http://www.asiaviews.org/?content=45tyg70tukmh098&infocus=20070823043719
Racism within Asia
AsiaViews, Edition: 30/IV/August/2007
In recent months, there has been much discussion in the media here about
how Singapore could cope with a large migrant population from other parts of
Asia if the country is going to aim for a population of 6.5 million within the
next decade.
Though the question of race relations has not overtly being discussed,
yet, it is what we are referring to when we talk about integration, etc. Asians
seem to be very reluctant to talk about race relations or racism within their
societies, but are quick to point fingers at the West. A couple of months ago,
there was ample coverage given, especially in Singapore, to an episode of 'Big
Brother' TV program in Britain in which Indian Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty
was the butt of racist comments.
Reading these reports, particularly in the Singaporean press, I could not
resist the thought, "what's the big deal, is it not present here?" This is
particularly after some experience I've had here around the same time when I
was looking to rent a condo apartment and was told not once but five times by
housing agents that the owner "did not want to rent to Indians". Some letters
to the editor written by Indian expatriates published in 'Today' newspaper
about 2 months later indicated that this is a widespread practice here.
I have raised this issue with Singaporeans recently and the usual
response with the shrug of the shoulders is "well, racism exists everywhere" so
what can we do about it?
In one of the popular expat forums on the Internet here, when I raised
this point there was a heated debate which developed that reflected this
attitude. One typical comment by a Singaporean professional woman in her 30s
was: "No, housing agents are not racists, but local house owners may have
pre-stated their preference to the agents representing them of not renting to
Indians on account of Indian cooking involving very pungent spices that makes
the house smell".
When I responded: "This is what I said, it is a racist attitude to think
that anyone of color cooks spicy food at home and smells". Her reply was: "It
is not my intention to make excuses, I'm merely stating the facts."
Singapore has often boasted about the harmonious multicultural society
they have created where Chinese, Indians, Malays, Eurasians, Filipinos, etc,
live in harmony. But, what has transpired in the 'blogsphere' in recent years
indicates that not everything is rosy under the surface.
Coming back to my experience, when I questioned the housing agents for
the reasons for refusing to rent to Indians I was told that because they cook
with such aroma, it leaves a "bad smell" in the house long after they have
left. I pointed out that (a) I'm not an Indian, but a Sri Lankan-born
Australian (b) I don't usually cook at home because I live on my own. One agent
told me "that doesn't matter, you look Indian, all the same".
This is exactly what is called "stereo-typing" a process which is
described in any cross-cultural communication textbooks as "those
overgeneralized and over simplified beliefs we use to categorize a group of
people (which) have a tendency to make a claim that often goes beyond the
facts, with no valid basis."
At a time when Singapore is looking towards India-an emerging world
power-to develop closer economic ties, and with increasing number of "Indian"
professionals coming here to work and many even taking up PR here, it is an
opportune time for Singaporean educational authorities to take a closer look at
how the educational system could be utilized to address this problem of
stereo-typing and racism. It does not apply only to Indians, I have noted that
Filipinos, Indonesians and Thais to name a few, are also effected by such
racial stereotyping.
I must also add that racist attitudes towards other Asians are not
peculiar to Singaporeans. Even Malaysia's recent treatment of its migrant
laborers from Indonesia and Bangladesh in particular has been described by some
observers as racist. A few years ago, when I arrived in Hong Kong for the first
time I noticed that their customs checked the bags of all the people of color
arriving there and not the Chinese nor the Caucasians. This was before the 9/11
event. After that I have observed that they do the same at Bangkok airport.
Over the past 25 years I have been to Bangkok over 30 times. Since the
9/11 event I have been there about 6 times and each time they have called me up
and checked my bags, even though I was passing through the "green" line and
I've noticed that they only check the bags of colored people, especially with
South Asian appearance. Obviously they suspect us as possible "Pakistani Muslim
terrorist", even though I'm Buddhist and for 20 years living in Sydney, it was
Thai monks who performed our family religious ceremonies including my father's
last rites in 2001.
Though many of us, especially professionals of South Asian background,
find this attitude offensive, perhaps many of these officials behave in such
fashion because they lack cross-cultural communication training. In many
Western countries when they have such security concerns they usually do it more
subtly where a few Whites will also be checked along with the non-Whites.
Today, in this globalizing world, not only Singapore, but many other
Asian countries are facing an influx of people of different ethnic backgrounds,
either coming as tourists, convention delegates or to work or invest in their
countries. So, knowledge of cross-cultural communications should be an
essential ingredient in these countries.
I lived in Australia for 20 years-throughout the 1980s and most of the
1990s-at a time when Australia had to address a similar problem in their
society, because they were experiencing an immigration boom from Asia, after
the 'White Australia" policy was abolished in the mid-1970s. Australia was also
trying to link up economically with a booming Asia, whose people were
historically seen by most Australians as of "lower status" or what was called
the "yellow peril". This was tackled through the educational system with new
Asian Studies and Cross-Cultural Communication courses introduced in high
schools and tertiary institutions. Today most young Australians are less racist
towards Asians and are more comfortable dealing and living with them-even
marrying Asians in increasing numbers.
Two years ago, I taught an inter-semester course at a leading university
in Singapore on Cross-Cultural Communications during which I covered many
theories on stereotyping and racism. When I set assignments for students and
asked them to apply these theories to practical situations, all of them took
examples from the Western textbooks we were using because no Asians texts were
available on the topic. They were happy talking about the Caucasians,
Hispanics, Blacks or Australian Aborigines rather than applying these theories
to their own environment and talk about relationships between the Chinese,
Malays, Filipinos and the Indians for example.
There seems to be this perception in Asia that racism is a problem of the
West, a problem of the "White" people. But, 'Whites' now understand the
problem-thanks to many Indians, Africans and Arabs like Edward Said who pointed
this out to them more than 30 years ago-and the West has taken remedial action
via the education system. The fact that the Britons were able to acknowledge
that there was racism involved in the 'Big Brother' episode and Shilpa Shetty
was voted overwhelmingly as the winner of the show is reflective of such
enlightenment.
In Asia, people are still in self-denial mood. Singapore, with its
multiracial population mix and its ambition to become an educational hub and a
bridge between South and East Asia, is in an ideal position to address this
issue. A good start would be to introduce cross-cultural communication courses
and textbooks with Asian examples which could be a benchmark for Asia.
By Kalinga Seneviratne, Singapore-based journalist, media analyst and
international communications lecturer.
Asiaviews, August-September 2007
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