Singaporean youth rather be white: poll

Associated Press in Singapore

A POLL showing that one in five young ethnic Chinese Singaporeans would rather be white or of another race has become a hot topic in this prosperous city-state known for pride in its Asian heritage.

 ``I was initially shocked, I couldn't understand it,'' Singapore novelist Catherine Lim said of the results.

 ``Ethnicity is a defining characteristic, it's a primal instinct,'' Ms Lim, 57, whose trademark garb is the ``cheong sam'' - a traditional Chinese silk dress - said.

Chang Han Yin, a sociology lecturer at the National University of Singapore, agreed that he found it ``amazing and disturbing'' when his survey of 811 students, ages 14 to 28, showed that 21.6 of the ethnic Chinese respondents would rather be of another race.

Caucasian was their preferred choice, with Japanese running a close second.

 The survey results were published earlier this week, touching off heated discussions in Singapore offices and coffee shops and bringing a flurry of letters to the Straits Times.

 Chen Wei Kiat, 24, who recently graduated from Britain's University of York, said he understood why some of his peers might prefer to be another race.

 Asked if he would rather be white, Mr Chen said: ``If it offered me the opportunity to work in the country of my choice, yes. It would be a practical concern. But to say that being Caucasian is better is not a value judgment that I would make at all.''

 His first choice of a place to live would be Britain, he said, explaining that he ``felt comfortable there, felt at home'', and enjoyed the openness of Western society.

Mr Chen said he was not worried about young Chinese losing pride in their ethnicity. ``I'm Chinese, but I'm so much more than just that,'' he said. ``To look at someone just in terms of race is very limiting.''

 Keith Tan, a 25-year-old civil servant, was more concerned.  ``This is a significant portion of young Singaporeans that are unhappy with their ethnic background. As a result, they could leave Singapore and not return,'' he said.

 ``I think it's important for humans to have some sense of cultural located-ness,'' he said. ``I appreciate and value being Chinese. I appreciate the immense history of China, and its great culture and civilisation.''

 Others saw the survey results as a wake-up call to the dangers of Westernisation in Singapore, a former British colony where ethnic Chinese make up about 78 per cent of the 3.2 million population.

 ``It is the differences that make us unique, not the banal universality of Western pop culture disguised as multiculturalism,'' Wong Hoong Hooi wrote in a letter to the Straits Times.

 But Ms Lim said she believed that many of the discontented young respondents were simply frustrated with Singapore's conservative society and tight government controls.

                                      Published in the Hong Kong Standard December 18, 1999.
 
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