out. If you want an East Asian example, the Chinese, Japanese and Koreans are very clear that they are distinct, with their own unique language and culture. However, at one stage, most Westerners wouldn’t have been able to and wouldn’t have cared to distinguish between a Chinese, Japanese or Korean.

One of the most amusing examples can be seen in the 1970s hit series “Mind Your Language,” where the Ranjeet, the Sikh character was constantly fighting with Ali, the Pakistani. However, despite the obvious “enmity” between the two, the teacher Mr. Brown pairs them up thinking that they’d get along with someone with from the same part of the world:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-GdBfnKWBs

For Singaporeans, this became particularly sharp, with new arrivals from China and India. Suddenly the little comfortable world a hyphenated identities was rudely shattered. Our new, often Hindi speaking arrivals don’t look upon our native Tamil speaking Indians as Indians. As for our local Chinese community, we also got a rude shock into how far removed we are from our Mainland cousins

I take myself as an example. I am predominantly English speaking and the group I deal with on a daily basis happens to be predominantly English speaking. However, if I need to, I will communicate in Cantonese and Mandarin. However, I don’t have an emotional connection with China as say, someone born in China would have. The fact that it’s a challenge to speak either Mandarin or Cantonese puts a sharp distinction between me and someone born in China.

I try to be aware of these things. I grew up in the UK and back in the days when the UK was an active member of the EU, I grew up understanding that White people were actually a diverse group with their own languages and cultures. So, it was easy for me to understand that just because certain people looked similar, it didn’t make them the same.

I like the fact that the world is not the same. I happen to like diversity and dealing with people who are not like me. So, wherever I go, I try to know a little bit about different cultures to be able to cross those borders. It is, I believe something that we all need to get used to if we are to capitalise on the opportunities out there.