Shocked!

Living in Singapore, I am certain that most of us have had the chance of experiencing cultures that differ from our own (which proves to be really beneficial at times). I would like to adopt a different approach for this assignment, that is: summarising the view of a foreigner towards the way of life in Singapore, e.g. how my maid views my family when she first arrived.

1. Food Culture

There are 2 ways that my family go about eating. First, we adopt the conventional method of using utensils of course, e.g. spoon, fork and chopsticks. Alternatively, we use our barehands to savour some of the delicacies from Pizza Hut or KFC (which is a lot more convenient in certain occasions!). When my maid saw the latter, she was a little disgusted. According to the practices in her hometown, they use their right hand to eat; NEVER their left hand. Does anyone know why? :)

In addition, there was once when my family went to a relatively traditional restaurant to celebrate my grandma's 70th birthday. On the table, we were just given a spoon made of glass, and a pair of chopsticks. My maid had a lot of difficulty trying to use the chopsticks, probably because she has never used that before. However, my aunt was being difficult with her, because she thought that the maid was being disrespectful, e.g. she said: "the least she could do is to try to eat with those chopsticks..."

2. Language Barrier

In Singapore, many of the people from the older generation are relatively fluent in Bahasa Melayu, and that also includes my parents. As my maid did not receive much education, thus her command of the English Language is extremely weak, and this of course caused much problems amongst the family!

There was once when my maid cooked french fries, and my brother asked for ketchup to go with it. She was extremely puzzled, because ketchup in Bahasa Indonesia refers to sweet sauce. How would you react in my brother's situation if you saw sweet sauce on your piping hot fries?

On another occasion, my mum was talking to my maid in the room, and she told the maid to pusing kipas angin, and the phrase in Bahasa Melayu refers to turning the fan. However, it was very unfortunate for my maid, because the very same phrase does not make any sense in Bahasa Indonesia. In fact, pusing stands for headache. Thus, what registered for my maid was: headache of the fan. Eventually, she got scolded by my mum, because my mum thought that she was trying to be funny.

To summarise this post, I would like to say that one should be tolerant of differences in culture, and not make assumptions that any culture is universally correct or accepted, because that is usually not the case (as we have seen from the numerous examples brought up in class as well). Hence, it would definitely serve us well in the long run if we are better exposed to various cultures (both by reading and having first-hand experience)!

Potential Research Topic

Last semester, I took the module SSA2215: The Biophysical Environment of Singapore, and I was appalled at my lack of knowledge of the current environmental problems my country is facing. Having been brainwashed for 24 years, one would think that Singapore is actually still the Clean and Green Lion City that we once were. It is imperative that we get our act together, and actively take part in the conservational efforts that are currently in place. After all, it is one thing to be aware, and another thing all together to be a part of the solution.

For purposes of contextualisation, I have decided to study the attitude of the NUS population towards environmental conservation. If one pays attention to the both the email circulars and the posters that have been put up in campus, one would know that the university is actually actively involved in many conservational efforts. 3 of the initiatives are listed as follows:

1. Save3s: Double-sided printing or electronic submission through IVLE

In conjunction with the launch of SAVE3s campaign, NUSSU SAVE is proud to announce that the Office of Provost for both Undergraduate and Graduate Studies has allowed the submission of all assignments, reports, papers and thesis electronically through IVLE or on double sided print.

2. Zer0Waste: Recycle your unwanted notes after exams

During the examination period, a new pilot project called ZerOWaste will be carried out in MPSH to allow students to recycle used paper. Recycling bins will be placed outside the MPSH exams hall to facilitate this. In addition to this, paper recycling bins will be placed at the various halls' offices during and after the exam period for students to recycle unwanted paper.

3. Rebate2Earth Campaign – Reduce the Use of Plastic Bags on Campus

NUSSU Students Against the Violation of the Earth (NUSSU SAVE), in collaboration with the Office of the Provost, the Campus Sustainability Committee and NUS Co-op, has launched its Rebate2Earth Campaign on Monday 4th February 2008. This means that NUS Co-op will no longer be dispensing free plastic bags for purchases made at its stores. Instead, plastic bags will be available at $0.10 each. The proceeds collected from the sale of plastic bags will be deposited into a coin box at the cashier’s counter and will go towards supporting future environmental projects in NUS.

In this section, I would attempt to give a detailed description of my project proposal.

Research Topic:

To investigate the level of involvement of NUS students in environmental conservation efforts organised by the campus.

Hypothesis:

The majority of NUS students know the existence of conservational efforts that are already in place in the campus, but are choosing not to be involved.

Problem Statement:

The objective of this study is to explore the various approaches which can get NUS students to be interested enough, such that they would be actively involved in the university's environment conservational efforts.

Purpose Statement:

The objective of this research is to inform both staff and students in NUS of the increasing number of students that do not actively participate in the university's environment conservational efforts despite their awareness of campaigns which are already in place. Another objective is to understand the reasons for the laidback attitude that NUS students adopt towards environmental conservation, so that possible measures can be in place to correct this attitude.

Reason(s) for an Attitudinal Survey:

As the attitude of NUS students is of utmost importance in this project, it is clear why an attitudinal survey is mandatory.

*Edited on 8th September 2008 (2200 hours)

The light at the end of the tunnel...

Dear friends,

Tom has read all your comments, and he wishes to express his heartfelt thanks to each and everyone who posted. His response is as follows:

Susanto: As much as I would like to speak to my Dad, the environment in my family is really not conducive for that; its probably just the way my family members express their love for one another, i.e. quietly caring for one another. Hence, I think its a really difficult task to bring that up to my Dad. In addition, this is really a sensitive issue, and I have no idea how to go about bringing that up to him... You are right in saying that his acts are unlawful, and the morally right approach would be to report this to respectful authorities such that the interests of the maid is protected. However, there is also the moral issue in having to prosecute one's father right?

Wei Chung: I really agree with you that this a very tough situation. In fact, Desmond was also stumped when I painted him the scenario. Of course, I am really grateful to him for bringing this up in his assignment. With regards to your advice to bringing this up to my Mum, I am afraid that this would not be a suitable approach, because that might just cause my family to break up.

Vijani: Thanks for your kind advice, but sending the maid away would be the last thing I would do. As mentioned previously, the maid is already a part of my family. Also, who can guarantee that my Dad would not repeat his actions in the presence of a newly employed maid?

Joyce: I think making him aware of his actions sounds like a good idea, because for all we know, his actions are unintentional (maybe he was under the influence of alcohol)! However, I do not know how to go about doing this. The other advice you have given is actually what I have currently adopted, that is to ensure that at no point in time my Dad and maid are alone together. In fact, that was also Desmond's advice :-)

Once again, thank you everyone!

- Tom

P.S.: I have edited Tom's response, in particular the vocabulary and grammar, but not the contents.