3) What were the measures taken to foster social cohesion (unity among the people) in multi-ethnic Singapore?

→ One of the ways the government did to promote the growth of social cohesion was to introduce National Education to schools in Singapore. This started on Saturday, 17 May 1997.





(♠) "The purpose of NE is to develop national cohesion, the instinct for survival and confidence in the future by fostering a sense of identity, pride and self-respect as Singaporeans, knowing the Singapore story - how Singapore succeeded against the odds to become a nation, understanding Singapore's unique challenges, constraints and vulnerabilities, which make us different from other countries and instilling the core values of our way of life, and the will to prevail, that ensured our continued success and well-being." (Adapted from http://www.moe.gov.sg/media/press/1997/pr01797.htm).




(♠) NE is also used to help Singaporeans understand about their history and how they should think about and for Singapore.




(♠) NE teach in different ways at different level which is "Love Singapore (Primary School), Know Singapore (Secondary School), Lead Singapore (Pre-U)." (Adapted from http://www.moe.gov.sg/media/press/1997/pr01797.htm). In Primary School, students will be taught on how important social cohesion is and to develop the sense of bonding between races. In Secondary schools, students will learn about how Singapore came about and the problems our forefathers encounter to improve Singapore into what it is today. In JC/Poly/ITE, they will learn deeper than what they had learnt in Secondary Schools with emphasis on what makes a good citizen.



(♠) My Reflections:

In my opinion, the government did a right thing of introducing NE to Singapore as it will foster social cohesion. Social cohesion is very important as it will unite all races together and this will avoid problems within a nation such as racial riots and much more. I also agree that by teaching students step by step as they grow through the school level is quite efficient to promote social cohesion. The good thing about NE is that it does not only teaches us about social cohesion, it also tells us the past of Singapore and how to improve the social conditions here.

2) What are the challenges of multi-ethnicity in Singapore?

How racial issues could divide the people.


Singapore being a multi-ethnicity society, consists of many people of different races such as Chinese, Malay, Indian and many other different races.Racial understanding is very important in keeping harmony and peace in the country as the lack of understanding among the racial groups could create suspicion and unhappiness among the people. This may lead to outbreaks of violence among races. In 1964, Singapore encountered race riots which resulted in 36 people dead and more than 500 others injured.
The were many factors that lead to the racial riots.Different kinds of reasons were cited for causing the riots. Malaysia Deputy Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak blamed Indonesian and Communist provocateurs while Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew blamed the riots as the result of agitation by Syed Jaafar Albar and other elements of the ultra-nationalist faction in UMNO.
The rioting broke out on the eve of the celebrations for Prophet Muhammad's birthday when a protest demonstration by Malays escalated from a verbal war of taunts and insults with Chinese bystanders into a violent attack . The situation became chaotic and during the 2 five-day periods beginning on 21 July and 2 September in 1964, Singapore has underwent many racial & communal riots between Malays and Chinese over special rights given.Curfews was gradually implemented and Goodwill committees were also formed to help promote strong bonds among the people of different race and religion. However, racial tensions exploded once again when a Malay trishaw rider was stabbed to death at night.

The consequences of the race riots were devastating. Property and houses were destroyed in the process of the riots and the racial harmony between the people of Singapore were strained. It resulted in the Separation of Singapore and Malaysia in 1965.

Singapore learned that keeping racial harmony in the country is important as a country can be easily divided by simple racial issues and political issues which can invoke neighbouring countries to seize the oppotunity to influence the country.

People react to race issues sensitively as things such as religion and race is a very personal and sensitive issue to the people and a simple racist remark can mean insulting the person's culture and heritage.


How religious issues could divide the people.

The riots started as a simple custody battle between Maria's real parents and her adopted parents but ended up as a religious and racial confrontation. The court ruled that Maria should be returned to her biological parents as her father was not consulted when Aminah took her off.

There was widespread coverage of the custody battle in the English, Malay and Tamil press. Maria's case was presented as a religious issue between Islam and Christianity and that aroused the religious antipathy of local Muslims.

Large crowds who were already emotionally worked up due to politicization and the sensationalized press coverage had gathered outside the court eager to know the result of Aminah’s appeal. The result was that Maria was to be given back to Aminah.

A Eurasian who was unsatisfied with the appeal drew out his revolver and fired three shots, wounding two Malays. The crowd became furious and started throwing sticks and riots began. It was no longer about championing the welfare of a child but a religious and racial confrontation as well as mob violence. Rioting was at its worst in the afternoon and night of 11th December.

The riots increased the tension between the races and a 24 hour curfew was implemented for 2 weeks. The British and Malayan troops and the Singapore police were called to maintain peace.

We learnt that if religious issues are complacently ignored, hostility and misunderstanding could occur among the people and affect the harmony between different religious and race groups.

People react sensitively to religious issues as people believe in their religion greatly and insults and action that provoke the beliefs are hard to tolerate.























Credit to---http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=race+riot+1964&go=Go

5) Explore other ways to foster social cohesion in S'pore

http://www.wp.org.sg/news/hammer_online/07_singaporean_youths.htm

Ways to foster social cohesion in Singapore

Ø By having National Education Program and Racial Harmony Day

Ø By having the social studies syllabus to help students be familier to Singapore's constraints and needs.

Ø By having community involvement program



National Education Program and Racial Harmony Day

Ø Foster stronger bonds between races

Ø Acquaints the youths with national history as well as to help them understand and appreciate differences between the races.

Ø Creates awareness and helps understand the differences for the inculcation of the values of tolerance and respect

Ø Sustain genuine interaction that deepens the understanding and bonding between races.
Ø Familiarize the students to Singapore's constraints and needs.

Ø By using Switzerland as the model which shows the importance of racial harmony , and Sri Lanka and Northern Ireland as the consequences of having racial disharmony.

Ø to inculcate such values, the people's mindset must be changed, and this can only be done through sustained interaction between races,

Ø Which students are actually exposed to differences and even culture shocks which changes their mindset and their values.



Community Involvement program

Ø Increases students' involvement and empathy with other classes in society, such as the less advantaged low-income families through tuition programs and student mentorships.

Ø Award students with CIP points for the hours of service they put in.

Ø Could be the fastest way of sustaining youth involvement in the community, but it reinforces the motivation of self-reward and individualism in the youths.

Ø Such individualism ultimately causes the young generation to devote themselves to the pursuit of inflated expectations and to be disengaged from the community at large.

Ø It is difficult to have social cohesion and bonding amongst all social classes , as community outreach is motivated by the promise of self-benefit.


Refections

I feel that in oreder to have Social cohesion in Singapore, the people have to play a part in it.
The Government can only help so much in ensuring that there is social cohesion anoung the people, but ultimatly, its the people who choose whether if they want it or not.

4)Why is social cohesion important ?

http://www.moe.gov.sg/media/speeches/2003/sp20030215.htm
http://www.moe.gov.sg/media/speeches/2003/sp20030517a.htm



Social cohesion is important especially to our small and natural resourceless country because it affects Singapore's progress and performance. Singapore is unique due to the fact that it's citizens are made up of different races.This is also a reason why there is Racial Harmony day . I think racial harmony day is a very important day because it is the day where we can learn more about other races and cultures , understand the differences between the races and respect the culture and beliefs .Racial harmony day is held yearly to instill the knowledge into the new batch of students .So when they grow up,they fully understand the importance . During racial harmony day , we can wear costumes of other races , sometimes there are activities and games from different races for us to try out and learn more .
Racial harmony day is also held so that any misunderstanding between the races would reconcile. Social cohesion is so important that we cannot take social cohesiveness for granted,one small neglect and all the painstakingly effort fostered over the years are undone. Social cohesion is a difficult task because it is only acheived when every individual makes the effort to learn more about different races,cultures and respect the difference,uphold the racial and religious harmony . The effort from each and every individual of singaporeans is what make us One People,One Nation .



here is a video roughly on racial harmony .










video credit to--- http://www.youtube.com/

1) How different are we?

Singapore Culture

Singapore is a cosmopolitan society where different races of people live together happily. The pattern of Singapore stems from the inherent cultural diversity of the island. The people from other countries came to Singapore in the past have given Singapore a mixture of different races such as Malay, Chinese, Indian, and European.

Behind the pretense of a modern city, these ethnic races are still obvious. The places for the different races still remain despite the bulk of Singaporeans do think of themselves as Singaporeans, regardless of race or culture. Each different race still carries its own uniqueness.

The old streets of Chinatown can still be seen; the Muslim characteristics are still noticeable in Arab Street; and Little India along Serangoon Road still has its distinct ambience. Each racial group has its own distinctive religion and there are colourful festivals of special significance all year round. Although the festivals are special to certain races, it is enjoyed by everyone no matter what race they are from.

In Singapore, food is always ready to be serve to you whenever you want it. There are lots of foods that Singapore offers. We have, Chinese, Indian, Malay, Indonesian and Western, Italian, Peranakan, Spanish, French, Thai and even Fusion. It is very common to try other culture's food and some of the food can be very fascinating. Indian food are more likely to be spicier, but Chinese food is less spicier then Indian food and the Chinese likes to eat seafood such as crabs, cockles, etc. Malay cooking uses coconut milk as their main ingredient, that makes their food very tasty. Malay hawkers use coconut milk to cook “Nasi Lemak”, Curry and “Rendan”.

Religion In Singapore

Almost every Singaporean celebrate the important festivals which are related to their religion. The different number of religions is a direct reflection of the variation of races living there. The Chinese are originally the followers of Buddhism, Taoism, Shenism, Christians, Catholics and some considered as 'free-thinkers'. Malays have the Muslims and Indians are Hindus.

Religious tolerance is important in Singapore. In fact, religions often cross racial borders and some even merge in weird ways in this modern country. The teenages in Singapore tend to combine a little of the mysteries of the ancestors with the realistic world that they know of today.

Religion is still a fundamental part of the cosmopolitan Singapore. A lot of the most interesting buildings are religious. Having the knowledge of these buildings do play a part in contributing to the appreciation of their art.

-Chinese Temples

Taoism, Confucianism, Buddhism, and ancestral worship are combined into a all-rounded mix in Chinese temples.

In Singapore, the Buddhist faith is linked with Taoism and the practical teaching of Confucianism.

-Islam

The Malays in Singapore are Muslims. Some of the Indians in Singapore are Indian Muslims and there are a minority of Chinese who believes in the Islam faith.

Islam has a fundamental influence in the lives of those who follow the Prophet of Allah, Muhammad. The religion is required to pray five times a day, they are only allowed to eat "halal" food, fasting during Ramadan. Halal food means food that has been specially prepared as according to the religion's regulated allowance of food requirements.

-Hinduism

As the Indian immigrants resettle to Singapore, they brought with them Hinduism. The early temples are still the central points of rituals and festivals which are held every moment of the year.

-Christianity

One will be able to find Christian churches of all denomination in Singapore. After the arrival of Sir Stamford Raffles and the British, they brought Christianity into the daily lives of the small local fishing village.

Buddhism, Islam, and Hinduism, Christianity is considered one of the four main religions in Singapore today. Within this four religions, Christianity have the largest number of people.

Language In Singapore

The four official languages of Singapore are Mandarin, Malay, Tamil and English. Children of Singapore are taught in English as first language at school, English became the most common language in Singapore and it brings all the different ethnic groups together. Children were also taught their mother tongue and their culture so that they do not lose their traditional roots.

People from other countries may encounter language problems in the beginning of their stay in Singapore as many Singaporeans use “Singlish” to communicate. “Singlish” is a mix of English with other different languages, sometimes phrases can finished with weird terms such as 'lah', 'leh', 'mah'. Chinese often use their dialects to communicate. The Malays use the language among their fellow races and the Indians speak Tamil. No matter what the race or religion, Singaporeans are ought to unite as one nation, where most religious or racial gaps are being connected.

In the first twenty years of the twentieth century, English medium education became popular for every different race. There are more girls started schooling too. By the 1950s almost every children went to school, and large number of children were educated in English. By the 1980s, all education was in the medium of English.

Singapore English grew out of the English of the playground of these children of many linguistic backgrounds who were learning English at school. After many people learned English at school, almost everyone in Singapore starts to communicate in English. Since Singapore became an independent Republic in 1965, the use of English has increased even more. For many Singaporeans, English is the main language. Many families speak English at home and it is one of the first languages learnt by about half of the current pre-school children.

Almost everyone in Singapore speaks more than one language, there are quite a number of people speaking three or more languages. Most children grew up bilingual families when they are young and learnt more languages as they grow up. Naturally the presence of other languages has influenced the English of Singapore. The influence is especially conspicuous in the kind of English that is used informally, which is popularly called Singlish. Singlish makes Singaporeans having the common identity.

Singlish

Singapore English usually come from other languages spoken in Singapore. Speakers of Singlish are not needed to be aware of which language they are from however.

Example of Singlish:

liao - finished, the end

ang mo - a Caucasian

cheem - difficult, complicated

kiasu - afraid to lose mentality

Speakers of Singlish will often end his sentence with a typical exclamation. The three most common are ah, lah, ley and what.

Examples of Singlish phrase:

Don't like that lah.

You are going there ah?

No parking lots here, what.

It is very troublesome ley.

My Reflections:

In my own opinion, I think that it is important to have different races in Sinagpore as it grew from a small fishing village with immigrants settling down from all over the world. Without the different people from different races and different parts of the world, Singapore will never be the same we live in today.

One can also get to understand more about the cultures of other races. it is quite difficult for different races to live together harmoniously in one country due to many difference in everyone's way of living, but Singapore is able to make all the four main races, Chinese, Malay, Indians, Eurasians, to live together in one country harmoniously.

Having different kind of races, we can also taste different food from different cultures. It is very boring to just taste one kind of food. It is good to have many variety of food to choose. Honestly, when it comes to eating in Singapore, it can be quite a headache as there are too many choices in Singapore and all of them are delicious. Most Singaporeans are also bilingual, not every citizen in every country can speak two languages.

Having the knowledge of two languages can be very useful when communicating with other countries such as Malaysia, China, etc. I think that Singlish is quite an important language in Singapore as it gives Singaporeans a common identity. When we start speaking with other people, people will know that we are Singaporeans as people from other countries do not have the skill of speaking Singlish. It is quite an unique skill to acquire. I think everyone in Singapore is proud to be a Singaporean.

- Credit to ---www.singaporeexpats.com/about-singapore/culture-and-language.htm

http://images.google.com.sg/images?um=1&hl=en&q=singapore+races&btnG=Search+Images

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