I remember once, a Chinese Singaporean ex-classmate of mine
wrote on her facebook "I am not 100%". She later clarified that she
meant that she has some indonesian ancestory. She uses the word
'Singaporean' in reference to race, and there is nothing wrong with
that.
However, whenever any of my Indian Singaporean classmates would
refer to their race as Singaporean, the Chinese Singaporeans would
say things like "your race is Indian, not Singaporean", while they
themselves think of themselves as members of the Singaporean
race.
I personally feel that there is nothing wrong with identifying
onself with nationality instead of race, like in France, but this
is different. In this case, when the word 'Singaporean' is used, it
only refers to Chinese Singaporeans. They seem to think that
Chinese Singaporeans are members of the 'Singaporean race' while
non-chinese Singaporeans, even the Malays, are whatever other races
they are of.
What do you make of this? Has things like the 'Speak Mandarin
campaign' gone to certain people's heads?
