Tag: religion

Zulfikar Shariff: PAP Perpetuating Racism In Singapore

Inevitably, the discussion about PAP’s racist policies bring in those who defend these policies.

But what I noticed is that the divide is not between the different races.

These policies that discriminated against the Malays were not implemented by Chinese or Indians or Eurasians or any other race or nationality in Singapura.

It was created and implemented by the PAP.

Those who came to defend and seek to perpetuate this racism….appears to be mainly if not solely..

PAP members or supporters.

The Malays, Indians, Chinese, Jews, Armenians etc do not really have much of an issue with each other.

The racists who defend these policies do so because it implicates their party.

We can see how the different nations in Singapura, when left to their own, will support each other.

As can be seen during the Tradegy Natra (Maria Hertogh) in 1950, Chinese in Singapura, supported the Malays.

And they persuaded the British to help the Malay community.

According to Assoc Prof Khairudin:

“The largest Chinese daily newspaper, the Nanyang Siang Pao, urged the British to ‘think thrice’ before making a legal decision in the upcoming appeal trial. The move to restore Maria Hertogh to her foster mother and husband would be of no great loss to Britain’s diplomatic ally; the Dutch.

On the other hand, the Malays were an important and integral part of the British Empire. The British should therefore ensure the repatriation of Maria Hertogh back to Singapore to avoid the violation of the religious rights of the Muslims, which could potentially lead to further bloodshed and violence.

The Kuomintang newspaper, Sin Chew Jit Poh, called upon the British, the Dutch and the Muslims to allow Maria Hertogh to decide for herself whether she wished to reside in the Netherlands or Malaya.

The paper stressed that Dutch diplomatic relations with other Muslim countries, such as Indonesia and Pakistan, would most certainly be jeopardized if custody of Maria Hertogh were to be awarded to her natural parents.

Another observer who identified himself as a ‘Straits Chinese’ expressed his regrets that the ‘very good name of the Singapore Malays and Muslims, who are regarded as a most law-abiding community in the colony has been besmirched (Straits Times, 17 December 1950).”

If any such events are ever to happen again, I have no doubt the ordinary Chinese, Indian, Eurasian etc in Singapura will once again defend the Malays.

And I have no doubt…the PAP Internet Brigade will lead the charge against the Malays.

Reference:

Aljunied, Khairudin. Heng, “Beyond the Rhetoric of Communalism:
Violence and the Process of Reconciliation in 1950s Singapore” Derek Thiam Soon, and Syed Muhd Khairudin Aljunied, eds. Reframing Singapore: Memory, Identity, Trans-regionalism. Vol. 6. Amsterdam University Press, 2009. p. 73

Source: Zulfikar Shariff

January 18, 2016
Teo Chee Hean: Fate Of Racial Harmony Lies With Singaporeans

Whether Singapore gives in to “exclusivity and sectarianism”, or builds on the decision of the nation’s forefathers to live together in racial and religious harmony, is in the hands of Singaporeans, said Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean today (Jan 17).

In a speech that came after the Jakarta attack and news of a foiled terror plot in Malaysia last week, Mr Teo, who is also Coordinating Minister for National Security, reminded his audience that it was not by chance that Singapore is the most religiously diverse country in the world, yet enjoys racial and religious harmony. The peace in Singapore, he said, is a result of the “deliberate choice that we made”.

“We could have chosen differently, we could have chosen to live separately, each community insisting on its own practices, wanting to carve as much exclusive space for itself as possible from the common space. This would have resulted in a very different Singapore. One marked by differences, rather than the broad common humanity that we all share,” said Mr Teo, who spoke at a fund raising dinner for the upcoming Church of the Transfiguration.

But Singapore’s pioneers had lived through racial and religious strife, and did not want to see it happen again. Instead, various communities and leaders committed to work together to strengthen social harmony.

“Each community did not insist on the primacy of its race, language or practices. Instead, each of our communities is prepared to practise its own culture and religion in the context of a multi-racial, multi-religious society, making adaptations to accommodate others where necessary,” said Mr Teo.

Singapore has also been careful about teachings and practices from overseas, especially those that are disrespectful to other religions, or encourage communities to live apart from each other. “And even as we allow each community its own space, we have continually deepened the trust between communities, and expanded our common space where all communities can come together as Singaporeans. These are the precious lessons and experience from our 50 years of independence,” said Mr Teo.

In the next 50 years, “it is up to us and our children to decide what kind of society we want to be”. “We can succumb to exclusivity and sectarianism and drift apart into separate communities This can be by the choices of leaders, or by the individual choices we make every day, whether to live in harmony, try and integrate with others or whether we choose to live separately. So we can make those choices ourselves…Or we can reinforce the choice that our forefathers made to live together, and continue to celebrate and strengthen our racial and religious harmony,” said Mr Teo.

Last Thursday, a gun and bomb attack in central Jakarta left eight dead and over 20 wounded, including four civilians. A day later, Malaysian authorities arrested a suspected militant arrested in a train station in Kuala Lumpur, who confessed to planning a suicide attack in the country.

In his speech, Mr Teo said all religious groups in Singapore reject extremism, radicalism and violence regardless of the source

“This is important because if an attack were to take place in Singapore, the actions of the perpetrators would be condemned by every religious group in Singapore. Rather than allowing an attack to strike fear and splinter our society, we must unite against any such attack, stand together as one people, and emerge stronger,” he said.

He also noted that religious institutions “play a very important role in our society.” For example, organisations such as the Catholic Church have worked “hand in hand” with the Government in nation building over the last 50 years. This includes areas such as character formation, education, health-care and charity, said Mr Teo.

Source: www.todayonline.com

January 18, 2016
Analysts: Critical For Diverse Views To Be Heard

The need to refresh the political system as Singapore’s circumstances change highlighted by President Tony Tan in his opening address to the 13th Parliament last night (Jan 15) caught some political observers’ eyes, as they suggested the Government could tap new approaches to better capture the full spectrum of diverse perspectives on the ground.

While they acknowledged the Government’s efforts to this end, in terms of dialogues and public consultations, the analysts said going beyond these existing initiatives would go towards Dr Tan’s call for Singapore to stay cohesive and move forward together.

Calling for views to be gathered from avenues beyond Government-endorsed dialogues, such as blogs, forums or civil society, former Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) Siew Kum Hong said: “There needs to be the recognition that disagreement, dissent and conflict are not necessarily unhealthy, as without those things, we are doomed to fail.”

“If you want to be fully inclusive, bring (these groups) in and engage them on their own terms.”

In the face of greater diversity of views in society, changing Singaporeans’ mindsets is also important, said former NMP Eugene Tan. Singaporeans also need to be open-minded when considering different perspectives and allowing robust debate could help drive this mindset change, he added.

“(Diverse views) reflect a society that is becoming more complex … The only way you can deal with it is for people to be able to engage in robust debate … and not treating the differences in values as existential challenges,” said the Singapore Management University law don.

Institute of Policy Studies’ deputy director Gillian Koh noted, however, that a government-society partnership is not without challenges since ideas being pushed for may be driven by personal interests.

“The argument should be done with integrity and for that purpose and not with some hidden agenda … We want shared governance, but this is the real danger of that shared governance going wrong,” she said.

The experts also cited a list of other possible tweaks when it comes to refreshing the political system, including expanding the Non-Constituency MP slate and changing the selection process for NMPs.

Smaller Group Representation Constituencies could also be instituted, they said.

On the five key aims set out by Dr Tan for Parliament’s new term, the political observers flagged the focus on renewing the economy as the most pressing concern to Singaporeans.

Not only will Singaporeans be keeping close tabs on how the Government rejuvenates the economy, Associate Professor Tan said they will look at how the authorities will help those who could emerge as “losers” with economic restructuring.

Dr Alan Chong from the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies also flagged the dark clouds over the economy now, citing the stock market turbulence in China and the US Federal Reserve raising interest rates.

The economy and urban infrastructure like transport are naturally closely-watched as they are tangible aspects that will affect daily lives, he added.

Assoc Prof Tan said security is also likely to be one of the Government’s top priorities, given the string of Islamic State terror attacks, including most recently in Jakarta two days ago.

“(The Government will) want to assure not just people living here but people who are invested in Singapore, people who might want to invest in Singapore,” he added.

Source: www.todayonline.com

January 16, 2016
Zulfikar Shariff: What Is A Melayu?

What is a Melayu? A common mistake is to view Malayness by ancestry.

I have discussed this issue several times. A Melayu is not based on genetics. It is a nation.

This nation is defined by language, culture and Islam.

In his book “Kerajaan”, Anthony Milner provided some characteristics of the Melayu. He argued that unlike some other nations, the Malays never belonged to a single empire.

The Malays did not “consider themselves members of a race which owed its origins to a single ancestor or homeland.” But as Raffles noted, the Melayu nation is “one people, speaking one language, though spread over so wide a space, and preserving their character and customs.”

For Milner, even though the Malays did not belong to one race or empire, there is unity to the nation “that permits us to talk of a ‘Malay world’”.

Zainal Abidin Ahmad (also known as Za’ba), in 1917, stated that, any person “may be considered to be of the one Malay bloodline in the Malay World as long as they originate from the Indo-Malay archipelago, profess Islam as their religion, and adopt the Malay language, worldview, temperament, and customs” (Chong).

Milner provided similar assessments. He provided 3 conditions for Malayness: Malay culture, language and Islam.

Insha Allah in the next post, I will elaborate on the three conditions that Milner wrote about.

But we can here understand the concept of “masuk Melayu”.

The Malays is a welcoming and hospitable nation. They welcome others into their society. The Chinese traders, Indian merchants, Arab businessmen. They are all accepted into our society and accorded respect and welcome as is known of the Malays.

And if they are Muslims, speak the Malay language and follow our customs, they are accepted as a Malay.

Very few, if any, society has such openness and acceptance.

References:
Chong, Jinn Winn. “” Mine, Yours or Ours?”: The Indonesia-Malaysia Disputes over Shared Cultural Heritage.” Sojourn: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia 27.1 (2012): 1-53.

Milner, Anthony Crothers. Kerajaan: Malay political culture on the eve of colonial rule. No. 40. University of Arizona Press, 1982.

Source: Zulfikar Shariff

January 8, 2016
Teo Chee Hean: Singapore’s Social Cohesion A Strong Defence Against Terror Attacks

The threat of terrorism has grown with the emergence of the Islamic State (ISIS) group and lone-wolfs who can be self-radicalised over the Internet, and no one country can guarantee that it will not fall prey to an attack. Should an attack ever take place in Singapore, the country’s reservoir of goodwill and trust among all communities will help the nation rally together to reject the premises and actions of the terrorists and to support the victims and rebuild, said Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean.

But trust must never be taken granted and is something Singapore has to work on constantly, added Mr Teo, who is Coordinating Minister for National Security, in an interview with Channel News Asia last week. Below is an excerpt from the interview, in which Mr Teo also touched on non-traditional security threats such as cyberattacks and transboundary haze, as well as four key issues Singapore faces in the medium term.

What sets Singapore apart from other countries in terms of countering radicalism and extremism?

I commend our Muslim community and its leadership for their commitment to promote and practise Islam in the context of our multi-racial, multi-religious society. In fact, all our communities and faiths understand, and are committed to, working together for multi-racial, multi-religious harmony. This requires mutual understanding and tolerance from all communities.

In contrast, in some European countries, Muslim communities continue to practise Islam in a way that is based on the countries that they came from, usually countries where Muslims are a majority.

The preachers … tend to preach and practise Islam in a way that is appropriate for their original countries, and not contextualised to the countries in which they have now settled and become citizens. This creates a possible dilemma for some Muslims who may not be quite sure how to place themselves in the context of the countries they now live in, and still be observant to their faith and their beliefs, based on practices from a different context.

We also have another situation in a number of Muslim-majority countries, where Islam has now become a major part of politics, and enters into the political competition. This provides an opportunity for those who are more radical to find a platform in this competition.

In Singapore, we are fortunate that the vast majority of Muslims in Singapore and the Muslim leadership are united with all Singaporeans to fight extremism, terrorism and violence, no matter what the source is.

What are some specific things we are doing to counter extremist ideology?

The Muslim community in Singapore has taken a number of very important proactive steps to counter extremist ideology, radicalism and violence. These measures were reviewed and enhanced since about two years ago with the emergence of ISIS.

First, the Friday messages and sermons in our mosques deliver messages of peace and social harmony, and call on Singaporeans to reject extremism, radicalism and violence. This is quite different from some countries where radical preachers preach quite the opposite, putting poison into the micro-ecosystem.

Second, our Muslim religious leaders have developed a counter-ideology to refute the tenets on which ISIS bases itself. This helps to inoculate individuals, especially the young, who might be uncertain or confused by the messages which emanate from ISIS, including over the Internet. Our religious leaders also use such counter-ideology to help bring those who have been radicalised back to the correct path.

Third, we found ways for Singaporeans to help the refugees in Syria and Iraq. It was not just the Muslim community, but also non-Muslim groups in Singapore, who wanted to contribute. This shows that we are united in a common humanity, and united in wanting to live in peace and harmony together in a multi-racial, multi-religious society in Singapore.

Are the social bonds between our races and religions robust enough to bounce back from an attack, and perhaps become a stronger society, should it happen?

Since independence, we have invested a lot to build up trust between communities, community leaders and individuals. But trust is a very fragile thing, which we must never take for granted. It is something which we have to work on all the time, every day.

The target of terrorists is actually our social cohesion. In Singapore, we have a better chance than most countries to withstand an attack, because we have a great reservoir of goodwill and trust among all communities in Singapore. This will help us to draw together in the event of an attack, rejecting the premises and actions of those who carried out the attack, and rallying together to support the victims and to rebuild.

Editor’s Note: This is an excerpt from an interview with DPM Teo Chee Hean.

Source: www.todayonline.com

December 28, 2015