Social Integration in Singapore – Malay/Muslim Lady Shows How

Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew’s observations about the Malay/Muslims’ failure to integrate with the other ethnic groups in Singapore have created an uproar in the community.  The Association of Muslim Professionals was so incensed as to pen a lengthy letter to voice its grievances.

As a Singapore Chinese transsexual woman, I am no stranger to the heavy-handedness of the Chinese patriarchy in here.  From the day I decided to embrace my womanhood, I’ve had all all kinds of brickbats hurled at me.  Just as the Malay/Muslims are now being told that they cannot catch up with the other ethnic groups, I was told that I would end up as a prostitute at Changi Village because “all transsexuals are prostitutes”.  When I wanted to apply for a position as a broadcast journalist, I was told to apply for backroom work instead because Singapore was “not prepared” to see me read the news on television.  In short, we are told and made to feel every day that we are Singapore’s lowest caste.  How not to feel demoralised?  How not to be angry and rebellious?  How not to have strong opinions?  I may have mellowed and developed my ways around the system over the years, but I pity the young ones who have to grapple with the constraints of a misogynist, Confucian social structure, with St. Paul as the foreign expert consultant.

Thus I felt for the Malay/Muslim community when they were told that they would never be able to close the gap with the other ethnic groups in Singapore because there is no greater harm we can inflict on a fellow human being than to condemn him/her in perpetuity.

But one thing I’ve learnt over the past two decades of trying to keep my head above the water in Singapore, is that we’re not what other people say we are.  We are who we think we are. Ironically, it took a simple act of human kindness by a Malay/Muslim lady to remind me of this timeless truth.

I was waiting for Bus 89 at Pasir Ris bus-stop when a dazed, elderly man alighted from the bus with the help of the bus driver.  The man, apparently suffering from dementia, did not know where he was.  Apart from the bus driver, the only person who tried to help was a Malay/Muslim lady passenger who alighted  - it was not her stop – to try to make sense of what the elderly man was saying.  This lady probably does not have the smarts of the mainland Chinese student who pleaded with her mum to buy the limited edition copy of Mr Lee’s book for $10,000.  I would probably have to cater halal food for this lady if I were to invite her to a family function.  But guess whom I would prefer to have dinner with? Guess whom I feel I have less of a social gap with?

In our everyday interactions with our fellow Singaporeans, it is not the number of As we score or the food we can or cannot eat that breaks down social barriers – it’s the simple acts of kindness we do for each other.  These then, are the hard truths that we all have to face.

P.S. I would like to propose that Mr Lee take public transport without his usual entourage (with just one or two security officers in plain clothes), just to experience the simple kindness of Singaporeans, regardless of race, language or religion.

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