Pencil Shavings

Monday, November 01, 2004

red and yellow, black and white

My colleagues are so unbelievably racist.

Once, my manager made the comment that Indians (she used a different term here) always liked obiang (loud cheese ugly) colours because she wasn't happy with certain instructions about colour from the Indian boss. Thought that was a little below the belt, so I flat-out told them what I thought about that comment. Over lunch today, my other colleague talked about Geylang being full of "black black" people, She once told me not to take a certain bus because it was crowded with the above-mentioned people, and therefore very "smelly". !!! What's up??

What's up with fair people thinking that it is their right to hate those who are dark skinned? All over the world! For a long while, I thought that racism was a problem with the older generation here in Singapore and that it would eventually die out with them. I guess not, since my colleagues have apparently taken up the cause.

Really, the term "multi-racial" is such a facade. How can we be "multi-racial" when we are more than three-quarters Chinese? It is a political maneouver at creating the idea of equality, primarily because we are surrounded by Muslim countries.

On a more flippant note, I could marry an Indian. I think they are rather sexy actually. :)

8 comments:

colinrt said...

Ah, the thinly painted facades that come off as we scratch the surface...

the Chinese are famously racist... because they - for centuries - thought that the universe revolved around them... hence, the name zong1 guo2... or middle kingdom... everybody else is a devil, angmoh gui, giling gui, etc...
and haven't we all been indoctrinated from a very young age to marry only chinese and nothing else?... sigh... the cycle of prejudice cannot be broken seemingly... not even when it's state-instituted...

and btw, multi-racialism is a doctrine of convenience... not just because we're surrounded by muslim nations, but more because the political leadership feared that any rift would tear the fledgling nation apart... and when the dominant majority realised they had consolidated sufficient power, they did away with it... i think it was in the late 80s when they told each race to fall back on their own kind, and created CDAC for the Chinese, Sinda for the Indians and Medaki for the Malays... I think it was only during the Sars outbreak that there was a U-turn made on being multi-racial again...

so, I'm not surprised at those attitudes you describe... I saw it in action at the MRT when the security officers checked only ethnic Malays... what about the Chinese and Indian muslims? aren't they also potential threats? the thing is: How can you tell them apart?...

and finally, yes, i agree - Indians are sexy... I went out with and Indian girl for awhile when I was in JC... sadly, her parents had other plans... :'(

mis_nomer said...

poor thing... i hope she is happy.

colinrt said...

I dunno... never heard from her after that... last thing I heard from some mutual friends is that she got shipped off to Bombay to marry some guy her Dad found for her... this was right after college... guess he didn't want to take any chances...


btw... do you mind if i made you part of the novel? I'm styling the entire thing like a blog... made a variation to your online persona... if you don't like it, i'll take it off... basically, you're a supportive friend to this girl called Shell who has just fallen in love...

mis_nomer said...

Re ex-girlfriend - that's really scary. It must have been tough on you too.

Re Novel - Sure thing, my online persona would be happy to be an imaginary supportive friend anytime. :)

colinrt said...

hey, thanks... check the imaginary blog out and tell me what you think...


http://journeys2nowhere.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

LOL. Yep, racists still exsist. Everywhere. What we the minority do is turn the other cheek sometimes, or just practise the eye for an eye ritual thing. LOL. Even my neighbours are racists. The old man who lives there told my mother once that "India is a dirty country, why you go there?" and also, talks about us in Chinese, thinking we don't understand...I might not, but a good majority of my family do...LOL.
Oh, and btw, I'm Indian, so I will thank you for a lovely compliment and say tara now:)
~Siren

Anonymous said...

LOL. Yep, racists still exsist. Everywhere. What we the minority do is turn the other cheek sometimes, or just practise the eye for an eye ritual thing. LOL. Even my neighbours are racists. The old man who lives there told my mother once that "India is a dirty country, why you go there?" and also, talks about us in Chinese, thinking we don't understand...I might not, but a good majority of my family do...LOL.
Oh, and btw, I'm Indian, so I will thank you for a lovely compliment and say tara now:)
~Siren

Anonymous said...

LOL. Yep, racists still exsist. Everywhere. What we the minority do is turn the other cheek sometimes, or just practise the eye for an eye ritual thing. LOL. Even my neighbours are racists. The old man who lives there told my mother once that "India is a dirty country, why you go there?" and also, talks about us in Chinese, thinking we don't understand...I might not, but a good majority of my family do...LOL.
Oh, and btw, I'm Indian, so I will thank you for a lovely compliment and say tara now:)
~Siren