Majulah Old Folks

 Its Singapore’s National Day and I usually try to write something about life in Singapore and what it feels like to be a Singaporean. I usually try to avoid going into political grips because its easy and I try not to sound too sentimental. It’s a challenge but I usually get it done.

This year, has been a bit of a challenge. I didn’t want to delve into the recent political scandals because everyone is doing that. Yet, at the same time I don’t want to get into the usual “ra-ra” that comes from the one event where our military actually gets put to use – the parade.

Then by some stroke of luck, I decided to visit a business partner who was working in Chinatown area, selling lifestyle products. Then, on my way back, I got my inspiration. The bus I was going to jump had to let an old Indian man, who was on a scooter, off. The poor guy had a problem stirring his scooter off the bus. What was an interesting about this incident was the fact that there was an old Cantonese man standing next to me, who started making a few uncalled-for remarks about the man’s ethnicity.

However, when it was clear that the old guy was not getting off the bus on his own, the Old Cantonese guy jumped onto the bus and proceeded to help the guy on the scooter off the bus. Managed to get the guy off the bus.

 

This was a reminder of a truism about Singapore, which is the fact that the various communities that make up Singapore, actually got along pretty well. Sure, it was not saintly. People from various communities had nicknames and stereotypes for each other. However, people who lived in the same village always found a way to work together and live in harmony.

However, somewhere along the lines, you had politicians who managed to convince the various communities that they were being screwed over by each other. You then had race riots and tensions, which was then solved by politicians. These politicians would then spend the next five decades reminding us that they had stopped racial tensions and made us happy to live together.

In all fairness to the system, racial relations are generally pretty good. We’ve not had a “Black Lives Matter” type of riot. The politicians make a point that its their policies that made our racial relations so good.

However, as the incident on the bus seemed to say – our old folks were not actually at each other’s throats. They actually knew how to cooperate and work together without the instruction of the government. So, it raises the question – were racial relations actually solved by the politicians or did the politicians create the racial tensions so that they would have a problem to solve? Could the way our old people across the various communities have the answer to how we can improve inter-communal relations and find a way forward for Singapore?