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Tag: Nanyang

  • Former NYJC Student: I Was Some Of Schoolmates First Malay Friend

    Former NYJC Student: I Was Some Of Schoolmates First Malay Friend

    The school’s name, Nanyang, refers to the lands south of China, which were in the Chinese sphere of influence for centuries.

    And the members of Nanyang Junior College’s (NYJC) school management committee were all Chinese.

    But the Serangoon school’s Chinese roots did not deter Ms Nur Fazlina Arzami, now a 22-year-old sociology undergraduate at the National University of Singapore, from choosing to go there after she left Tanjong Katong Girls’ School (TKGS) in 2011.

    “After the O levels, my friends and I visited many open houses. When I went to NYJC, it had a very vibrant environment… There were even performances by Malay dancers, and I didn’t feel any ‘Chinese-ness’ when I went there.”

    She ended up listing the school as one of her top choices as she wanted to get out of her comfort zone.

    She said: “From the school name and the location alone, I knew that there would not be as many Malays in the school compared with TKGS. But instead of going to another JC where there would be many of my former schoolmates, I wanted to try making new friends.”

    During Ms Fazlina’s time at NYJC, many schoolmates told her that she was their first Malay friend.

    One reason for this, she later found out, was that many of them were from Special Assistance Plan (SAP) schools, including Chung Cheng High School (Main), which is affiliated to NYJC.

    There were fewer than 30 non-Chinese students in her cohort. But Ms Fazlina said that friendships developed naturally during interaction in class and co-curricular activities.

    She saw this as a chance for both sides to learn more about each other’s cultures.

    “My non-Muslim friends have become familiar with my routines, such as me praying regularly in the day. When we go out, I will have to take a break and they just wait for me – it’s become very comfortable.

    “Sometimes, they call me a ‘closet Chinese’, which is a bit problematic because it shows that we still have stereotypical views of what constitutes a Malay or a Chinese.”

    NYJC, which was under principal Kwek Hiok Chuang for more than a decade until he retired last year, had a very “open and welcoming” environment, recalled Ms Fazlina.

    But while the number of non-Chinese students has increased – ranging between 50 and 100 in the JC2 cohort of about 700 students – she thinks that it would be helpful if students from SAP schools had an earlier opportunity to mix with those of other races, instead of waiting till JC.

    She said: “(Given how) I’m the first Malay friend for many students, perhaps SAP schools should be open to applicants of other races, providing Malay or Tamil language classes even as they keep their Chinese heritage.

    “There’s a lot of benefit to be gained from interacting with people who are different from you.

    “The world is more globalised now, and you may have to go overseas and adapt to situations…

    “It will help develop you into someone who can talk to various people from different backgrounds.”

     

    Source: www.straitstimes.com

  • Alfian Sa’at: Why Criticise Use Of “Syonan”If We Can Accept Other Depictions Of Us?

    Alfian Sa’at: Why Criticise Use Of “Syonan”If We Can Accept Other Depictions Of Us?

    Syonan–light of the south. South of what? Japan, of course, and then we arrive at the idea of Singapore being a beacon of Japanese power in the dark, unknown southern frontiers. The Nipponcentricism is without a doubt offensive to those who live here, who counter that they are not the peripheral, the unmapped, a people who are not counted until they are encountered.

    But why be uneasy with ‘Syonan’ and have no discomfort with ‘Nanyang’ or ‘South Sea’? Also a reference to the south, this time the south of China? And all the islands, distinct in the cultures and peoples, homogenised into the ‘seas’. Syonan has a gallery. Nanyang has a university, a polytechnic, a junior college, an academy of fine arts, various other schools…

    No, how can you compare an act of military expansion with what was primarily waves of primarily economic migration? But to speak of ourselves as the south is to always imagine the centre as elsewhere, to see ourselves as vassals onto which power is projected.

    But Singapore, in the Nusantara world, is the centre. It lies on the axis of Sri Tri Buana’s journey from Palembang to Malacca. It is the teardrop down the cheek of the Peninsula, above the lip of Riau Islands. It is the pearl flanked by the great islands of Sumatra and Borneo. It is north of one of the mighty centres of the archipelago, Java.

    There is also a violence in colonial settlement, different from the violence of military occupation.

    There is that violence in the act of naming.

     

    Source: Alfian Sa’at