South-East Asia must remain diverse and multicultural
A future in which the South-East Asian region is split in two, between rich elites and millions of the poor, is the biggest fear of academic Dr Farish A. Noor.
He paints a frightening picture of a small cluster of cosmopolitan “cafe latte-drinking, sushi-eating” elites “swimming on a sea of 600 million poor South-East Asians” who have no access to mobility.
Speaking at the recent Singapore Bicentennial Conference, the Associate Professor of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, he notes that families in the region are now more diverse, with many, especially Singaporeans marrying people from nearby countries.
But Farish, who says he is a Malaysian married to a Singaporean of Indonesian origin, warns against seeing cross-border marriages as a panacea and reminded everyone that such marriages are not just between elites.
“We do not celebrate these marriages when they are among the working classes,” he says. “That is the kind of slippage, the silencing that we need to be cautious about.”
Farish highlights that multiculturalism in the region was far richer before colonialism, and points to the need to adopt a regional,
Asean identity and embrace its complexity.
Prof Brenda Yeoh of National University of Singapore traces a history of diversity in Singapore, even as she notes possible reflections of colonial attitudes in how Singapore treats migrant workers.
Animated by the issues, the audience raises points ranging from “new colonialism” in the treatment of marginalised groups to tensions between a regional identity and a national one.
The founder of the Brahm Centre charity, Angie Chew, pinpoints Singapore’s “new colonial” attitude towards foreign maids and the LGBTQ community.
“If we are going to be inclusive... it is time we accepted these people as they are, without making them feel they are not good enough for our society,” she says.
Yeoh, says the “pride and prejudice” mentality of the colonialists left little room for mixing and asks if Singapore today may be approximating these attitudes.
Pointing to the “underlying optimism” of the speakers, Professor Kishore Mahbubani, former dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, argues, “In a world where multiculturalism is being challenged, how can South-East Asia still remain optimistic that it will be positive and successful in this dimension?”
The self-proclaimed pessimist-realist Farish says we need to stop harping on states and expecting states to perform miracles.
States, however powerful, cannot compel their citizens to love one another, he notes: “The state has to create avenues for understanding, genuine communication, ethical communication.”