Now the point in motion here is what are our nationalistic pride and value systems? Nasi Ayam? Chicken rice or Fried Rice paradise? Or is it a 4 way language system? Nationalism prides on more of any majority in a country and we are just the same as being marginalized in everyway. Racialised because we are of a different tone or color from the majority. This is inherent in our system. We have a social disease of racisim embedded in us from the time we are born here in Singapore.

I feel that Singapore being what it is today shall never change, because from time immemorial, this was and always has been a re occuring problem, “race”. Experts have never till now understood what it really means. We are all still made of the same body parts and the color of all of blood, remain the same. But the indifference is something exterior and mind boggling to comprehend.

I am driving at the employment opportunities one gets as a minority, in Singapore. It sometimes shows what local companies want- “mandarin Speaking candidates”, or lack of representation of minorities in Government because we are equal?

Well , seriously Singapore is where is was born, but feeling second class here has already become a norm..

You’re definitely right about David C – I think the Conservatives will definitely take over next…unless of course Labour pulls a magic trick and manage to hold on. I do think that when that happens the dynamics in the UK will change specifically on the issue of devolution as we’ll have a situation where the parties in power at the Assembly will be different than those in Westiminster.

I have to admit that I have a vested interest in this issue as I’m part of a committee set up by the Welsh Assembly Government tasked with preparing a report on the issue of primary-law making powers for Wales.

I’ve been lucky to be given a chance to travel to various places across Wales to talk to the people here about how they feel about a change in governing style.

Just out of curiosity, do you think the Union will live on or do you think countries such as Scotland will start demanding independance causing the break-up of the UK?

On your point about not talking to our neighbours, though, it is really up to us, isn’t it? If we ourselves don’t make the effort to talk to our neighbours, then we can’t really bemoan the fact that other Singaporeans don’t either.

And I’m not trying to be all high-and-mighty or whatever. I’m equally guilty of that seeing as I don’t really talk to my neighbours much either. So maybe we should both start?

Is it not true we mostly don’t even talk to our neighbours? Some of us may pride ourselves of having Malay friends but we hardly speak to our Malay neighbours. Is it a surprise why the Kampong Spirit in Singapore is dead?

I also wanted to add…if you thought the race-monitoring forms in Singapore are a hassle….you should see the options I’m faced with over here

I kept ticking the Asian box because I assumed being from Asia that made me Asian – until my husband pointed out that Asian in UK means those from the indian-sub-continets…

So now if they have a completely seperate Others box I tick that and write in Malay….or when that’s not available I tick the Chinese Category – but under Other Chinese….

you should see the looks I’ve gotten because I do look more Indian than Chinese LOL!

I’ve since stopped doing that, though I do still long for that day when we no longer ask people for their race or are even mindful of it. Unfortunately, I doubt I’ll get to see it in my lifetime.

Having said that, though, I do believe that we’re more fortunate than quite a number of other countries in terms of racism. Sure, racial differences still exist and are in fact very deeply rooted in our culture and society. But I think where we’re not so bad is that even while many people might practise racism to varying degrees in their personal lives in reality, most people are very conscious that they SHOULD NOT be racist.

For that, I think that a great deal of credit must go to the schools, which, as microcosms of society, yet with teachers who constantly drum into the students’ heads that they should not discriminate against others based on their race, have allowed most members of Singapore society to be exposed to a semi-working, halfway-decent, tolerant/harmonious multi-racial environment.

Indeed, I believe that for many young adults today, how things were like back when we were in school serves as some sort of a model of how we should treat other races in our adult interactions now.

Do we have a long way to go still? Of course we do. And so do all other countries, I believe. But are we on the path towards getting there? I think more or less we are. And that, I feel, is the important thing.