On racism in Singapore:


A: I just want to say that I experience far less racism in Britain than I do in Singapore, where in so many aspects of so many encounters -- the way I speak, the way I dress, who I date, what I find amusing or interesting -- I am unceasingly judged on the basis of whether I am "Chinese" or "Singaporean" enough for my interlocutors. My skin colour is everything to many people in Singapore, but people here just don't give a damn. And I'm not talking about big city Londoners: I never get half so many stares walking down the high street with my boyfriend in small Westcountry towns (about as white as they come) as I do on Orchard Road. Anyone who's ever been in an interracial couple in Singapore can probably relate similar experiences. And ask many Indian, Malay or Eurasian people about "barely concealed racism" and I bet many of them will tell you there's no advantage on that score to being in Singapore over being in Britain.

I'm not saying you don't have to struggle against racial stereotype -- I do often get the sense that a fair number of people assume I'm incapable of irony, for instance, from the get-go. But by far the majority of my daily interactions indicate to me that people are more than willing to relinquish stereotypes and take me on my own terms, without regard to racial classification, given even half a reason why. Sadly I can't say the same about my experiences in Singapore.


B: Well as for racism in academia, I think I can safely say that there is
more racism -- even against Chinese people -- in Singaporean academia than in British academia (at least in Oxford, I can't say for other universities). I note how NUS has a penchant for employing an endless series of second-rate White faculty, who (if sufficiently pliant) quickly get promoted to department head (I'm thinking of *** in particular) over similarly if not better qualified candidates who merely had the misfortune of being born not-White.


C: Moving to London made me realize what a multi-cultural, multi-racial city is really like.