If we ask the right questions, we ought to get the right answer, at least eventually. Even in our inquiry for truth, it is still a journey for life.
I felt that Minister Lawrence Wong (“Lawrence”) pushed the right buttons when it comes to race issue in Singapore. He said that we should be “upfront and honest about the racialised experiences various groups feel, and deal squarely with them.”
What sharpens the saw for me is when he cautioned: “But we should not insist on maximum entitlements and rights for our respective groups, construe every compromise as an injustice that needs to be condemned or put the worst interpretation on every perceived slight or insensitivity.”
If a metaphor helps, it is about holding a mirror at ourselves, looking at who we are, as a person, in particular, our race, our culture, and our values, and as a person in a larger context of the multicultural and multiracial society we live in.
The overarching question to bridge the two - that is, one about ourselves and one about ourselves and others - is, what kind of society do we envision? More importantly, we have to ask, what are we prepared to give up for unity, for growth and for maturity as an individual in a community, and as a citizen in a nation?
Is it a mindset change? That is, letting go of our prejudices? Re-examining our values? Is our pride and self-grandiose standing in the way? Do we pigeonhole other races just because we have a fixed mindset about them? Do we leverage on our majority numbers or higher status to oppress other races? Do we think that where we are is the pure product of skill and talent, and not a mix of luck, the right circumstances and receiving timely help from others?
Mind you, the door swings both ways too. For the minority, do we associate the actions of one or two as the mentality of the whole? Do we find security in numbers by playing the victim card? Do we give others the benefit of a doubt when they cross the line? Do we mindlessly indulge in our hatred instead of keeping an open mind to understand and readily overlook or forgive?
We all should bear in mind that whoever fights monsters should see to it that, in the process, he doesn’t become one himself - Nietzsche.
Lawrence recounted another metaphor here. It is given by the theatre doyen Kuo Pao Kun. He likened culture to trees. “This is what we are constantly striving to do. Go deeper to strengthen our cultural roots, and at the same time, reach higher to cross-pollinate with other cultures, and thus develop a strong shared Singaporean identity.”
That is the two sides of the same coin of getting along well together, sharing the same Singapore destiny.
For we do not lose ourselves as individuals in our own race and culture, yet, knowing who we are, firmly rooted, we reach out to one another, who themselves are firmly rooted, and such “cross pollination” enriches not just our own identity, but it creates a resilient and bonded diversity very much like what a marriage does when the two come together to make a family.
Of course, they are different levels of intimacy/connection between marriage and community, but we should never underestimate the power of diversity to create a society that is united against a common foe that draws its strength and blood from racism, favouritism and tribalism.
More relevantly, we should never underestimate the effect of how taking our hard-fought multiracial/multicultural society for granted may lead to a widening gap so toxic and self-perpetuating that it brings down the whole society, or condemns it to a perpetual heightened state of distrust, suspicion and hatred. For an open wound that you keep scratching will bleed, and never heal.
In the end, we owe it to ourselves as an individual, and as one in society, to ask, what does E Pluribus Unum really mean, that is, “out of many, one”?
What is that “one” we are all fighting for? Are we even trying? Or, have we given up?
Well, the intended meaning is unity, but that destination is easy to conceive or utter. It is still a journey to be taken, and a price to be collectively paid.
The question is, out of how many, do we become one? In other words, do we leave behind one to become the many against that one? And, how many of that one remains as one, and for how long?
Lawrence did mention that we ought “to treat others in the way you would like to be treated, and by your actions, teach your children to do the same.” That is the safe thing to do. I can’t fault that. That’s the golden rule.
But, I believe every golden rule has to come from golden roots. And they are the roots that sink deep into good governance soil, intertwining with other roots, together forming a unity that cannot be taken apart.
And once that foundation is strong, its branches and leaves as a whole can weather any storm. And whatever human nature throws at it, this garden city of diversity will hold on together, because as Kuo Pao Kun puts it, it has developed a stronger shared Singaporean identity.
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