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.
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
2 comments:
not bad,well done
nice pics and good reflection and such
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