Seahorse

Our Final task(:

2008-08-26T03:38:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!!! The following is our final task!! Yay!

This time the whole group will post on the same....post.

The question/task would be found on Mr Ng's blog.

For those too lazy to open it, here's the question/task:

You are to reflect on the challenges at social cohesion that Singapore (a multi-racial society) has faced and is facing today. You are to blog about how the government has managed ethnic diversity and the importance of doing so. You are also to explore other ways of bonding Singapore and to invite comments on your suggestions or proposals.

Your reflections can take the form of words, pictures, cartoons or videos. Remember to acknowledge the sources when you put them on your website.Do reflections on the following questions:

1) How different are we?

Singapore is a racially harmonious nation and society built on a rich diversity of culture and heritage.The people of Singapore have many different racial and religious backgrounds. We speak different languages, have different traditional food and celebrate different festivals but most importantly, we are all valued members of Singapore. We may also have neighbours who are of different race, classmates of different faiths, but we all live harmoniously together.

Eunice [15]

2) What are the challenges of multi-ethnicity in Singapore?

How racial issues could divide the people.

How religious issues could divide the people.

How issues relating to transnational terrorism could divide the people.

The challenges of a multi-ethnicity in Singapore are many. Issues concerning race, religion are two challenges.

"What about racial issues?" your brain asks. As you have known for years, different races have different cultures, and each and everyone of us must at least understand each other's racial practises. If we do not, misunderstanding, suspicion and unhappiness might arise, which would lead to violence among racial groups. Racial riots might break out, leaving in deaths and injured people in its wake.

All religions have different beliefs and practises, not all religions are the same. This can be used as a cause of conflict between people in different religious groups. As stated above, we should at least understand the different religions and their practises. If not, violence resulting from misunderstanding, unhappiness and suspicion would occur, leaving people dead or injured.

Issues related to transnational terrorism affects both racial and religious harmony. For an example, many Malays and Muslims are shunned as they are suspected to have connections to or are involved in terroist groups. Those surrounding them would distrust and treat them badly. Some would even slander them. In this way people are divided,once again, by misunderstanding and suspicion. Although many Malays and Muslims do not support terroist groups, others do not care to find out or to understand them, leading to highly possible division.

Chrissy

3) What were the measures taken to foster social cohesion (unity among the people) in multi-ethnic Singapore?

The measures that are taken to foster social cohesion in multi-ethnicity in Singapore are the policy of multi-racialism, the policy of bilingualism and common practices.

Firstly, the policy of multi-racialism helps to promote equality among the different races in our country, with no special rights granted to any particular racial or religious groups. This way, everyone has equal opportunities to succeed regardless of their background. The Constitution also prohibited unfairness such as favouring a certain group of people of their race or religion. Thereby, everyone is seen as a valued member of the Singapore's society and also a sense of national identity as Singaporeans is created. Thereby, allowing social cohesion in multi-ethnicity to be fostered in Singapore.

Secondly, common practices are actions that Singaporeans carry out together. The few examples of common practices in schools of Singapore are the time when the students sing the national anthem, taking the pledge togethere and attending the flag ceremony together. These common practices then helps to foster national identity among the people. In addition, by inculcating loyalty and national pride towards Singapore makes Singaporeans see themselves as one people. Thereby, allowing social cohesion in multi-ethnicity to be fostered in Singapore.

Lastly, the policy of bilingualism is implemented such that all students were expected to learn English and their own Mother Tongue. English is a non-native language for all the ethnic groups so no one has an advantage over others whereas Mother Tongue is used to impart moral values and cultural traditions of each race. With bilingualism, English is used as the language linking the different ethnic groups in Singapore. Therefore, the use of English had helped to improve communications among Sinagporeans. Thereby, allowing social cohesion in multi-ethnicity to be fostered in Singapore.

Eunice(2)

4) Why is it important to foster social cohesion?

The importance of social cohesion is to maintain racial and religious harmony among people because Singapore is a multi-ethnic society and also to prevent division among peoople in the society. Therefore, various policies and programmes have been implemented to ensure that everyone living in Singapore, regardless of race or religion, enjoy a harmonious living environment.

Elaine

5) Explore other ways to foster social cohesion in Singapore.

Values like self-help, responsibility, democracy, equality, and solidarity, and play a pivotal role in providing a stabilising presence in society and helping to foster social cohesion.

Organisations like Singapore Writers Festival are one of the ways to promote social cohesion.It reflects our multi-racial and multi-lingual society, allowing Singaporeans get exposed to the literary works of writers from the different communities. They can bring us closer together as Singaporeans and foster stronger sense of national identity as well as enhance our social cohesion.

The Presidential Council Of Minority rights (PCMR) and the Group Representation Consituency (GRC) are two examples of how representation of minority groups is achieved. The PCMR ensures that no racial or religious group is disadvantaged as a result of a law that is passed in Parliament. The GRC ensures that at least one of the candidates in the team contesting in the General Election is from the minority racial communities such as Malay, Indian or Eurasian. The GRC system ensyres that the minority racial groups are represented in the Parliament. In this way, the concerns and needs of the minority groups are made known to the government.

Common space provides oportunities for Singaporean to interact.Common space refers to the time and place that people come together.Through this interaction, understanding among Singaporeans can be deepened.

Grassroots programmes such as People's association (PA) create common space through their wide range of programmes and activities developed to cater the needs and interests of every Singaporean.One of the programmes conducted for the students is a home visit or home stay opportunity witha host family from another ethnic group. This allows participants to gain a better understanding of the cultures and customs of other races. With mutual respects, strong friendship can be built over time.

Another area where common space is created for the various races to interact is national service. National service, introduced in 1967, requires all able-bodied men to serve int the defence of the country. The shared experiences, going through military training during National Service, help to strengthen the bond among the men.
Wilson

Social Studies Class Work (20 Aug)

2008-08-21T07:48:00.000-07:00

QN 1) Why is it important to have a newspaper that is not biased in reporting of events?

It is important to have a newspaper that is not biased in reporting of events as it would influence what people think about something. As we know, newspaper contains news and affairs within the country and around the world. As readers, we are most probably tend to be convinced by what the newspaper states. Therefore, when newspaper are written biased towards a subject, it is unfair and immoral as people all over the world would believe and be convinced by any false reports. In addition, besides being unfair and immoral towards the victims, it is also unfair towards the readers as they would not be able to know the truth of the affairs in the world, which simply means that people would not be able to know what is happenning in the world. Sometimes, when newspaper write biased things about a subject for example, a campaign organised by a country, people or citizens of the country will be against it due to the unfair comments and remarks given or written in the newspaper which are biased, it will cause resentment and sometimes, this results into riots between people. Hence, this can cause conflict and misunderstanding between people, in a country. That is why, having a newspaper that is not biased in reporting of events, is important.

QN 2 ) How is English used as the language to link different ethnic groups? In what situation?

English is used as the language to link different ethnic groups by implenting the policy of bilingualism in schools. All students - citizens or residents that live in Singapore must learn English and their own Mother Tongue. English is used as the language linking the different ethnic groups while Mother Tongue is used to impart moral values and cultural traditions of each race. As English is a non-native language for all the ethnice groups, no one has an advantage over others. Therefore, the use of English has helped to improve communication among Singaporeans which then, creats the link and bond between us.

QN 3 ) What is common space? What are the some examples of common space in our schools?

Common space refers to the time and place that people come together, which also means that people spend time together on something. The common space allow Singaporeans to have opportunities to interact with each other, hence, people are able to understand each other's races more from the interaction between them. The some examples of common space in our schools are Co-Curricular Activities (CCAs) and the school library.

QN4) Answer the SBQ on TB pg 152.

Based on Souce C and Source D, they are the comments about the social bonds among residents in public housing.
Source C tried to say that the spirit of togetherness in housing estates are very strong. I can see that the residents are very closely bond together and are very friendly towards each other. This is proved by " frequent contact with one another " and " regconise one another and exchange greetings" and " develop more intense levels of neighbouring". This also meant that the neighbourhood is very harmonised and united which fulfiled with the aim of Singapore's, which is to be sociable with one another regardless of race and religion.
On the other hand, Source D tried to say that the spirit of togetherness in a village is stronger than the spirit of togetherness in a HDB estate, which differs from what Source C tried to convey. This is proved by "no sign of togetherness" and " everybody has his own programmes, not like in the village". This meant that Source D tried to convince and persuade that the spirit of togtherness in strong in a village as compared to HDB estate, which shows the lack of bond between the people. Hence, people are not socialised and they would not get to understand each other well to create harmony between people.
In summarise, Source C tried to say that the spirit of togetherness is strong whereas Source D tries to say that the spirit of togetherness is weak in HDB estates.

P.S. THIS IS ONLY A DRAFT.

Done by : Eunice Tan (2)

Maria Hertorgh

2008-08-18T02:52:00.000-07:00

Task B3

Maria Hertorgh was born to a dutch couple.When her father became a prisoner of war during the Japanese occupation, Maria's mother who was struggling alone and pregnant with their sixth child, decided to give Maria to the care of a family friend, Aminah.
After being reunited after the war, Maria's parent began seeking for her in the late 1940s. They found Maria and demanded for Maria to be returned to them. A court trial followed. Intially on 1st August 1950, custody was given to Aminah, who then marry Maria off to a Kelantan teacher within 4 days of the ruling. The marriage of the juvenile 13-year old Maria was raised in court at Adeline's appeal for custody over Maria. Adeline gained custody over Maria on 2 December 1950 who then whisked her to Amsterdam. On 11 December 1950, riots broke up over the custodial ruling, resulting in the death of at least 18 people.
Maria later married a Dutch cabinet maker on 20 April 1956. Unfortunately in 1975, a television programme on her life stirred up her unhappy memories in the past and led her to tragic actions. She plotted her husband as she was miserable over working at her husband's cafe-cum-bar. Her plans were found out and she was brought to court on 16 August 1976. After reviewing her tragic past, Maria was acquitted within 1 day of hearing.

Elaine

Task A1 - Summary of Communal riots of 1964

2008-08-14T08:49:00.000-07:00

Information from http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_45_2005-01-06.html

This information emphasis on the racial or communal riots between the Malays and the Chinese on the 21st of July 1964 and the 2nd of September 1964 in Singapore. It is also considered as the worst and most prolonged riots and disputes in Singapore's post-war history which took place after Singapore had merged with the Federation of Malaysia. The riots cause 22 deaths and 461 injured.

The causes and events that results to the riots started to accumulate as there were resentment among the Malays when many among the Malay minority were not benefited from the special rights for Malays during the merger of Singapore and the Federation of Malaysia. The resentment among the Malays were deepen when it was obvious that it was never part of the agreement for merger and would never be agreed upon by any goverment of Singapore.

As there were more than 1,000 Malay non-political leaders met Mr Lee Kuan Yew and Encik Othman Wok to clarify the problem of the special rights for Malays. After the clarification, Mr Lee promised to make effort to train Malays for top positions in competition with the non-malays, making sure that all Singapore citizens had equal rights, regardless of race, which also emphasis on democracy.

Due to the promise Mr Lee made to the Malays, the response from the leader of UMNO, Senator Ahmad Haji Taff said that the meeting was an insult to the Malays. He defended his Action Committee against accusations of communalism by the Premier, by counter-charging that Mr Lee himself was trying to break the harmony and good relations between Malays and Chinese.

On the 21st July 1964, rioting broke out on the eve of the planned massive celebrations for Prophet Muhammad's birthday when a protest demonstration by Malays became more serious from a verbal war of bad remarks and insults with Chinese bystanders. Hence, curfew hours were implemented in order to restore law and order.

Nevertheless, racial tensions still resulted and increased when a Malay trishaw rider was stabbed to death on 2nd of September. Therefore, it causes riots that led to deaths and injuries. More than 1,200 people were arrested for rioting and curfew-breaking this time. The curfew system was also extended until tensions and resentment were calm and when situation was better.

There are three factors that resulted to the outbreak of violence. There are the enforcing the policy of Confrontation with the newly-formed Federation of Malaysia, whereby, a number of Indonesian activists had infiltrated into Singapore in attempts to arouse the religious fervour of the more fanatical Malays, and, the Chinese Secret Society gangs seized the opportunity to stir up violence and the inflammatory reporting in the vernacular press helped to fan racial emotions.

Hence, the Deputy Premier, Dr. Toh Chin Chye, suggested on 2 August 1964 that legislation be introduced to prohibit newspapers from publishing articles which incite communal strife. Furthermore, the leaders of both the Federal Government of Malaysia and the State Government of Singapore gave firm assurances that everyone, regardless of racial origin, "has a place under the Malaysian sun and all will be looked after without discrimination." Source: The Sunday Times, 16 August 1964, p.1.

From this dispute, there are significance resultant impacts and consequences that we, as a nation, should learn from and never repeat past mistakes. We should emphasis the importance of equality of rights and benefits. We should never implement measures that is unfair to a race or religion. We should be respectful and thoughtful towards each other, hence, building a peacful and united nation.

End.

By: Eunice (2)

Comments

2008-08-13T03:40:00.000-07:00

Hello!

Comments on video-Task A2

Taken from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLt1Gj2IhvQ

I think that the person who uploaded this video is trying to reach out to people who do not know what all the fuss over Maria Hertogh was about. It contains a lot of information about Maria and pictures of her. It even tells us what eventually happened to her.

Byebye

Chrissy

Comment on youtube video

2008-08-12T04:33:00.000-07:00

From http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqkcPUREJYE

I think that the person who uploaded the video should not give such comments :"Do You Want This To Happen To Our Society? The Choice Is Yours". This upsets alot of Muslims as it indirectly "attacks" them. The uploader should ask people from different races for comments before making the decision to upload this video.

Wilson

Summary :D

2008-08-12T02:06:00.000-07:00

Hellos :D

This is just a simple summary of task A3(:

Summary on Maria Hertogh Riots
Text from http://groups.msn.com/malaysianmemories/mariahertogh1.msnw

While it was simply a case of fighting for the custody of the child, it led to intense and violent racial riots. Maria Hertogh‘s father was captured by the Japanese, and her mother, Adeline gave Maria to a Malay lady, Aminah for temporary care. Adeline did not tell her husband that she gave Mariah away. After the war they told the Dutch authorities that Mariah was missing.

Maria was brought up as a Muslim and lived like a Malay. A British official found it strange that a Eurasian girl was brought up by a Malay lady and investigations were made. Identified as Maria, the court ruled that she was to be returned to her biological parents. Aminah was unhappy and appealed. Maria was returned to Aminah and a marriage was arranged for her. Maria was married to a 22 year old Malay teacher when she was thirteen.

Three months later, the Hertoghs revived their custody battle.The court ruled that Maria should be returned to her biological parents as her father was not consulted when Aminah took her off to Bandung. As Maria should be subjected to Dutch laws, which did not permit girls under 16 to be married, her Muslim marriage was made invalid. The court then put her in the care of the Good Shepherd Convent while deciding on sending her to the Netherlands.

There was wide spread coverage of the custody battle in newspapers. On 11 Dec 2005, the appeal court sat to hear Maria’s case and made their choice in just five minutes. The already worked-up crowds were convinced that the legal system was biased against Muslims after the judge’s decree. A fight broke out and a member of the special constabulary fired three shots, wounding two Malays.

The riots between the Malays and Eurasians continued for three days. People were killed or injured and buildings and vehicles were destroyed. A 24 hour curfew was imposed and military was deployed to help restore law and order.

Eunice :D [15]

1964 Racial Riots

2008-08-11T21:49:00.000-07:00

Summary on 1964 Racial Riots.

Text taken from

http://www.littlespeck.com/ThePast/CPast-64riots-640721.htm

Greetings.
As you know, Singapore experienced racial riots in 1964, and many were either killed, injured or traumatised in a way. If you don't know the details or are too lazy to go to the museum or something, read on.

The riot started on Prophet Mohammad's birthday celebrations. Muslims in Singapore were supposed to march from the Padang to Geylang. Halfway through, some one threw a bottle at them and a fellow Muslim was attacked when he asked the marchers to stick to the route. Cars were overturned, places were burned. A curfew was imposed and was only lifted eleven days after, on 2 August. In total 23 people were killed and 460 were injured.

Both the UMNO(that is, United Malays National Organisation) and the PAP(which is People's Action Party) distrusted and disliked each other. UMNO accused PAP for not taking good care of the Singaporean Malays. PAP was also considered a political threat to them. PAP, however, also did not think that UMNO was sincere in wanting to help the Malaysian Chinese.

Malaysia did not keep to the negotiations prior to the Merger and Singapore was unhappy. PAP contested unsuccessfully in the urban areas against MCA to show that they were more useful than MCA. Both parties' actions and words added to the friction between the Malays and the Chinese.

Bye(:

Brought to you by Chrissy

The Behaviour of a Good team member

2008-08-06T05:32:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, 6August

Greetings.

Behaviour of a good team member
A good team member listens attentively to other member's opinion and is attentive during meeting and lessons. He/She is receptive to each other's ideas during discussions, contributes to the group/team and is someone who will respect each other's sugguestions-which means that he/she would not laugh at a suggestion no matter how ridiculous it is. A good team member will always encourage each other to do better.

No more.

Farewells

This post is brought to you by Elaine.

Introduction

2008-08-05T21:03:00.000-07:00

SEAHORSE

Roles of team members :

Leader : Eunice (2) Boss!
Secretary : Elaine (1) Be a "MARIA!"
Time-keeper : Eunice (15) watch the clock! :D
IT coordinator : Chrissy (11) Amateur Journalist
Blog designer : Wilson (39) Design blog

End