Being in a multicultural society, it is important that one learns to respect another person's culture.
I recall an account in Secondary 4 when my friends and I were playing a game which poked fun at the culture of a Sikh to keep long hair and thus, wear a turban. At that time, this "game" was played when somebody spotted a Sikh wearing a turban. The person who spotted the Sikh wearing the turban would pinch somebody else's arm until the person mentioned the correct colour of the turban the Sikh was wearing.
One day, my friends and I were walking along a footpath that was adjacent to the road towards the bus stop after school. On the way to the bus stop, one of my friends John (fictitious name) pinched Sam (another fictitious name) on his arm and at the same time exclaiming, "Singh colour apa, singh colour apa?" (colour apa means what colour in malay).
To our horror, the Sikh who was riding a scooter (well, it was easy to spot because Sikhs do not wear helmets when riding motorcycles or scooters), parked his scooter by the road and marched angrily towards us. Needless to say, he scolded us and with expletives even. The Sikh shouted angrily, "You all are f**king disrespectful. So just because we Sikhs wear a turban and we're supposed to be made fun of? If I ever hear such things again, I'll report you all to the police!" He also threatened to make a complaint to our principal. Fortunately, we managed to appease him by apologising sincerely and he'd let the matter rest.
At that point of time, we were afraid. After all, he had threatened to make a police report and a complaint to the principal of our school. Looking back, I felt that we were too insensitive towards cultures of other racial groups. From what I saw, the Sikh was defending and protecting something that is considered sacred to them, which was why the Sikh got riled up. It is the Sikhs' culture to not cut their hair, and thus use a turban to wrap their hair up. To us, we may find that the "game" was played out of pure fun and laughter, but to the Sikhs, it was an insult them.
Indeed, after researching online, I found that hair is scared to the Sikhs because they believe that it is a gift from God. Hair is also one of the five articles of faith for the Sikhs. More importantly, a Sikh's hair is the symbol of love for God and the respect that God has given to him. Thus, when we poke fun of a Sikh's turban, we are actually poking fun of their symbol of love for their God.
From then on, after the harsh scolding we were subjected to, we stopped playing this "game" and also advised the rest of our friends to not do it as well.
Hi Shawn!
ReplyDeleteYes, I find it rather unbelievable that I was quite insensitive during my primary school days as well. Back then, my group of friends and I would buy this popular snack in school called "fried pork meat" during recess time. We would then try to offer of Muslim friends a portion of it by putting it at his face. Our poor friend would then try to shun and we would chase him all around the canteen and have a good laugh after that.
Indeed, racial cohesion is a very fine and fragile thread that links people of different ethnics and cultures. We may laugh at some seemingly small stuff like the Bindi (dot) on the forehead of an Indian but to them it is an important social & religious symbol. Insulting other's culture would just create more tension on such thin thread. Come to think of it, don't you think schools in Singapore should emphasize more on social cohesiveness on Racial Harmony Day instead of just encouraging students to go to school in another's ethnic costume?
Hi Terence!
ReplyDeleteI can understand that! We used to do that too and also called our muslim friends "chao babi". I guess we were all young and mischievous at that age.
I also remember on Racial Harmony Day, we'd shake our indian friend's hand with, "eh bangla! happy racial harmony day!" Fortunately, he understood that it was in the name of fun, laughter, peace and joy.
In the past, my school has to recite the Pledge in English, Mandarin and Malay. Fortunately, we didn't have to recite the Tamil one. Maybe schools should implement this as well (if they haven't already done so).
I think schools can emphasize on social cohesiveness but in the end it's all up to the individual to understand and recognise these differences and eventually respect different cultures.
Hi Kelvin,
ReplyDeleteThank you very much! I felt that our presentations complemented each other! Team Energy and Team Green to produce energy to support solar energy! Haha!
Good luck to you for the final examinations! See you around science library!