Setting: In hawker centre at night
Main Characters: Indian uncle from the drink stall(DS) and the Chinese uncle from Bak Cho Mee stall(BCM)
Problem: Because their stalls were at one corner back-facing each other, they argued frequently over all sorts of problem and were not in good terms all along.
I was having late dinner with my family when I encountered a dramatic incident one year ago that horrified me. The DS uncle was serving beers to the customers sitting behind our table while the BCM uncle served his noodles to the same table. BCM uncle mumbled to the customers that ordering drinks from DS uncle was a wrong choice in Hokkien. Sensing that BCM uncle was insulting him, DS uncle also threw some Tamil back to him. BCM uncle flew into rage and insulted him even more in Hokkien. DS uncle then pointed middle finger to him. The rest of the stallholders immediately pulled the two of them back upon seeing an upcoming fight. I thought the ‘show’ was over when the DS uncle went back to his stall but I was wrong. He came out with an empty beer bottle and charged towards the BCM uncle standing a few metres away from him. In a split second, I saw the bottle flew across our heads and landed right at the head of the BCM uncle. I could even feel the leftover drops of beer on my skin when I saw the blood dripping down the BCM uncle’s face. Everyone in the scene was shocked at the sudden reaction of the DS uncle.
From what we heard from the people there, the two of them were very racist and all along they had disagreements over the smallest problem. Even then, the problems were never solved because they had language barrier and great misunderstandings. I never thought language barrier between stallholders could result in such hatred in each other. Such incident was too extreme but I am still appalled that this actually does exist in Singapore. I think both were in wrong because they could not accept language difference. Although the BCM uncle was wrong to criticize DS uncle in the first place, the DS uncle should not have used violence to solve the problem, after all violence will only worsen the problem. Living in this multi-cultural, multi-racial Singapore, we need to be tolerable to the other races, understand their cultures and beliefs and accept our differences.
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7 comments:
Dear Eileen,
I was rather shocked that such incidents do happen in Singapore where inter-cultural and inter-racial tolerance are expected to be high. I guess there are times when a problem is ignored, it will escalate into an even bigger problem. You have also mention that the BCM uncle and DS uncle have been at odds with each other for quite some time. This lack of effective communication has resulted in the consequence of violence. Hence, it seems that solving the inital problem is a more viable option, rather then to leave it untouched.
From this conflict, it can be observed that substantial communication is essential and early intervention is effective. Hence, probably BCM uncle and DS uncle could have sit down and talk about their diffences and thus, clear any unhappiness they have for each other.
In a country like Singapore where inter-cultural and inter-racial understanding are relatively important, it is essential to maintain good relationships between the different races as any misunderstandings could affect the relationship negatively. Be sensitive to those around you!
Dear Eileen,
I guess they have been at loggerheads ever since they started their business there right? That probably explains their hatred towards each other. This is because I cannot see why they could say such bad things about each other since what they sell are completely different!
In such cases, I felt that both uncles should cooperate and not fight. All the quarrelling will not only hurt themselves physically but also scare away the customers. It will also give others, especially the tourists an impression that the different races in Singapore could not get along.
One incident involving inter-racial conflict was when students return the utensils of the chinese stalls to the Malay stalls by mistake. I have been scolded once by the Malay stall owner for my carelessness. It was not considered a conflict since it was entirely my fault.
I guess that is why the utensils collection points in the canteens in NUS indicate clearly where to put the utensils for each stall. This is the best way to reduce inter-racial conflict.
Yo Eileen!
I could still remember the time when you were narrating this story! Could see that you were badly traumatised by the look on your face! haha.
Anyway, this is a typical example of an inter culture conflict in Singapore. Though it happens less frequently nowadays, it's good to remember that such incidents were prevalent back in the 1960s, when Singapore was undergoing quite a number of racial riots. Who could forget the grim pictures of the racial riots in our social Studies textbook back in Secondary school? The peace that we enjoy now does not happen by chance. We should not take it for granted.
Race is a very sensitive issue in Singapore, a cosmopolitan society. Continuous tolerance and acceptance of the different cultural groups in Singapore is necessary in order to preserve peace and harmony. It is definitely worth to do so, seeing the peaceful living society that we are in now. =)
Dear Eileen,
This IS shocking. But in the spirit of intercultural communication, how might such a situation be changed? If you could, how would you help these uncles?
psepi
Dear Xiu Wen,
I agree that the lack of effective communication has resulted in the consequence of violence, it is because of accumulation of misunderstandings that resulted in such incidents.
What we can do to prevent or lessen this number of such conflict is to accept other cultures and differences and be sensitive to people around us.
One way is to put up more signs to make people aware of the different cultures and languages. Like for what Pei Rong has mentioned, by indicating clearly where to put the utensils for each stall to the respective utensils collection points in the canteen is an effective way. Another way is to provide direction signboards of the different languages for different races so the minority race will not feel less appreciated.
Dear Brad,
The situation can turn around if the two uncles are more understanding towards each other and more tolerant with each other's own languages.
If I knew the uncles all along, I could have understood more on what their problems are actually affecting their normal daily life and clear their unhappiness once and for all or try to get them to talk to each other about similarities that they both have. In that way, they can lessen their hatred towards each other and probably become friends since they have to interact with each other everyday.
Hi Eileen,
I feel that the older generation in Singapore tends to be more prejudiced against people of other races. For instance, I often hear my neighbour, who is an old man, bad-mouthing Indians and how he does not like them. The older generation is also more likely to be more open with their expression of dislike than the younger generation. I was wondering if it is due to the history of racial disharmony and riots in the past.
Another point to add is that people can often sense it when others are saying bad things about them, even if the words are in a different language, especially when animosity already exists between two people like in this case. It is precisely this kind of bad blood between two people that can trigger a bigger issue of racial disharmony amongst the population. Moreover, I agree that violence do aggravate the situation and blow things out of proportion.
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