All about making sense of the world

I finished reading "To Kill a Mockingbird".

All within a day. Cant put down the book till the end, and even then flipped to the first chapter and re-read the whole section again. I was practically buried in the book while at the same time snitching glances at the TV screen to check out the table tennis game whenever the crowd cheer, just to see who had the game points (I am sure that many othere people were also glued to the TV watching Singapore's hope on the shoulder of 3 ladies in BJ).

I guess there are just some themes that will never die out - the usual ones like love, courage..and now another one : prejudice.

I read in the papers today that there had been an article recently written by a Malay lady, who expressed the difficulty of being a Malay in this society. Although I didn't get to read that article, I was reading the feedback with interest. Another Malay lady replied that her Chinese neighbour was surprised when she told her that she wasn't a clerk, but instead a lecturer. If I had a thought bubble, it would have been "ROFL!!!". Wah...what a social boo boo...

I must admit, through the course of my work, there are just so many instances which reinforce stereotypes, which had made me guilty of exclaiming stereotypical comments. But then I dont extend them to persons in specific, ie, I dont assume that anybody is of that stereotype until I know the person better and suss him/her out after more interactions. I dont know whether that made me less guilty or otherwise, but I do try.

At a time when the government is exhorting the benefits of having more expatriates (I got watch national rally one you know..), while the average Singaporeans are grumbling about the fact they are losing their rice bowls and other "social ills" in general, I wonder if we are practising the double standards like how the plot of the story went.

We certainly need some foreign workers to clean our table/sweep our roads/clean our toilets etc etc etc..yet we complain that they are crowding up our little island. I recalled sometime back, somebody had the cheek to write to the forum that the foreign workers working on some precinct upgrading project shouldn't be resting or sleeping along the void decks during their lunch breaks as they made the place looked unpleasant. Hello??! I am sure the same person would be the first to call up his/her Town Council demanding to know why the foreign worker did not turn up that day to clear rubbish from his/her lift lobby which was cluttered with discarded items dumped there..no..why should he/she bring the bulky items to the rubbish collection house since he/she paid the conservency fees to have these people do the work for him/her?

Of course, there'll definitely be downstream consequences of having these foreign workers, with their own customs,practises, circumstances having to add to our big melting pot, and may had made some unpalatable tastings. But at least, I know in the eyes of the law, they stand on equal footing unlike how it was 50 years back. It's the eyes of the common people that I cant be sure about. How many times have I heard stereotypes that are ascribed to Indians, Bangladeshis, PRC, Viets, Sri Lankans, Sarawakians, Thais......

Would us, as a nation of people who are proud of our achievements - first class airport, efficient govt, great education sytem.. - be one day more tolerant and colour blind? And to be truly the world class citizens which we strive to be?

By the way, I am happy that the Chinese-borned-but-Singaporeans-now players won the silver for us. It just showed that Singapore is capable of attracting the right talents and grooming them to meet up to titans. But looking at the TV screen telecasting live the medal presentation ceremony, I also wonder how they feel when they were standing on the podium listening to the Chinese anthem playing, looking at both nations' flag raising side by side. What was the anthem playing in their hearts? I am not sure that they know how to mouth the words to Majula Singapura if it was ever being played.

Prejudiced? I don't know. But I try to be otherwise.