Trusting Our Basic Instincts

The fact that a lot of ink - ink, not blood - has been spilt by commentaries over a polytechnic lecturer's query about nurses banned from wearing tudungs is solid proof that religious tolerance is alive and well in Singapore. In the bad old days, any mention of a subject touching on race, language or religion will have you hauled away by the boys in blue, or men in white coats, depending on your final destination of police lock-up or mental institute.

Mother Teresa's headgear

Chong, one of 11 forum participants to share their thoughts on racial harmony, told those assembled that nursing students had to remove their Muslim scarves before going on clinical attachments or starting full time work in hospitals. He was referring to the piece of cloth used as head-covering like a shawl, not the keffiyeh or hijab that leaves only the eyes exposed, or the full body veiled burka attire of the NTUC day care center employee who hurt a little boy's leg. When you think about it, most nuns, eminently Mother Teresa, covered their hair when making hospital rounds.

More surprisingly, we learnt from another panelist, Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) Eugene Tan, that there is an "unwritten state policy" that front line officers working in the police force, nursing and at immigration checkpoints should not wear the tudung.  One always thought that the staff had a choice of working at the front-desk, or at the back-room, the latter being a safer refuge from unreasonable and irascible customers. Incidentally, how can you enforce a policy that is not written down?

Another NMP asked if Singapore can move beyond the "crutches" of self help groups like the Group Representative Constituency (GRC) system which is supposed to guarantee minority representation in parliament, "Do we have enough confidence as a people to say - let's give ourselves a chance, and see if we can survive, see if we can enhance trust by trusting our basic instincts?" Ah, but he forgot the "unwritten state policy" behind the GRC system, which allowed Mah Bow Tan to enter parliament after being roundly defeated by Chiam See Tong with 60.3% of the votes in 1984. Singapore has indeed progressed in racial harmony, but trust in its own people is still wanting.