It didn't seem important at the time, so I didn't save the news story about the winner of the first Malaysian Idol singing contest. Her name was Jaclyn Victor and the story was datelined a day or two after performing in Singapore with Taufik (and others) at some concert -- again I don't recall the details, as they didn't seem important then.

The numbers were not what caught my eye, nor are they germane to this essay. It was what she offered as the reason for the poorer sales, even though Malaysia has 6 times as many people as Singapore. Victor's songs in her album were in Malay, though from her looks and name, I figure she was of Indian descent. Taufik's first album was in English except for one song, Ibu. Taufik himself is Malay,

Victor felt that having Malay songs limited her market, but being the Malaysian Idol, she would have been obliged to put out an album of Malay songs first. She herself said she'd love to have an album of English songs; I think soon after that, she did, and I believe it will be very successful, as she's a very good singer.

When Taufik won the Singapore Idol contest, it was obvious that his agent would arrange for him to release an album of English songs, and even then observers felt that commercially, he was at a disadvantage compared to the runner up, Sylvester Sim, who was quite able to put out an album of Chinese songs. People felt that Chinese would allow Sim a wider market, well beyond Singapore (though Sim's forte seems to be American rock n' roll)

Taufik's strengths were in rhythm and blues.

Such are the complexities of race, language, nationality and cultural influences in this part of the world!

Despite the hiccups that come out of petty nationalism, like having to put out one's first album in the national language, I think the versatility of all these performers should be cause for celebration.

These three came from humble backgrounds and economically constrained families. The success they have is entirely personal, from their own talent, hard work and perseverance. Theirs is not honour borrowed from group affiliation, but achievement entirely self-made. It doesn't matter what their skin colour is. At the end of the day, their race, their nationality is not going to determine which songs they choose to sing or what language they want to record in. They will each choose what suits them best.

And frankly, one of the best ways of being objective is to listen to them over the internet. Don't look at them, just listen to their voices and the music they make.

For Taufik Batisah, some mp3 files (including his contest selections) are downloadable from http://www.taufikbatisah.net/audio/

For Sylvester Sim, http://www.sylvester-sim.com/downloads.html

For Jaclyn Victor, go to http://jaclynvictor.hp.infoseek.co.jp (You absolutely must listen to the track When I fall in love, sung at the final round of the Malaysian Idol contest)

 
* * * * *

Then there are others who believe our race must be our destiny. A few months ago, a university student attending a forum chaired by Minister for Community Development, Vivian Balakrishnan, stood up to make a comment. The student said the sight of mixed-race couples holding hands made his skin crawl. How would one maintain the purity of Chinese culture if so many Chinese are marrying non-Chinese nowadays?

He was oblivious to the fact that his comment was addressed to Balakrishnan, who had a Chinese mother and an Indian father.

Then there was the case of the mathematics major studying at Northwestern University. Chua Cheng Zhan was on a scholarship from the Singapore government, and like many on such schemes, would be on the fast-track of our administrative mandarinate when he graduates. Chua maintained a password-protected blog in which he penned a number of racist and extremely elitist statements.

Someone broke his password and revealed his comments for all to see, which is quite unethical in itself. But whoever he was, he probably felt he was doing society a greater service by revealing the unacceptable views of someone destined for a position of power in Singapore.

Chua wrote in his blog that,

the singaporean association here in my school has become an indian association. so gross. and somemore non-singaporean. its just so repulsive…these ugly guys with dark skin n irksome features. ya. i discovered i’m so racist. at the club (under lighting in which everyone is supposed to look good), i still find indians and filipinos (dark ones) so repulsive n such a turn-off. anyway, so now we have this ugly mass as our president. n his indian counterpart who isn’t even singaporean is our senator. what is the world coming to? why are indians dominating the singaporeans here? all these mang ka-li….gross gross. don’t come near me! 

More....

i think an issue which finally dawned on me is that my family is pretty impressive in some senses… like i told my di i realised it…n he was like "duh". hahahaha. putting it in light of sociological analysis (ahem)…maybe i was justified to have not noticed it earlier. coz i have always been in like the "best"….since pri sch. thru RI, n HCJC. like it juz seemed "normal" that everyone was getting scholarships n everyone was smart. but i suppose to many others, this didn’t seem "normal." den my bro got into GEP n got straight As for A levels etc…it just didn’t seem out of the ordinary for me. now i think about it, actually it is.

A furore erupted when the remarks were exposed. Much of it focussed on the first part which revealed an unacceptable degree of racism.

The second part, in my view, was just as shocking. It revealed an elitist arrogance that must surely have no place in our society.

Racism alas, is everywhere in Singapore. There was the recent case highlighted in our press of a condominium management specifying to their security subcontractors that no Indian guards should be deployed at their condominium. I have observed Chinese taxi-drivers who won't stop to serve non-Chinese customers by the roadside flagging them down. And not long ago, my non-Chinese employees complained to me that a budget restaurant near where I used to work was charging them and all non-Chinese higher prices than Chinese customers for exactly the same orders. In the latter case, I didn't want to make life even more difficult for everyone by raising this issue with the proprietor, but I personally stopped eating there myself and suggested to my Chinese staff to avoid that place.

Lots have been said on the internet forums and other weblogs about this extremely ugly side of Singapore, swept under the carpet for decades by the government's policy of not discussing painful racial issues, lest racial antagonism be heightened. I don't really need to say more.

All I think now needs to be asked is this:

Which is more inspiring? The Taufik Batisahs, Jaclyn Victors and Sylvester Sims of this world who rise from humble circumstances, breaking free of class, race and the baggage of racially defined linguistic and cultural expectations, giving us all moments of happiness and pleasure when they sing beautifully? Or those who insist we remain confined to narrow demands of race and culture and spread hate and bitterness in the process?

It's a no-brainer of an answer, and yet it seems many with the brightest brains can still get it wrong. 

© Yawning Bread