Missed Opportunity in Harmony

Categories: Singapore

A 2.5 m diameter ball, dubbed the "Great Ball of Harmony" will kick off the North East Community Development Council's Racial Harmony Month next month. The ball will make the rounds of HDB estates under the North East CDC. Residents are encouraged to write down their goals for harmony.

This Harmony Ball idea is a good one because it makes people aware of Racial Harmony. However, I felt that this is something which is very superficial. People tend to have very short memory. Today they write some aspirations on the ball, tomorrow they are back to their old ways. Writing aspirations on the ball is not so much a pledge but more of a novelty. How often do you have a 2.5m-diameter ball making its round around the housing estates? What is more important is to make people understand each other's beliefs. With more understanding, there will be more tolerance. With time, tolerance will bring about acceptance.

Currently, there are many activities that promote racial harmony. In school, there is Racial Harmony Day where school children are encourage to dress in their traditional dress, and posters put up to explain each racial cultures. On the constituency level, there are visits to places of worship. However such activities only target a certain section of society, not to mention the carnival atmosphere may dilute the underlying message.

I feel a more lasting effects will be to have short clips introducing each racial cultures and beliefs. Such messages need not be in form of moving images but may just be in a slide show format. By doing so, nearly all segments of the society can benefit as anyone who tuned in to TV will get to appreciate each others beliefs and cultures. With the daily exposure to such messages, there is less likelihood of people forgetting such messages.

Currently, all the TV channels in Singapore is very vernacular; there is no overlap of programs shown by another vernacular channel. This will only serve to limit the exposure each racial group have to the already little interactions they have in their daily lives. As a result, if one watches say only the Chinese channels, he will not know what happens in the next channel and vice versa. This to a certain extend is unhealthy because one may go through everday life without knowing the going ons of the other racial groups. Considering that all the TV channels are under the same company, a good opportunity has been missed in the effort to promote racial harmony.

There is no getting away from the fact that we are of different racial groups and beliefs. To pretend that such differences did not exist is not practical. There can never be a homogeneous Singaporeans. It is better to admit that differences do exist and then work on common ground to reduce the differences. The Great Ball of Harmony is a good starting point, but the mass media is probably more effective in the long run.