Singapore as we all know is a multi-cultural society. Thus, to be able to live in harmony with each other, we have little choice but to make the effort to understand each other's cultures. This can help prevent unnecessary conflicts or arguments.
There was this incident that I recall from my secondary school. The characters involved were Nizam and my Geography teacher Mrs Fong. I have withheld their real names in this story. Nizam is a Malay and Mrs Fong a Chinese. The setting of the incident will be the classroom during a lesson.
Mrs Fong was conducting a lesson and she called for Nizam to stand up to answer a question. Nizam gave a nonsensical answer and antagonized Mrs Fong. Mrs Fong subsequently got very angry and called Nizam a “babi”, meaning pig in Malay. She was glaring at Nizam and looked as if she would kill him there and then. What fuelled the situation was probably the fact that Nizam had been a very poor student and had not been making any effort. She often asked Nizam to answer questions in a bid to make him participate in the lesson more. Nizam had to remain standing throughout the rest of the one hour lesson and he displayed a look of immense displeasure.
The next day, both Mrs Fong and Nizam were called to the principal's office. I found out later that Nizam’s parents had complained about Mrs Fong’s word usage and insensitivity. In the Malay culture, they are not allowed to eat pork, by calling them a pig it is rather insulting to the Malays and considered taboo. Mrs Fong acknowledged her oversight and apologized to Nizam and his parents. Nizam also admitted to his disobedience in class, apologized in return and fortunately this led to a closure of the matter.
My feeling at the time of the incident was that Mrs Fong certainly did not mean to insult Nizam. She was blowing her top and probably could not think logically. I felt that calling someone a pig is rather mild and she probably used the word babi seeing that Nizam was a Malay. I am pretty sure Mrs Fong did not consider any cultural issues when she scolded Nizam.
Nizam, on the other hand, probably interpreted that Mrs Fong was insulting his culture and took it personally. That led to him complaining to his parents about the incident. He was already unhappy to be called up and he was scolded next, this could have led to him to think he was being singled out intentionally by Mrs Fong.
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Hi Ken Jie,
ReplyDeleteAs a Chinese, i understand what you meant by saying that Mrs. Fong was likely to be just very angry. Even for myself, I like to say things like "lazy pig" or "stupid pig" when im angry. It's just like a statement that comes off my mouth without thinking. The fact that she even translated the word to Malay, could mean that she really wanted Nirzam to get the message. Nirzam and his parents might have taken it that Mrs. Fong was serious in what she said. Mrs. Fong probably did not feel that sprouting a taboo word like that would bring such adverse effects on others. Not knowing the consequences can be one reason why people are doing the wrong things when they know they are wrong. The moral of the story i gain from your story! :)
You are right in identifying the need to be harmonious in this multi-racial society. I have heard about how the blacks and whites in America lived in their own respective neighbourhoods to avoid conflicts, but in Singapore, people are more or less dependent on each other for work and pleasure. We may be accepting other cultures but some nitty gritty behaviours can spark misunderstanding about cultural intolerance.
Great that you enlightened us to be more sensitive when facing people of a difficult culture. I would not want to land myself in a situation like that of Mrs. Fong.
Hi Ken Jie,
ReplyDeleteIn your post, your sentences are simple to follow and the story you are relating is detailed/complete and coherent. Personally, I can relate to your story as it brings back memories from my younger days when "babi" was a term commonly uttered in a teasing manner (at least I hope that there was no malice involved!).
I think your second paragraph is problematic however as it reads like a report. For example, "The characters involved were..." and "The setting of the incident was..." are too explicit. By rewording your sentences properly, the readers can tell that you are describing the characters and the setting even if you don't explicitly state it. This will help to shorten your post and make it even more concise.
Another thing I would suggest is to combine the sentence "There was this incident that I recall from my secondary school." with the sentence "The setting of the incident will be the classroom during a lesson." since they both describe the setting. One way you could combine the sentences and implicitly describe the setting would be using a sentence like "There was this incident that occurred during a lesson when I was in secondary school."
Hi Ken Jie,
ReplyDeleteI have to say that this story while horrifying, struck a chord as I used to always find myself in Nizam’s shoes, antagonizing teachers with my nonsense in class. :x
In your story, I found Mrs Fong’s behaviour to be extremely ignorant, and this was surprising as the characters were (I guess) Singaporeans. In fact, calling a student a “pig” in whatever language, no matter how angry he or she might be, seems rather inappropriate for a teacher. But that aside, your story does effectively portray the need to be culturally sensitive towards one another, especially in a multiracial setting such as Singapore.
I also felt that you developed your story very well, by first introducing the Singapore society, the characters and setting before you started on the incident. This, together with a very well described story made it a pleasure to read. :)
Probably a thing that I would change is the sentence “Nizam is a Malay and Mrs Fong a Chinese.” “A Malay” and “a Chinese” sounds kind of funny, and I think that saying “Nizam is Malay and Mrs Fong is Chinese” would have been more correct.
Also, in “I felt that calling someone a pig is rather mild and she probably used the word babi seeing that Nizam was a Malay”, perhaps it would be better if you had stuck to the past tense, and used “was” instead of “is”. The sentence that followed this was also in the present tense. Since it was what you felt at the time of the incident, using the past tense might have been more apt.
Other than those, thank you for a very explicitly explained story complete with a thorough analysis from your personal point of view!
Hi kenJie!
ReplyDeleteOverall, I thought you have developed your story very well! Your story is simple, easy to follow and relevant in today’s context! However, I have a few suggestions on your sentence structures.
3rd parag: “Nizam had been a very poor student”. “Nizam had been a less academically inclined student.” The word ‘poor’ could mean not rich and the word is a very layman term in describing someone who is not academically inclined.
Last parag: “That led to him complaining to his parents about the incident” “That led him complaining to his parents…” Also, “this could have led to him to think he was being singled out intentionally by Mrs Fong” “This could have led him thinking that he was being….”
In my personal opinion, if I were Nizam, I would be extremely offended! Next time, when I actually take up a teaching role, I will always be mindful about such insult to other students’ religious cultures. It is not a very nice thing to do. I am sure that from that incident onwards, there will always be awkwardness between Nizam and the teacher. Hence this entire issue is very much
uncalled for! The teacher did not display appropriate EQ skills by saying such things and not be able to self regulate her emotions. It’s a pity…
I am not sure whether Mrs. Fong said the word on purpose or out of anger, but it seems very basic for a Singaporean to understand that “babi” is almost vulgar to Malays. But then, there are just too many cultural taboos to remember in our multi-ethnic and multi-religious society that sometimes things might just slip off the mind.
ReplyDeleteIn any case, the norm expected of a teacher is to be patient and be a role model in front of students. Maybe Mrs. Fong was so anxious in helping Nizam that emotions got the better of her. Hope Nizam could understand that Mrs. Fong meant well and was not purposely picking on him during class.
Overall, thank you for sharing this story which I can easily relate to as a Singaporean.
I have to admit I was shocked by the fact that your teacher used such a pejorative to refer to the student. She must have known that "babi" is taboo for Moslems. Isn't that common knowledge in Singapore?
ReplyDeleteIn that context, she would seem to have been intentionally belittling the guy with a term that she knew would hit very hard and deep due to being a religious/cultural taboo. I don't quite understand why in your analysis you would be so quick to say that "I am pretty sure Mrs Fong did not consider any cultural issues when she scolded Nizam." What makes you so sure?
In any case, this is a clear description, Ken Jie. I appreciate your evaluation, but it does seem that you are giving the teach a lot of "face." What do you think?