Beautiful…

While Singapore may be a country which supposedly guarantees equality of race, the mood on the ground may be different. Singaporeans still do discriminate according to race. There are still people who cannot leave Malays alone. Like when we have our void deck weddings, or when we rush to the mosque every Friday, or when we’re required to wear the veil or when we try to have a nice, decent, halal meal. Racial and religious subscriptions still do determine your social status in Singapore.

Trust me, even I am a victim of some racial discrimination. I long for the day when it’s possible for Malays to climb up the corporate ladder. Globalisation has made it harder for those Malay blue collars, especially those in the service industry to move up to managerial positions. Take for example our local fast food or dining chains. (I shall not disclose the companies, but it seems symptomatic across all the fast food chains I’ve visited).Malays have worked in these fine establishments for years. But those that end up in more senior positions go to foreigners. I’ve seen far too many Filipinos in managerial positions in their branches. What about those local Malays that have worked their arses since secondary school? I’d be happy to see a local Chinese manager and a local Malay assistant manager at these stores. But when their step up the ladder is hindered just because they lack the qualifications to hold such a post is simply undervaluing the contributions that employee has provided for the company.

I wonder what these franchises are thinking? The bottom line? I wish that their corporate policies are more value-principled. That there’s more to it than dollars and cents. They should be employing these experienced, quarterlifers and middle-agers because they know more about the business than any Pinoy holding onto a degree could. I’m sorry if I sound anti-filipino. But there’s just too many of them here that it can singly identify itself as a major foreign professional workforce apart from the Mainland Chinese or the Malaysian Chinese. I don’t have anything against the filipinos. I do have some good pinoy friends.

But at least when it comes to the service industry, particularly the Food and Beverage industry, where the heck are the Malays!? So much we’ve built for ourselves an expertise in this field, that not many are there in middle or senior positions. Most remain stuck in the lower echelons of their organisations. And I wonder, really, what is it that they lack that makes it so difficult for them to be promoted? I mean, come on guys, they’ve worked hard for you. Don’t you think you should reward them for their loyalty and their excellent service?

It is often an understatement that the local Chinese here have no issues with other races. The overuse of the Mandarin language to the extent that it becomes an exclusivity, that one must be able to master the language in order to converse with clients… local… clients? I wish language, the mother tongue that you were brought up in, that you speak with your family and friends, that define you as a person, be a redundant factor towards your ability to get a job, at least in a job that makes sense that it shouldn’t have this ridiculous language requirement.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not sulking at having to learn another language. I love languages, and I take the opportunity to learn them. I understand some Chinese. Particularly those that require parental advisories. *winks*

But at least, if you’re serious about multi-culturalism, give the other languages breathing space. Give Malay and Tamil equal access in the working space. That the ability to speak your own mother tongue, regardless of its origin, will not result in a hindrance to securing a job. We need more Chinese to understand Malay and perhaps even Tamil. And don’t get me started on many of us Malays. We know a lot more Chinese than you think. (Heck, I watched Chinese serials when I was young, and it seems this is still popular with the younger Malay generation).

Can we for once be colour blind? Can we? Singapore is built on this ideal, where anyone, regardless of race, is guaranteed a dignified life, free from discrimination. But Singapore as it is, is still not close to this ideal. More needs to be done, and I hope Singaporeans of every creed, every colour, can get past their stereotypes, and not judge a book by its colour (cover).

I was walking around Ang Mo Kio yesterday, when I chanced upon this wall ad on HSBC’s Ang Mo Kio Branch. It’s trying to brand itself as a global local bank that knows and understands the different cultures here. But the thing that struck me was the use of generalisations in this ad. For example, on one side, there is a picture of a Chinese family who runs a jewellry shop in where else but Chinatown. It reflects a sense of upper class that seems to suggest that the Chinese are rich. Very rich. Using a jewellry shop as an exemplary Chinese business seem to mean that the Chinese could afford them.

On the other side of the pic, is another race. I’m sure a lot of people are not surprised to find a picture of an Indian family there. But the generalisation comes to a point of sheer ignorance in my opinion. Guess where this Indian family’s electronic shop is located?

Little India of course!

Wow! No prizes for correctly guessing that one. Which leaves me one question. Where are the Malays?

Maybe the ad wouldn’t look so nice with a “Chicken Rice business in Geylang”.

Malays constitute 15% of Singapore’s local population. 5 times more than the Indian community. So technically, shouldn’t we also have 5 times many more successful businesses? Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

If statistics were actually true, well, we do have a lot of Malay entrepreneurs. But not many are first class at what they do. At least in my industry, there seems to be quite a few Malay owned IT-based businesses. But like I said, not many are first class. The ones that I do see, like Ten Fingers (the people behind the now… well kind of dead, anakmelayu.com), who started off from the ashes of the dot com bubble continue to exist today. I think that’s a good thing for them. They built something really interesting (then), and survived long enough after the novelty faded away. But they are still kind of run-of-the-mill in a way. Except for the fact they are able to do IVR systems, it doesn’t define them as IVR specialists. Malay businesses should find niches.

Malay businesses shouldn’t look at this as a depressing reality. They should see this as room for improvement. There are a lot of things they could do to make it one day.

But there are no shortcuts to success. I strongly believe in education. I strongly believe a University degree for every Malay youth is necessary to have that opportunity to be someone. And we should do that with our youth. If my rudimentary research counts for something, well, do you know that a Malay youth is 60% more likely to get arrested than go to University? Let the numbers do the talking. Just don’t let it get to you. Numbers are numbers. People invented numbers. We can change that.

Modern Turkey was built on the fundamental principle of the secular state, like other modern democracies such as the UK, US and Singapore. However, the separation of church and state, or in this case, of mosque and state, is taken so seriously in Turkey, that the freedom to practise the religion is suppressed in every part of Turkish life. It seems counterintuitive even, for a modern European democracy to act almost communistic to the very religion its history is so proud of possessing.

Since the creation of modern Turkey, Islam has taken a back seat, to usher Secularism and the rule of Civil law over the Shariah; the former being inspired by the latter. The de-Islamisation of Turks is so successful, that the very mention of the word Islam, could either provoke or discomfort the common Turk. Yet, when it comes to identifying themselves as a citizen of the global Muslim Jemaah (Community), nearly every Turk would display his identification card with Islam as his declared religion, the religion that they were born into, but never raised into.

If today’s Turkish Muslims are so detached from the religion that treated them as sinless at birth, it is a wonder why the majority of them still choose to remain Muslim, albeit in name, emblazoned across a federal card. When discussing this “headscarf” issue to the common Muslim Turkish woman, the idea of covering themselves up with the cloth seemed so outrageous and harmful, that they must subject other women who may choose to observe the religion of their birth, to scrutiny and worse, deprivation of their freedom to observe their faith.

I’ve wondered why does the rest of the world seem so scared of Islam. Perhaps it might be due to the skewed Western media attempts at portraying Islam as a villainous faith with terrorists, beheadings, and violence. Or maybe it might be due to uptight Arab/Muslim sensitivities. Or you know what? Maybe it’s because that they’ve never seen a Muslim.

But when a Muslim is xenophobic of his own faith, honestly, even I can’t fathom the answer to that paradox.

1. Picture by Kerim Okten/EPA, Time website.

Ainan, and the Malay child prodigies before him, seem to debunk the myth that Malays are (in very tame terms) less gifted educationally. While many would be quick to point out that Ainan is not a pure Malay (as with Sufiah before him), it should be noted that, like his father, his Malay mother is ambidextrous, suggesting that her left and right brains are equally developed, contributing further to Ainan’s super-genes. It should also be noted that Ainan seems to get most of his genes from his mother as he has clear Malay facial features and therefore is as much a Malay as he can get.

While it’s nice to sensationalise the rise of a young Malay genius, I don’t think that genius has anything to do with race. If the Malays are as stupid as they are made out to be, then Ainan, Sufiah, and even our PSLE and O level Malay top students would be able to crush that label quite thoroughly. I think everyone’s capable of intelligence, if only they tried. I don’t think God made anyone smarter or stupider and then colour coded them. Because if that was true, then Malays would have the intellectual capacity to crunch numbers like Indians and the economic tenacity to control Asia’s business landscape like the Chinese and Japanese.

Intelligence certainly has nothing to do with colour. It has everything to do with effort, and perhaps the luck of good genes. And good genes does not necessarily have anything to do with colour.

I used to think that I was heading for ITE. My grades were horrible in secondary school. I was 2nd last in class, and I got an F9 for Math. I felt dumb. But perhaps, that can be attributed with me mixing with simply the wrong company. When I left the companionship of my good-for-nothing friends, I dedicated most of my time to the improvement of my academic life. And true enough, by the time I conquered my O levels, I scored 2 distinctions (for English and Math) and scored nothing less than B3s for all other subjects.

Good grades came with simply, effort and a conducive academic environment. If Malays were less focussed on wasting time, and gave more attention to studying, I suppose their academic performance as a community would definitely improve.

Many would suggest that the delinquency of Malay youth is a vicious cycle beginning with poverty. In Singapore, Malays aren’t as poor as people in other parts of the world, like Africa or as close as our Indonesian and Filipino neighbours. These citizens have the ill luck of living in a place where they survive with only 1 USD a day. Poor Malay families here at least have a decent shelter over their heads. Perhaps their homes are crampy, and slightly unglamourous for most of us living in new 4 or 5 room apartments, but they get more than 1 USD a day, and these youth should look at how lucky they are compared to others out there.

I have a friend who is now a Senior Systems Analyst at a local Government-affiliated corporation. She came from a broken family and she’s the only person working to support her mother and siblings. She was poor, but that didn’t affect her ability to enter polytechnic with sub-11 L1R4 grades simply because she worked hard. So perhaps, poverty may not be the cause of the lack of academic success of Malay youth. But it is an area of concern that shouldn’t be ignored nonetheless. Still, it does point out to the fact that where there’s effort, there is genius.

It will take more than a collaborative effort from Malay/Muslim agencies to improve Malay academic performance. It has to begin with a family environment that takes education seriously. More importantly, it has to be an environment that makes learning entertaining and fun, an implicit part of life that cannot be segregated into classes, textbooks, timetables and tuition classes. Parents in particular cannot simply release the responsibility of their child’s academic progress to the educational providers, like schools and tuition centres. Good grades come from parents who are involved in the learning process, from parents who can encourage, if not inspire their kids to love knowledge instead of dread it. Parents cannot separate themselves from the process, and neither should they include themselves only at the end of the academic year, sitting in the living room, cane in hand, coffee in the other, and frowning lines comparable to that of Judge Judy.

Such a statement is bold, especially with the very little Tamil content available in Singapore. Tamil movies are also only available at Yishun and Bedok cinemas. But how relevant is Tamil in modern society? How does it play a part in the greater context of Singapore?

How relevant is it? Very.

As long as there are Indians in Singapore, Tamil is a relevant language to know and learn. While it can be a rather daunting experience with the amusing nuances of the language, it’s not as difficult to master as Mandarin.

It will be much better for me, if I am able to speak Tamil, especially when I visit the neighbourhood convenience store (in this part of the world, it’s called the Mama or Mamak shop). While the majority of the store owners I know are Indian Muslim, who happen to speak fluent Malay, speaking Tamil to them would be a much more interesting experience.

Tamil as well as Hindi is important today in Singapore as more Indian nationals come here to work. A lot of us like to complain of how difficult it is to understand their thick Indian accent when they speak English. And I think, if we make that effort to learn a little Tamil, we can cut the barrier of miscommunication in double quick time.

Is it that hard to learn Tamil? Well, if a Japanese and a Russian can do it, why not us?

Speaking of which, after all this is done, what about Malay? I hope when the Malay Language Campaign begins somewhere this year, more non-Malay Singaporeans will take the effort to pick up Malay too. It would help with singing the national anthem clearer and better. Trust me.

There are a lot of stories of selflessness, but hardly do we see one where a member of one race, selflessly gives up something for a member of another. Ngee Ann Secondary, is a Teochew based school, and it has very strong Chinese heritage. Thus, it’s chinafication is actually rather strong.

So instances like this, is heartwarming, and positive. My hope is that there’ll be more stories like Chin Won and Hafiz. Things like these, make Singapore a great place to live. If only they happen more often.

Read about the full story here at Channelnewsasia.com.

So what if Hillary has experience? McCain has more experience. Barack has the least. Is experience that important? No. Because experience suggests that an experienced president will give you back more or less the same thing. Disappointment.

We need hope. We need change. And only one candidate has said that outright and is doing something about it. We need a US government that is supported by its people, not by powerful lobbies like the Oil Lobby, the Jewish Lobby, etc.

Let’s simulate who is the best candidate for the Democrats to face of McCain.

The tropical city state had faced a tight fight with Moscow in the final which had impressed the IOC judges in the preliminary round that featured other bidding cities such as Bangkok, Athens and Debrecen. However, Singapore were picked as the hosts for the inaugural games, meant for 14 to 18 year olds by the members of the IOC.

Singapore would be the smallest nation ever to host an Olympic of any kind. But size should not be a problem as only 5000 youth athletes are expected to participate in the Summer Youth Olympics. With the hosting rights now sealed, the government plans to build a Youth Games Village in NUS, and will refurbish several stadias as well as creating special Olympic roads to ensure smooth journeys to the competitive venues from the Games Village. It is expected to take only 30 minutes to reach any venue from the village.

“Singapore’s win would not have been possible without the tremendous show of support by Singaporeans from all walks of life and the business sector. They have been supporting the bid in so many ways, such as putting together “Support Singapore” videos, websites, banners, T-shirts and car decals; collecting signatures and pledges in support of Singapore 2010, and carrying “I support Singapore 2010″ on corporate collaterals. The overall effect of showing the IOC members and the world of the nation’s collective commitment of hosting the Youth Olympic Games has made a difference,” said Mr Teo Ser Luck, Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports.

Indeed, unlike other bidding countries, Singapore’s effort to host the games is very unique as for the first time, the common Singaporean come together to reach the country’s goal. This is the multi-racialism that Singapore has always promoted itself of having, and it is hoped that these acts of togetherness will continue to stay.

Today, Singapore and its supporters will party for a job well done. But all those involved knows that the job has only begun, as tomorrow, the first task at hand is to build a Singapore that deserves to host the first Youth Olympic Games.

Robots replace child camel jockeys in Middle-East

The middle-east have practised a sport of kings, called Camel Racing. Racing is a sport that has existed since men knew how to run. And while the conventional form of animal racing has been to use horses, the middle east uses Camels. However, Camel Racing has been plagued with human rights abuses. Children are used as jockeys because of their light weight, allowing the camels to gallop faster. These children are often abducted from South Asian countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh.

I find that Arabs have had a close affinity with racing, and they have put in money to all forms of racing on Earth. From F1, to A1, to horses, to camels. Thus, as Sheikh Mansour bin Zahed Al Nayan, a minister from the UAE aptly describes it as an “indespensible sport”, for the Arabs.

Pressure from UNICEF and other humanitarian groups have forced Arab countries to outlaw the use of children as camel jockeys. It began in the Mediterranean gulf State of Qatar, the first Arab country to outlaw children camel jockeys. Considered as an outrageous decision by the government, Camel owners were upset of having to lose their lucrative business. But in Qatar as with other parts of Arabia, racing is not just a business, it’s a culture. And most ancient cultures have had repressive pasts. It is time for Arabia to move forward and keep their culture in a modern landscape.

To solve their jockey problem, Qatar turned to robots. $1.3 million was offered to a Swiss robotics firm called K-Team to engineer a camel jockey robot that would completely replace child jockeys. The development took 3 years and it’s still being improved on due to incompatibilities with the parts and camel racing itself. Prototypes of robot jockeys were problematic when shipped to the gulf to be tested. Faced with these challenges, Camel owners in the UAE decided to engineer their own robots using everyday materials. Unlike the space-age smart robots in Qatar, the Emirate robots were rudimentary, housed in a metal casing, fixed to a common drill. The drill would be activated by car remote control and in turn rotates the axle and whips the camel. This basic robot proved a hit among camel owners due to its light weight and simple controls, allowing UAE to outlaw children jockeys as well with immediate effect.

While Qatar has been struggling with their robots, they had paved the way to eradicate the abuse of children in the Gulf’s sport of kings. Along with the UAE, Bahrain and Oman have also banned children jockeys in their camel races.

Bionic humans no longer fiction

In the 80’s, I liked to watch a show called the Six Million Dollar Man. It was probably the first of such science fiction derivative works on human bionics, a man who died, and brought back to life by piecing parts of his body through artificial intelligence. He became a top secret agent for the CIA.

Recently, the film Bionic Woman, a remake of the popular 80’s show of the same name reignites that nostalgia with much cooler special effects and stunts. But these shows will no longer be mere fiction.

Bionic human beings will be a reality with the advent of nano technology. A club in Netherlands have a VIP room that can only be accessed by scanning an arm using Radio waves (pdf). A tiny chip was inserted into the arms of these VIPs that contain their membership details and to access the lounge, their arms will be scanned for identity.

These present day application of technology makes it entirely possible to allow scientists to make nano-chips that facilitate the brain in thinking. Scientists predict that it is very possible to inject a chip into our brain thereby increasing its capacity to process data. This would be a huge advancement for human beings as we progress into an age where our potential will no longer be limited by our natural abilities.

End of human race?

But wouldn’t these advancements mean the end of the human race? Wouldn’t chips inside our head make us less human, and more robot? Nanotechnology has a lot of benefits for all of mankind. But with it comes a multitude of ethical issues. From privacy, to theological acceptance. Would chips in our brain help us perform better? What if the chip short circuits? Will it make our brain crash? Technology needs to be guided by faith and ethics in order for humans to take advantage of advancements responsibly. Otherwise, Scientists who only wish to advance their research and their quest for a super human, will only unearth the Frankenstein in us.