1st posting

Article from: http://www.todayonline.com/articles/274410.asp
Source: todayonline.com
Dated: 3rd September 2008

Article: When being tolerant means keeping quiet
Author: Alicia Wong

WHILE young people in Singapore are remarkably tolerant about religion, this is often based on ignorance and fear, a newly-published survey indicates.

The findings are set out in a study on the religious attitudes of 2,779 secondary school students. More than three-out-of-four of the students stressed that it was important to be tolerant of other religions. But they defined this as “not talking about it”, rather than respecting or understanding another person’s religion.

Associate Professor Phyllis Chew from the National Institute of Education, who headed the study — based on fieldwork carried out in 2004 — said: “I think they have not thought deeply about what is tolerance. They do know that religion is very sensitive in Singapore, so they don’t talk about it. If they want to find out about religion, most of them will do it through the Internet.”

There was also a lot of stereotyping, she said. For instance, students saw Buddhism as a peaceful religion while Christians were seen as always “collecting money”.

Assoc Prof Chew was speaking at a forum yesterday where academics gathered to share views on religious issues in Singapore.

Visiting fellow at the National University of Singapore (NUS), Dr Matthew Matthews, presented his findings on how Roman Catholic and Protestant clergy interacted with people of other faiths.

While efforts have been made to promote inter-religious dialogue, 30 per cent of clergymen were afraid such dialogue might compromise religious convictions, although most agreed that dialogue could help.

And when it comes to inter-religion collaboration, clergymen were divided on accepting donations from other religious bodies as it could put them in a position of obligation. Some clergy also found difficulty in collaborating with non-Christian religious leaders.

Dr Matthews suggested that inter-religious dialogue should focus on pragmatic issues where different religions have common concerns — such as gambling, or homosexuality.

On the impact of traditional Islamic discourses, Dr Noor Aisha Abdul Rahman from NUS said that while the Muslim community discussed issues such as gambling and organ donation, the discussions were often of an abstract theological nature. “They are reduced to the level of dos and don’ts,” she said.

In the past three decades there has been a focus on the problems of secularism and how contemporary society does not match up to past Islamic systems and laws, said Dr Noor Aisha, so while the discourse is non-political, it prevents real engagement with today’s society.

The forum was organised by the Institute of Policy Studies, whose book “Religious Diversity in Singapore” was published yesterday.





Evaluation: Are Singaporeans truly tolerant of other races?
Singapore often boasts of it's multi-racial society and it's tolerance of the many races that reside in the country. However, how much of that is true and is actually in fact that its people are more afraid of the things that could happen to them if they do not practice patience and tolerance of another race?

We may not admit it but we all have our own complains about another race. It is only human nature to feel so and gossip about another race. Situations, however, have risen to a whole new level with people being so politically correct so that they remain neutral under any circumstance. Either that, or they choose not to say a thing thinking that if they do not have anything nice to say, then it is better not to say it at all.


Critic: Above all, fear is the over-riding reason.
There have been many cases of strict action being taken to those who have shown blatant religious or racial insensitivity. One of the most popularized being that of the blog that was shut and the author being sued due to his comments about the malay society in Singapore. This is only one sensationalized case. There are several blogs out there that critise the many races in Singapore and many of these go unnoticed.

Most Singaporeans tend to keep mums about cases like these as they do not want to be involved in the amount of paperwork and other things that come along with complains such as the aforementioned. Also with blogs, the authors tend to be anonymous which adds as a bonus.

Even when the races are discussed face to face, Singaporeans tend to adopt a "what is said here, ends here" attitude to the whole situation so as not to create problems for themselves. Thus, it is true that Singaporeans view tolerance as keeping quiet but they are not faultless and they definitely do talk, be it good or bad, about the other races. As such, it is not a shock to find out that there are general misguided thoughts or stereotypes of every race.

Nevertheless, one does come across the occasional Singaporean who knows the basic foundations of a certain race and it brings hope to others that there is a good in living in a country with an abundance of racially and culturally diverse people.