Useem, J., & Useem, R. (1963). Human Organizations, 22(3).
"Culture has been defined in a number of ways, but most simply, as the learned and shared behavior of a community of interacting human beings" .
Singapore has been known for its multicultural and multilingual society. Since the start of our education life, we are exposed to events such as racial harmony day. The event is to commemorate the 1964 Race Riots, which took place on 21 July 1964. It is also a day for school to celebrate Singapore's success as a racially harmonious nation and society built on a rich diversity of culture and heritage. Students are encouraged to be dressed in their traditional costumes such as the Cheongsam and Baju Kurung. Traditional games are also played.
Despite commemorating racial harmony day, we all know that understanding between different cultures cannot be achieved within a day. Conflicts arise when there is a lack in understanding of other behaviors, language and ways of thinking. I would like to account a conflict that took place when I was in primary school.
I still remember when I was in lower primary, I overheard “Babi, Babi, Babi…..” from the Chinese boys to the Malay boys in our class. It was a word that would anger my Malay classmates. I did not understand why that would anger my Malay classmates. I thought maybe they did not like Barbie dolls and was offended when the Chinese boy teased them with Barbie doll as it was considered sissy for boys to play with dolls.
Being a rather insensitive, naughty, little girl, I was unaware of the seriousness of usage of this word. I then used “Chao Babi ~” on a Malay boy in my class out of mischief. He then became very angry and spat saliva towards my direction. In the end he threw his things in his pencil case at me which eventually resulted in physical fight and was brought to the attention of my form teacher. Both of us were punished and were made to stand outside the staff room. I felt utterly embarrassed, scared and a little guilty for scolding him. I even had to write 100 “Sorry, I won’t do it again” and had beatings and scoldings from my parents.
Now that we have grown up we realised that we were rather childish. Besides that, I realised that Babi actually means pig and not Barbie doll! Pig is a taboo to the Malays. Malays consider pigs to be unclean. Between many cultures, the same set of gesture or behaviour can be interpreted differently. For instance, showing the thumb held upwards in some country means “everything’s ok” while it is understood in some Islamic countries as a rude sexual sign.
In summary, the basic qualities that can avoid any kind of cultural conflict are being sensitive and self-conscious.
