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Lost identity. Part 1
Bitched on: Saturday, January 31, 2009
Time: 1/31/2009 11:55:00 PM
I am frustrated. Time: 1/31/2009 11:55:00 PM
Yesterday I tagged along with this particular someone to this excursion around Kampung Gelam. It was interesting how I felt like a tourist even though it was the second time I went for that particular excursion and it was like my millionth time in that area. Guess all that traveling I did last year made me crave for that experience again - snapping pictures, admiring the architecture and 'feel', exploring the history, culture and such, you know... going all tourist-y.
So after that interesting walkabout, we had lunch with our tutor and a couple of other heritage enthusiasts and we began talking about (how do I put this all in a word?)... generally about 'us', the concept of Asian-ness, not the race per se, but about everything, about our identity. How there is no clear definition, how the idea of race is more intangible than tangible as we chose to believe. It is overwhelmingly mind-bending to delve into that concept of identity. And how ignorant we can get, and not forgetting complacent too about where we came from, how we came about, and eventually what we actually are.
Are we really what we are according to what is written on our identification cards?
Why have we allowed ourselves to be governed into being categorised strictly under Indian, Chinese, Malay or others (don't even get me started on that concept of 'others'). Some might argue that the idea of identifying racial groups are redundant to begin with and on the other end others would argue that we need this racial profiling because it gives us the identity. But to the latter, have you ever wondered that if you really need to be 'bestowed' this individual racial awareness and 'identity', why are the categories not further elaborated into sub-categories?
What makes an Indian man Indian? Is it because of the fact that his ancestors were from India? If that is so, would that make south Indians and north Indians the same? It is known for a fact that genetically the north Indians are much more similar to the Europeans than those in the south. So why would a Singh and a Tamil be classified the same - an Indian? I began to ponder on this after I saw on the bus a beautifully sari-dressed Sikh girl with jasmine flowers in her hair; she was presumably on her way back from the Chingay parade and she probably participated in the 'Indian' dance section of the the parade. Do you see where I'm getting at?
This is the thing about Singapore, how easily we allow ourselves to be instituted into 'our' conventional culture, race and religion; how clear the lines are drawn for us. Even in religion it is never clear, Taoism and Buddhism are always a mishmash for some Chinese here. Yet for indentity sake, they are forced to 'pick a side'.
The homogenized Chinese culture and the liquidation of dialect identity in Singapore are much credited to the government's 'Speak Mandarin' campaign decades ago. Though initial intentions were notable, basically to create a sense of unity and common communication medium amongst the Chinese here, it has since brought an undesirable lost of identity (especially for the youth). Any local youngster here can speak in their own dialect - be it Hokkien, Hakka or Cantonese (vulgarities do not count)? Few, maybe even none.
It is disheartening to know that a vast majority of the Chinese here have unwittingly embraced the delusion of their identity as that of Han-Chinese when the majority of them are in fact south Chinese. Which again, genetically the Chinese scattered across China from Tibet to Taipei, Inner Mongolia to Hainan, are as diverse as it can be.
Even the traditions of Chinese New Year celebrations across the regions in China are as diverse. I am very surprised that a vast majority of local Chinese here thinks that the staple new year's dish, yusheng (or lo hei) and the whole ritual of tossing the ingredients is a very 'China-Chinese' thing-to-do, when actual fact, most mainland Chinese have no clue what it is about. Started from humble beginnings in colonial Malaya, the modern version of yusheng was invented by a shrewd restaurant owner in Singapore back in the 1960s!
Continued to Part 2
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