As Racial Harmony Day draws near, I thought it would be appropriate to recall a memorable experience of a particular incident on the bus in the June holidays. Honestly speaking, I would not have thought about posting this online(even though I was aware of it) if not for the fact that I was in charge of a Racial Harmony Day stall at school.
The weather was nice, not too hot but not too cold either. I was on bus 333, returning from the new tuition centre I had decided to try out in an attempt to improve my math results. Thinking about that crippling "C" still makes me wince. As I leaned on the window pane, staring at the clouds, I was rudely disturbed by the ear-piercing scream from the front of the bus. I reacted quickly to the abrupt sound, turning to with a raised eyebrow. A Chinese woman sat with her arms akimbo, her eyes narrowed into a sharp glare at a young, pale little boy who sat beside her. Her son? Most probably. In Mandarin, she blabbered away, scolding, "You shouldn't be reading on the bus! Close that comic book!" From afar, I could not really make out his facial expression but I could see that he obediently put away the book, without a word of dissent. Not long after, as we passed by the Jurong East Library bus stop, a family of three boarded the bus. They seemed to be Indian and consisted of a lady, her husband and their daughter, who coincidentally must have been about the same age as the young Chinese boy mentioned earlier. The family settled into the seats directly opposite the young boy and his mother. Whether it was a twist of fate or a chance encounter, I think no one would have expected the events that unfolded thereafter.
All of a sudden, the little Indian girl burst out in tears. Okay, maybe it was because I had dozed off and wasn't really aware of what was happening. The parents of the Indian girl tried to pacify their daughter, hugging her and muttering tiny words of comfort. She continued bawling. Frankly speaking, it was very, very annoying. Can't anyone have some rest on the bus? Just like in all action movies, there would be a righteous male hero who would save the damsel in distress. However, I did not ever think that this hero would turn out to be the Chinese boy. In an astonishing gesture of childlike innocence, he held out the comic book he was reading earlier on, as if offering it to her. She sniffed for quite some time before she took the book with her own little hands, flipping through the book with an awed expression on her face, still flushed from her crying before. As she composed herself slowly,the lady beside her quickly returned the book to the boy, a distinct smile on her face. Amazingly, this small act of kindness just helped solve an otherwise uncontrollable problem. Two children. Two races. One family.
It is very heartening yet mildly surprising to see that racial harmony still exists up till today. I mean, I never lived in the turbulent times when the PAP was first established but from all that I have read up on Singapore's History last year, I can gather that it was not so peaceful then as it is now. There were numerous racial riots erupting between the Malays, Eurasians as well as the Chinese. The lack of understanding between each race's customs and traditions as well as the manipulation of the media indirectly sparked riots such as the Maria Hertogh case, where the Malays and the Europeans fought over the custody of a Dutch girl raised in a Malay family. It is instances like this that truly test Singapore's claim as a multi-racial community where everyone is expected to abide to the principles of Equality. This principles have even been incorporated into our Singapore Pledge, thus holding us responsible for maintaining peace and harmony between the various races. I am sure that over the years, there must have been several instances whereby the different races inhabiting this island has clashed but over time, they have settled their differences. Singapore no longer experiences the traumatic times it used to go through everyday in the past but Singapore is still equally vulnerable to racial clashes. Hence, it is of substantial importance that we, the new generation sired to lead the next, learn to cooperate with one another, overcoming social and racial obstacles, and maintain the harmony that has been passed down from our forefathers.
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