Issues of minority Malay are Singapore's issues
Issues of minority Malay are Singapore's issues
By Asad Latif
SINGAPORE: If there is one face that symbolizes the Malay
Singaporean, it is the face of a boy I saw some years ago. He was
returning home from his weekly religious lessons. Pasted on the
front of his white cap was a miniature flag of Singapore.
I saw him around National Day, but the point he made held true
for the rest of the year as well, and continues to do so.
I remembered him during the recent re-surfacing of sensitive
issues such as perceptions of Muslim women wearing Islamic
headscarves and Malay loyalty in the armed forces.
The flag pasted on his cap proclaimed that, far from religious
and national identities being contradictory, they can reinforce
each other. The boy symbolized an ideal which is reassuring to
anyone who believes in the reality of multi-racial and multi-
religious Singapore, as I certainly do.
However, as the recent controversy revealed, how each identity
fits into the other is an evolving exercise. The challenge for a
community, particularly a minority, is to seek solutions to its
problems without giving others reason to believe that it is
trying to carve out greater religious space within the nation.
This responsibility falls on not only Malays, but other
religious and racial groups as well. However, I shall restrict
myself to Muslims because this piece is about them.
Whether the issue is the tudong (headscarf) or Malays in the
armed forces, madrasahs (Islamic schools) or Malays' economic
position in Singapore, the crucial point is that the quest for a
resolution must take a national and not a communal form.
For example, the prospects of Muslim children who attend
madrasahs are a matter of national interest because they are
citizens. The state not only enjoys the right but also owes the
duty to protect their future.
Therefore, a resolution of the issue cannot be a purely Muslim
affair but must reflect the economic and social imperatives which
determine the purpose and the form of Singapore's national
education system.
Or consider Muslims' economic position. Is it a communal or a
class issue? If communal, then the resolution will occur along
communal lines, wherever it may lead. But if the issue is one of
class, then the resolution will reflect the shared experiences of
fellow-citizens belonging to other communities.
I am not suggesting that the condition of Singapore's working
class -- be it Malay, Indian or Chinese -- calls for a
revolutionary solution. I use the word "class" merely because of
its precision as an economic and social indicator.
By the same yardstick, the presence of Malays, along with the
other communities, in Singapore's substantial middle class is a
matter of national and not only Malay pride.
Permit me to reiterate this: Religion does not detract from a
person's national loyalties.
However, there is a good reason for thinking in categories
other than the religious one when it comes to issues which go to
the heart of national life.
The reason is that thinking "nationally" is an inclusive
exercise -- it highlights what different communities possess in
common -- whereas thinking along communal lines must, at a
certain point, exclude those who do not belong to the community
in question.
This principle holds true for both the majority and the
minorities, but it is especially important for the latter
because, whereas the strength of numbers ensures that the
majority will prevail, the minorities need the majority's support
to prevail. They can hope for that support by thinking
inclusively.
Such thinking has real advantages in Singapore, whose multi-
racial and multi-religious model does not rest on giving
different races different positions in society, on empowering one
community in one way and allowing others to develop themselves in
other ways.
Multi-racialism here consists of communities holding rights in
common. Meritocracy determines how these rights are translated
into actual results in the educational and economic sphere.
Consider meritocracy in education, where the races perform
differently. But is race the issue? Meritocracy is not perfect --
not because it is biased but, paradoxically, because it is
unbiased.
Meritocracy, by its very nature, finds it difficult to
distinguish between the child of a blue-collar worker and the
child of a doctor.
The issue is one of class, not religion or race. Thus, instead
of thinking of the Malay (or Indian or Chinese) child who is not
doing well in his studies, why not think of a child whose father
has neither the education nor the time to give his child that
extra push in school or junior college?
How can we, as a nation, stand in for that father?
Indeed, it is as a nation that we must address the issue.
After all, there is nothing intrinsically racial in academic
under-achievement (or in good performance).
The problem is the distance between the immense educational
opportunities available Singapore, and the ability to use them,
an ability that in turn reflects how society empowers its weakest
members.
The issue is not religious or racial but national.
In that context, I do hope that the self-help groups come
closer and broaden their areas of overlap so that every
Singaporean is empowered to achieve the most for himself and the
country. Thinking along communal lines will, by contrast, shrink
common opportunities.
Let the little boys who wear the Singapore flag on their caps
always hold their heads up high.
They will.
--The Straits Times / Asia News Network