Poll of 100: One in 3 don't know
These students mingle with other races. But we ask students from other schools what's the difference between a Malay and a Malaysian... one in 3 don't know
By Veena Bharwani
July 22, 2006
ALMOST one in three secondary students don't know the difference between a Malay and a Malaysian.
--HEDY KHOO
Yes, 30 out of a 100 students polled by The New Paper either thought a Malay was the same as a Malaysian, or didn't know the difference.
Malay is a race and Malaysian is a nationality.
The survey covered students aged between 13 to 17 from a wide racial and academic background.
It aimed to find out if our students knew the difference between race, language, religion and nationality, to coincide with Racial Harmony Day today.
CLEAR MARKERS
The response to the Malay-Malaysia question reflected students' problems differentiating between race, religion and nationality.
A third of students (34) couldn't even pick out a person's race despite some clear markers.
One particular survey question went like this:
John Fernandez is a Tamil-speaking Indian-Christian. From this statement, is it possible to identify his
1)race
2)language
3)religion
4)and nationality?
The correct answers are: He's Indian, speaks Tamil and practices Christianity. His nationality cannot be told from this statement.
CONFUSED
Yet, almost 34 students could not get his race right.
Three respondents assumed he is Eurasian, saying his name (Fernandez) 'sounds Eurasian', while the rest either did not know or confused his race with the language he spoke.
But 91 students did identify his religion correctly.
Students were also confused about his nationality.
There were 29 students who faltered here, with some incorrectly stating he's Indian or confidently but wrongly assuming he's Singaporean.
Why this level of ignorance or confusion among students?
Sec 4 student Jessica Leck said it may be because it's not emphasised much in school.
'For racial harmony day last year, we just focused on learning about Chinese weddings and Indian weddings,' she said, 'and didn't go into details of the differences between race, language and religion.
'It would help if in this year's racial harmony day, we learn more about the differences between the three.'
BARRIER
Tampines Secondary principal Neo Tick Watt said language could be a barrier in explaining some of the students' lack of knowledge: 'Students are the most comfortable speaking in their own language and so most of them unconsciously end up talking and mixing with students who speak their language.'
He added that because they spent time mostly with students of their own race, they understand very little about them - including the differences between race, language and religion.
To break this barrier he suggested getting students to mingle and learn more about each other. The teachers in his school should also ask students to speak in English.
Also, the school is holding Mandarin conversational classes for non-Chinese students, and Malay conversational classes for non-Malays.
Tampines Secondary is not alone. Hwa Chong Institution boys taught 30 students from Telok Kurau secondary how to play 24 Chinese drums (see report, right).
Teck Whye Secondary hosted a mobile exhibition by the Internal Security Department Heritage centre highlighting Singapore's past and present brushes with racial and religious extremism.
ALL EQUAL
Still, students' lack of knowledge do not mean they take these things lightly.
Said Sec 3 student, Michelle Nathan, 15: 'There're people who think that all Indians are either Hindus or Sikhs or Muslims. They don't know that there're a number of Indians who are either Catholics or Christians.
'My parents are Catholics. So we ought to know better the difference between religion and race so we don't get the wrong ideas.'
However, some students feel the differences shouldn't be highlighted.
Sec 3 student, Ng Yi Ming, 15, said: 'We don't have to look at people by their 'groupings' but we should look at them by their characters.'
Sec 4 student Ibrahim Abdul Karim agreed. He said: 'It is not important. In Singapore, every one is equal and our differences should not be highlighted.'