- Joined
- Feb 26, 2019
- Messages
- 140
- Points
- 18
Do Indians in Singapore face racism and if so what forms does it take?
By : Anushya Lakshmi, lives in Singapore
Answered Nov 10, 2017
Yes, they do.
And there's only one form I can think of right now, and that is Casual Racism.
Casual racism doesn't mean casually shooting Indians for being in someone's country(aka America) or casually throwing rocks and stones at them. It is just... Casual. When people unintentionally engage in negative stereotypes about people from a certain race or religion, that's casual racism. And it can be found almost everywhere in Singapore.
Before we go deeper though, we must first ascertain whether you're talking about "Singaporean" Indians or "Indian" Indians. If you're a Singaporean Indian, then you probably won't be facing many of the problems said below.
1) "Indians always have smelly hair!" ~ Chinese girl who was my frenemy.
I used to have such a hard time with this. Apparently, coconut oil is considered by many Chinese to smell worse than Durian, and that says a lot. And you see, I had studied in India for 2 years and then came back to Singapore. So obviously I brought back my Indian habits when I came back to Singapore and one of that was applying coconut oil on my hair. And I had faced many difficulties because of this.
I remember during my primary school, a Chinese girl was sitting right behind me when taking the SA2(Year end paper). If I'm not wrong, the girl had dropped her pen on the floor so she leaned forward to pick it up. And then she quickly flinched back, covering her nose and pretending to puke. Why? Because apparently she took in the "gross" smell of my hair. And I knew this because many of my friends who were sitting behind her had seen it happen and they told me about it once the exam was over. Apparently she also commented that “All Indians are smelly” even though the truth is far from that. I was immediately disgusted with that girl. And this was just one of the many incidents. At one point, I couldn't take it anymore and cried to my parents to let me stop using oil. I still don't use it, for fear of getting bullied. And guess what? I'm half bald now.
Damn it, you Indian advertisement. I shouldn't have believed you. Boys are running away from me instead of appreciating me for my super “silky and smooth” hair that you promise to give me.
2) You would be made fun of when you try to fit in.
Well as I said above, even though I'm actually a Singaporean Citizen, I still studied in India for 2 years and then came back. And when I did so, I had a hard time fitting in in my primary school.
One fine day, my classmates and I were on a bus, in a learning journey to Kampong Glam. To pass time, many of my classmates started singing songs like Wrecking Ball and Royals, which were one of the "hot" songs in those times. Since I knew the lyrics of the songs, I decided to join in the fun and sing along with them. And guess what? The moment I started singing, the whole bus turned silent. For one moment. And in the next, all I could hear was an enormous belly laughter coming from all the others in the bus. Some just smirked while others asked me things like, "Do you even know the song?". To say I was pissed off was an understatement. Just because I was Indian doesn't mean that I wouldn't know English songs. But of course, those kids didn't realize that and kept laughing.
Also, now in my secondary school, a lot of Indian scholars have entered. After some time, they try to fit in and say things like "lah" and "walao". Let me tell you this. If people didn't know they were Indian scholars, they would probably think that these are just normal Singaporeans, because the way they say it is actually quite normal. But because they all know that these kids are from India, many people always snicker when such things happen.
3) You would be made fun of when you do the "Indian-ish" things.
Be it writing with a cursive handwriting, or with a heavy Indian accent, you'll always be screwed over by others.
When I came back from India, I would always write using my cursive handwriting. And guess what happened? Many students and even teachers would comment that they couldn't read my handwriting. At first I could understand, after all they've never been used to such things so it's pretty obvious that they will have difficulty reading it. But then there were some people who made it a point to make fun of me whenever I used my cursive handwriting. Because of this, I forced myself to change my handwriting into the standard one. Of course, none of these problems continued in my secondary school. It was only in my primary school, which was also the breeding place for immature pieces of poop.
Anyways, the more obvious problem would be when you use your strong Indian accent. People almost always judge you and make fun of you for it. And the endless memes doesn't really help either.
I spent so many years trying to make you perfect…only to let you go. Damn you, cursive writing.
4 ) You would hear some "funny" things from others.
This can be seen everywhere honestly. I hear things like "Go back to India lah!" or "Black!" every single time. In schools, mostly. Most of them are not aimed towards me but towards other people who are actually from India.
This is mostly said in a humorous way though, especially after you make a mistake is maths or other subjects where Indians are expected to excell. And many Indians also take these comments as a joke and move on. So it's not really as if the non-indian Singaporeans are trying to hurt us. They're just blissfully ignorant.
5) Your infamous “head shake” will be made fun of.
I don't know why but we Indians seem to do this weird head shaking thing. If someone asks us something, we say “yes” and do the head shake. If the answer is “no”, we still do the same head shake. I guess it comes naturally to us. And the Chinese and Malays here have picked up on it. So many times, they will ask you a question, just to make fun of you, and then giggle and exaggerate your head shake while trying to do it themselves. It's so annoying.
A guide to Indian head shakes.
6) You would hear some “funny” things about you and the IT field.
In my school, there are many who say things like “Oi, you Indian tech support,” and “Next time you work in IT ah?”. I guess after some time Indians just get used to these remarks. But it's still pretty annoying to know that many others still stereotype you as an engineer or an IT person when what you want to do in the future is the complete opposite of these fields.
Of course, I'm not saying that all non-indian Singaporeans are like this. It's just a few, immature ones. And after experiencing all these, when you look back, all you want to do is to laugh at these people. Because these kids never actually intended to hurt me, they just thought it was funny.
Anyway, if you're an Indian coming to Singapore, there's a high chance that you'll be facing such racism. You won't be shot or killed, but you might encounter some words which may leave a lasting impact on you. Be prepared.
Source : https://www.quora.com/Do-Indians-in-Singapore-face-racism-and-if-so-what-forms-does-it-take
By : Anushya Lakshmi, lives in Singapore
Answered Nov 10, 2017
Yes, they do.
And there's only one form I can think of right now, and that is Casual Racism.
Casual racism doesn't mean casually shooting Indians for being in someone's country(aka America) or casually throwing rocks and stones at them. It is just... Casual. When people unintentionally engage in negative stereotypes about people from a certain race or religion, that's casual racism. And it can be found almost everywhere in Singapore.
Before we go deeper though, we must first ascertain whether you're talking about "Singaporean" Indians or "Indian" Indians. If you're a Singaporean Indian, then you probably won't be facing many of the problems said below.
1) "Indians always have smelly hair!" ~ Chinese girl who was my frenemy.
I used to have such a hard time with this. Apparently, coconut oil is considered by many Chinese to smell worse than Durian, and that says a lot. And you see, I had studied in India for 2 years and then came back to Singapore. So obviously I brought back my Indian habits when I came back to Singapore and one of that was applying coconut oil on my hair. And I had faced many difficulties because of this.
I remember during my primary school, a Chinese girl was sitting right behind me when taking the SA2(Year end paper). If I'm not wrong, the girl had dropped her pen on the floor so she leaned forward to pick it up. And then she quickly flinched back, covering her nose and pretending to puke. Why? Because apparently she took in the "gross" smell of my hair. And I knew this because many of my friends who were sitting behind her had seen it happen and they told me about it once the exam was over. Apparently she also commented that “All Indians are smelly” even though the truth is far from that. I was immediately disgusted with that girl. And this was just one of the many incidents. At one point, I couldn't take it anymore and cried to my parents to let me stop using oil. I still don't use it, for fear of getting bullied. And guess what? I'm half bald now.
Damn it, you Indian advertisement. I shouldn't have believed you. Boys are running away from me instead of appreciating me for my super “silky and smooth” hair that you promise to give me.
2) You would be made fun of when you try to fit in.
Well as I said above, even though I'm actually a Singaporean Citizen, I still studied in India for 2 years and then came back. And when I did so, I had a hard time fitting in in my primary school.
One fine day, my classmates and I were on a bus, in a learning journey to Kampong Glam. To pass time, many of my classmates started singing songs like Wrecking Ball and Royals, which were one of the "hot" songs in those times. Since I knew the lyrics of the songs, I decided to join in the fun and sing along with them. And guess what? The moment I started singing, the whole bus turned silent. For one moment. And in the next, all I could hear was an enormous belly laughter coming from all the others in the bus. Some just smirked while others asked me things like, "Do you even know the song?". To say I was pissed off was an understatement. Just because I was Indian doesn't mean that I wouldn't know English songs. But of course, those kids didn't realize that and kept laughing.
Also, now in my secondary school, a lot of Indian scholars have entered. After some time, they try to fit in and say things like "lah" and "walao". Let me tell you this. If people didn't know they were Indian scholars, they would probably think that these are just normal Singaporeans, because the way they say it is actually quite normal. But because they all know that these kids are from India, many people always snicker when such things happen.
3) You would be made fun of when you do the "Indian-ish" things.
Be it writing with a cursive handwriting, or with a heavy Indian accent, you'll always be screwed over by others.
When I came back from India, I would always write using my cursive handwriting. And guess what happened? Many students and even teachers would comment that they couldn't read my handwriting. At first I could understand, after all they've never been used to such things so it's pretty obvious that they will have difficulty reading it. But then there were some people who made it a point to make fun of me whenever I used my cursive handwriting. Because of this, I forced myself to change my handwriting into the standard one. Of course, none of these problems continued in my secondary school. It was only in my primary school, which was also the breeding place for immature pieces of poop.
Anyways, the more obvious problem would be when you use your strong Indian accent. People almost always judge you and make fun of you for it. And the endless memes doesn't really help either.
I spent so many years trying to make you perfect…only to let you go. Damn you, cursive writing.
4 ) You would hear some "funny" things from others.
This can be seen everywhere honestly. I hear things like "Go back to India lah!" or "Black!" every single time. In schools, mostly. Most of them are not aimed towards me but towards other people who are actually from India.
This is mostly said in a humorous way though, especially after you make a mistake is maths or other subjects where Indians are expected to excell. And many Indians also take these comments as a joke and move on. So it's not really as if the non-indian Singaporeans are trying to hurt us. They're just blissfully ignorant.
5) Your infamous “head shake” will be made fun of.
I don't know why but we Indians seem to do this weird head shaking thing. If someone asks us something, we say “yes” and do the head shake. If the answer is “no”, we still do the same head shake. I guess it comes naturally to us. And the Chinese and Malays here have picked up on it. So many times, they will ask you a question, just to make fun of you, and then giggle and exaggerate your head shake while trying to do it themselves. It's so annoying.
A guide to Indian head shakes.
6) You would hear some “funny” things about you and the IT field.
In my school, there are many who say things like “Oi, you Indian tech support,” and “Next time you work in IT ah?”. I guess after some time Indians just get used to these remarks. But it's still pretty annoying to know that many others still stereotype you as an engineer or an IT person when what you want to do in the future is the complete opposite of these fields.
Of course, I'm not saying that all non-indian Singaporeans are like this. It's just a few, immature ones. And after experiencing all these, when you look back, all you want to do is to laugh at these people. Because these kids never actually intended to hurt me, they just thought it was funny.
Anyway, if you're an Indian coming to Singapore, there's a high chance that you'll be facing such racism. You won't be shot or killed, but you might encounter some words which may leave a lasting impact on you. Be prepared.
Source : https://www.quora.com/Do-Indians-in-Singapore-face-racism-and-if-so-what-forms-does-it-take
