sin eng-4 - culture in singapore

RAFFLES INSTITUTION

The Importance Of Culture Among Youths In

Singapore

Year 2 Research Education 2011

Group Members

Muhammad Ridhwan (2G)

Raiyan See (2G)

Syafiq (2G)

Shohib Marican (2G)

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We would like to express our gratitude to the following individuals for their kind assistance

and cooperation, without which the completion of this Design For Change project would not

have been possible.

Mrs Heryanti Suhaimy, our Research Education teacher mentor, for taking her time off to

consult with us, to advise us on the direction we are taking, to propose new ideas and

suggestions, to access the effectiveness of our proposals, to vet our reports and presentations

and for being an understanding teacher mentor who is always ready to help and who always

encourages us to strive for the better.

Our interviewees, Muhammad Alfian and Mr Abdul Wahab Marican for taking valuable

time off work to give us a better understanding of the current problems faced by youths today

regarding their own individual cultures, as well as providing us with relevant information

relating to the three different cultures in Singapore to aid in the completion of our Design For

Change project.

Last but not least, all those who have contributed in completing the online surveys. Without

whom, we would not have come up with such an effective course of action during the Action

Week.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Choice of Topic

1.2 Rationale for Choice

1.3 Aims and Objectives

1.4 Target Audience

1.5 Proposed Course of Action

2.0 BACKGROUND RESEARCH

2.1 History of Cultures in Singapore

2.2 Who is affected?

2.3 Severity of Current Situation

2.4 Solutions for the issue

2.5 How did we arrive at the Solutions?

3.0 PREPARATION FOR ACTION WEEK

3.1 Brief Description of Action Plan

3.2 Work Allocation

3.3 Timeline of Tasks

3.4 Resource Management

3.5 Risk Management

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3.6 Who Is Involved?

3.7 Survey

3.7.1 Survey data analysis

3.8 Interviews

4.0 ACTION WEEK

4.1 Actions, Processes and Impact of Actions

5.0 REFLECTIONS

5.1 Objectives Met/ Why?

5.2 Objectives Not Met/ Why?

5.3 Our Thoughts

5.3.1 ‘I Can’ Reflection

5.3.2 Strengths and Weaknesses of Team

5.3.3 Challenges Encountered Within Team

5.3.4 Learning Points

5.3.5 Improvements to be made

Bibliography

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1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Choice of Topic

We have chosen the topic of the importance of cultures in Singapore. As Singapore is a

multiracial society, we want to encourage youths to be more knowledgeable about the

different cultures in Singapore to ensure that they would learn to be more tolerant towards

each other.

1.2 Rationale for Choice

Singapore is growing to be more diverse and multicultural. Hence, Singaporeans have to be

very tolerant towards each other as people have different backgrounds and cultures.

Without the knowledge on the various cultures in Singapore such as the Chinese, Malay and

Indian cultures, people will not be able to get along well with one another as the unique

practices of a specific culture might not seem to be appropriate by other people. Therefore,

by gaining insights into the various cultures in Singapore, youths will gain a deeper

understanding of the different practices carried out by each ethnic group and will grow to

be more tolerant and understanding.

1.3 Aims and Objectives

We have embarked on this Design for Change project with an objective in mind. Through

this project, our objective is to make a change for the better by encouraging youths to be

more knowledgeable and gain a deeper understanding of the different cultures in

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Singapore – Malay, Chinese and Indian culture, by helping them discover more about the

various cultures through a variety of ways which includes informative posters and games.

1.4 Target Audience

The course of action that will be carried out by our group during the Action Week will be

aimed at impacting youths aged 13-15. The current lack of emphasis on the different

cultures in Singapore is a worrying problem as youths will forget their roots and will not be

able to associate themselves well with their own culture when they grow up in future.

Therefore, this project is targeted at a younger audience to ensure that youths will not

forget the significance of their own cultures when they grow older.

1.5 Proposed Course of Action

After much research work, our group has created a course of action that would be carried

out during Action Week. An informative booth will be set-up at the RI Main Atrium from

19-21 July 2011 from 2.30 – 3.30pm to allow students to learn more about the different

cultures in Singapore and the important role that culture plays in this multicultural society.

In addition, students will also be able to discover more about traditional games by playing

them as we will be going around the school, mainly the Junior Block to introduce these

games to students. This action plan will definitely be able to benefit students as it is fun,

educational and interactive at the same time.

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2.0 BACKGROUND RESEARCH

2.1 History of Cultures in Singapore

Each of the different cultures in Singapore has its own unique background and history.

Although each culture might be very different from one another, Singaporeans of various

backgrounds still come together as a united and multiracial society. Today, the youths of

Singapore play an important role of passing down the traditions to the next generation and

we can follow in the footsteps of our forefathers who have come together as one nation

despite being in differing ethnic groups to help Singapore prosper.

2.2 Who is affected?

In Singapore’s modern society today, the youths play the important role of passing down

the traditions of various cultures to the next generation of teenagers in Singapore. If youths

are not knowledgeable about their cultures and do not understand the importance of it,

passing down traditions to the next generation will be a very difficult task. Therefore, the

group of people who would be affected the most by the problem of the lack of cultural

awareness is youths.

2.3 Severity of Current Situation

The problem of the lack of awareness about the different cultures among youths can give

rise to other related problems such as the lack of tolerance. When youths do not

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understand the different cultural backgrounds of each other, they will not be able to accept

the practices of other cultures. Hence, the level of tolerance among youths will drop due to

the lack of knowledge and understanding of the different cultures in Singapore.

2.4 Solutions for the Issue

After conducting surveys and doing much research work, our group has come up with a 7-

day action plan. Our plan of action which will be carried out during the Action Week keeps

in mind the purpose of educating students about the importance of culture and

encouraging youths to associate themselves to their own individual culture by experiencing

activities related to the three main cultures in Singapore – Malay, Chinese and Indian

cultures. Our group will come up with an educational poster which allows students to

better understand the reason behind the importance of culture in our daily lives and

interesting snippets/ quick facts about the different cultures in Singapore. In addition, our

group of four members will be going around the school campus to get students to

experience playing the different traditional games. From these activities, we hope to

encourage youths to be more knowledgeable about the different cultures as they play an

important role in uniting everyone together as one people.

2.5 How did we arrive at the Solutions?

From the surveys conducted, we observed that many students in RI are not well acquainted

with their own individual cultures. Therefore, the most effective way is to set up a booth to

educate students about the importance of culture and tolerance in the community. Through

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this way, students will not only get to learn but to appreciate and associate themselves with

their cultures.

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3.0 PREPARATION FOR ACTION WEEK

3.1 Brief Description of Action Plan

An informative booth containing a poster with information on the importance of cultures in

our daily lives and snippets of the various cultures in Singapore will be set-up at the RI

Main Atrium from 19-21 July 2011 from 2.30 – 3.30pm to allow students to gain a better

understanding about the different cultures in Singapore and the important role that culture

plays in this multicultural society. In addition, our group will be going around the school to

introduce traditional games to students so that they will be able to discover more about

traditional games by playing them. This action plan will bring benefits to students as the

activities are fun, educational and interactive

3.2 Work Allocation

In this Design For Change project, many components are required to be completed. Firstly,

there is the survey, where survey questions have to be crafted carefully. Secondly, is the

seven-day action plan. For this, team members have to work together to come up with an

action plan or solution to improve on the current situation faced by the majority of youths

today. Next, the project report has to be completed including the abstract, introduction,

survey results, methodology and the rest of the components. With so many tasks to be

completed, the work load needs to be allocated accordingly, to ensure that deadlines are

met promptly.

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For the crafting of the survey questions every group member contributed at least 2 or more

questions. Next, the group members came together during the Research education period

to brainstorm solutions that would be effective to improve the current situation. After

coming up with ideas, we as a group, decided to set up a booth and design an informative

and visually attractive poster that would capture the attention of students. Furthermore,

the action plan included the traditional games. The report was done by all the members.

Each of us was given a chapter of the report to write. After everyone completed their part,

the different parts were incorporated to produce the final report.

3.3 Timeline of Tasks

The survey questions were completed by term 2, week 2. The survey questions had to be

crafted early because the data from the results were very important as it serves as a

primary source of information to assess how knowledgeable youths are about the various

cultures. Secondly, the action plan for Action Week was completed by term 3, week 1 to

prepare for the Action Week that took place in term 3, week 4, from 19-21 July 2011 at the

RI main atrium. After the completion of the action plan, the poster designs were prepared

by term 3, week 2 to ensure that finishing touches and modifications were given sufficient

time to be completed. In addition, the final report was to be finalized by term 3, week 6 for

the submission to our respective teacher mentor. The oral presentation was also finished

by term 3, week 6 to ensure that there was enough time for each group member to prepare

cue cards for the actual presentation itself.

3.4 Resource Management

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For our Design For Change project, our group does not require much funding as the

materials needed are not expensive and are not needed in large quantities. The only

funding needed is for the poster and the traditional games. For the poster, the plastic board

is already provided. Hence, our group only needs to pay for the cost of printing the relevant

articles that will be pasted onto the plastic board. Coloured papers are also needed to make

the poster even more appealing to students.

In the area concerning manpower, our number of people in the group is already sufficient

to carry out the different activities proposed during the Action Week. The group will be

stationed at the RI Main atrium after school from 19-21 July 2011 to supervise the booth.

Furthermore, our group does not require any other for of help from other individuals as we

will be able to go around the school to introduce the traditional games of different cultures

to students from the different levels. For the time factor, not much time is needed as the

activities can be done in a rather short time frame. Therefore, other involvements,

including CCAs would not be interrupted by this project.

3.5 Risk Management

In the process of completing this project, our group has taken a few risks but we still try

our best to keep to our specific deadlines and requirements. For some of tasks given, we

were unable to manage and prioritise our time well. Thus, we end up having to rush

through some parts of the project in order to meet the deadline of the submission of these

tasks. Despite this problem, our group managed to keep to our plan and timeline. Thus, we

were still able to complete tasks given on time and produce good quality work.

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3.6 Who Is Involved?

In our Design For Change project, the parties involved in this project are our group

members and the students who will visit our booth that is located at the RI Main Atrium.

Furthermore, we will also be going around the school to introduce the different traditional

games to students. Therefore, the students who participate in playing these games will also

be involved in the completion of the project.

3.7 Survey

The survey questions are carefully crafted to test the awareness of youths about the three

different cultures in Singapore. In addition, the survey responses will allow us to find out if

youths today really care and know about the importance of culture.

We are a group of students from Raffles Institution and we are conducting a survey

to assess how much you know about the various cultures in Singapore. Please fill in

this survey with your honest answers. We really appreciate your time in helping us

complete this survey.

1. Do you think culture is important?

Very Important

Important

Not Important

Useless

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2. Why do you think Culture is important?

It helps us to understand our selves better

It helps us to preserve our roots.

It can serve as a purpose to unify a community

Not Important

It makes us unique and differentiates us from the rest

Other:

From here onwards, there will be a few questions on the different cultures within Singapore.

3. Is Hari Raya Puasa the Muslim’s New Year?

Yes

No

4. Are the moon cake festivals and the lantern festivals the same?

Yes

No

5. What is the dot on the Indian woman's head?

Bindi

Fullstop

Puttu

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6. Do you agree with the statement that most racial problems are caused with a lack

of tolerance due to lack of understanding of the different culture?

Yes

No

7. Singapore is a multiracial society, do you think that learning about cultures helps

us to tolerate one another better?

Yes

No

8. Do you agree that to understand other's culture, you must first have a good grasp of your own?

Yes

No

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3.7.1 Survey Data Analysis

1. Do you think culture is important?

2. Why do you think Culture is important?

Answer No. Of responses

Percentage

Very Important

16 40%

Important 19 48% Not Important

4 10%

Useless 1 3%

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Answer No. of responses

Percentage

It helps us to understand our selves better 8 20%

It helps us to preserve our roots. 19 46% It can serve as a purpose to unify a community

8 20%

Not Important 3 7%

It makes us unique and differentiates us from the rest

1 2%

Others 2 5%

3. Is Hari Raya Puasa the Muslim’s New Year?

Answer No. of responses Percentage

Yes 15 37%

No 25 61%

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4. Are the moon cake festivals and the lantern festivals the same?


Yes 23 56%

No 18 44%

5. What is the dot on the Indian woman's head?


Bindi 25 61%

Fullstop 4 10%

Puttu 11 27%

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6. Do you agree with the statement that most racial problems are caused with a lack

of tolerance due to lack of understanding of the different culture?


Yes 36 88%

No 4 10%

7. Singapore is a multiracial society, do you think that learning about cultures helps

us to tolerate one another better?

Answers No. of responses Percentage

Yes 37 90%

No 4 10%

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8. Do you agree that to understand other's culture, you must first have a good grasp of your own?


Yes 32 78%

No 8 20%

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3.8 Interviews

For this project we interviewed firstly, Muhammad Alfian Bin Aman from 2Q and Abdul

Wahab Marican, a freelance tour-guide, self employed in the service industry and also a

motivational speaker. We decided on the two of them as I think they can provide us with

two differing viewpoints as they are complete opposites with one being experienced and

more of a traditional mindset while one is more modern. Also we can get a feel as to how

our target audience would respond as Alfian represents our target audience. I feel that

Abdul Wahab Marican is an expert in culture as he is a tour guide well versed in the

cultures of Singapore. He too does cultural workshops for EDN and the likes thus the

combination of these two interviews should provide us with a balanced insight on what we

should be tackling.

Interview Transcript:

1. Do you think culture is important and why do you think so?

Abdul Wahab Marican’s response

Yes I always feel culture is important since culture is what makes us unique. Without

culture, there won’t be a Singapore, we will just be another faceless country obsessed with

the west. However if we uphold our culture, Singapore can still have an identity. We are a

multicultural society, which have tolerated each other for years. Our cultures are what

define us to be as one. We are many, but we come together to form Singapore, to nurture

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Singapore, to make Singapore what it is today. We have to preserve our culture. Other than

making us unique, it makes sure we don’t forget our roots. Our cultures are what keeps us

grounded. It helps us to understand our past more therefore not allowing us to be too

obsessed with the idea of progress and take a step back to appreciate the simple things in

life such as our traditions. Also, with culture we all will be able to learn all the values which

our forefathers have been passing down. These Asian values which are held close to our

heart. Such as the Thai Pu Sam festival, where they poke themselves! This is a true sign of

faith! Can you see this in the western culture? No. We have to preserve our culture. Also we

have to understand our own culture before we can learn to tolerate other cultures. This is

why we have to learn cultures. Before we can tolerate we must understand and to

understand others first, we must understand ourselves. Then can we develop our empathy

towards other Cultures. This is why. We have to preserve culture.

Alfian’s response

People always say culture is important in your life because well, you should never forget

your roots and where you came from. But personally, I think culture is not important.

Firstly, it does not bring any benefit to you if you know every single thing about culture,

because you can’t get into Oxford anyway with that knowledge of culture, and in addition to

that, Singaporeans nowadays have a different mindset – they are now more materialistic

and getting a good job, with a big house, big car, etc is what their goal is. Thus, since culture

does not play a part in helping Singaporeans achieve this I do not think culture is

important.

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I also think culture is a waste of time because in my culture, the Malay culture, there are

some restrictions and that sort. An example would be the stages before you get married. If I

were to get married in 10 years, I would prefer getting married straightaway and not

wasting time and money because if I were to follow what has been encouraged in the Malay

culture, I would have to propose, get engaged, send in gifts, put on henna, solemnization,

get bathed in lime water, and lastly, the wedding ceremony. If I were to have it my own

way, I would only have solemnization and the wedding ceremony. This would in total save

a whole lot of money and time.

Lastly, the use of technology has more effect on everyone faster and better than the

knowledge of one’s culture. People nowadays are too focused on their own electrical

devices to the extend that they won’t have time to learn and get to know more about their

culture because I believe they don’t even think it’s that important to deserve their

attention. This just shows how irrelevant culture is in today’s context.

People always say culture is important in your life because well, you should never forget

your roots and where you came from. But personally, I think culture is not important.

Firstly, it does not bring any benefit to you if you know every single thing about culture,

because you can’t get into Oxford anyway with that knowledge of culture, and in addition to

that, Singaporeans nowadays have a different mindset – they are now more materialistic

and getting a good job, with a big house, big car, etc is what their goal is. Thus, since culture

does not play a part in helping Singaporeans achieve this I do not think culture is

important.

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4.0 ACTION WEEK

4.1 Actions, Processes and Impact of Actions

For our action week, we did a poster for our school organized Design For Change week.

This poster was then placed on a board in the main atrium for three days (19-21 July

2011). We were assigned to stay there and explain our projects to interested people. We

would also give explanations on the importance of culture and also various snippets of

interesting facts on our very colourful cultures right here in Singapore.

We went and explain how people travel all over the world to experience different cultures,

but do not even appreciate the diverse cultures that are already here in our own backyard.

Moreover we also went around the whole year 1-4 campus for day 4 and 5 to educate the

school on cultures. We used an interesting tactic by introducing to them a cultural game

and after teaching them how to play it, we would then proceed to explain the importance of

culture before approaching the next person.

For day 6, 3 of the group members proceeded to participate in the Malay traditional

instruments performance and subsequently thought the juniors how to play this

instrument to show that we can walk the walk in this project. Lastly, we spent a day

explaining to our class on the importance of culture and also teach the class a simple

kompang beat to cap it all off. We may have started small but I believe that this can cause

the ripple effect and our small contribution will snowball and become a big change in

Singapore’s society. From this project, students were able to benefit from the activities as

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they became more aware of the importance of culture and how culture unites people from

different backgrounds as one society and one nation.

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5.0 REFLECTIONS

5.1 Objectives Met/ Why?

Our objectives, as stated in the introduction were to educate our target audience on the

importance of culture and we think that we have achieved this. We managed to convey our

message across to a large spread of our students - target audience and we know and

believe that this can spark a change in the mindsets of youths towards culture. We really

think that we had successfully carried out the project in a fun and engaging way and our

participants have benefitted from it.

5.2 Objectives Not Met/ Why?

However, we cannot be too sure as to if we succeeded as there is no clear measure of how

well we executed our project. It is all very subjective. Also I feel that maybe more thought

could have been given on how we could approach the action week and perhaps do more in

terms of that. Also, maybe our survey was also a little to superficial and we should test

more deeper knowledge like common misconceptions that may lead to racial tensions.

Other than that though I felt that our project was a success!

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5.3 Our Thoughts

5.3.1 ‘I Can’ Reflection

I can. That is the attitude that we all have gained after going through this Design For

Change process. We took a problem that can split the society, and we tried to solve it in our

community. We started small. But, this effort goes a long way into preventing racial

tensions that may jeopardize the safety of the nation. Really, I can is the attitude. Four 14

year old students can make a difference in the country today after going through this

process. We can prevent nations from collapsing. We can solve big problems at a small

scale.

5.3.2 Strengths and Weaknesses of Team

Our team’s strength was perhaps our creativity and our ingenuity. We were able to create

things out of nothing. We also have good teamwork and are committed to the task at hand.

Not afraid of burning the midnight oil. Our topic was not the most creative one, but how we

approached it perhaps can be an effective way. We managed to pull a rabbit out of a hat as

we managed to fulfil all requirements despite our lack of time due to our busy schedules.

Perhaps our main weakness was our time management. We procrastinated a lot especially

during the planning stages and ended up way far behind time. We should really try to

manage our time better. Perhaps a more detailed schedule may help in this aspect.

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5.3.3 Challenges Encountered Within Team

Our main challenges were perhaps our busy schedules. That is the main challenge, yes. We

are all involved in various sports CCAs thus, a lot of our free time was taken up. Also we

barely gave a thought to the task at hand, procrastinating all the way till the final few weeks

before the deadline. We also felt that maybe we all had a few misunderstandings at the

start due to our indecisiveness to choose a topic. Other than that, our challenges were

mainly brought about by our weaknesses.

5.3.4 Learning Points

A few learning points could be taken from this project. These include that no matter how

young we are and how insignificant our contributions might seem, we can make a change

for the better. We also have learnt to stop procrastinating and do work more consistently

instead of burning the midnight oil. We have also learnt many interesting facts about

different cultures and also how all of us come together to make the Singapore Spirit. This

sense of multiculturalism that translates into one whole machine known as the Singapore

Spirit.

5.3.5 Improvements to be made

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A few improvements can be made to further improve on our project in the future. These

improvements include our attitude towards the project, the survey and also the action plan.

Students interested in pursuing this topic further should survey the people and target

audience more in depth. Also, we think that the action plan can be made into a one week

cultural enhancement week which can run as a programme concurrent to the Mother

Tongue Week initiative that the government had just put in place. This will then make the

whole project more effective.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Electronic Sources:

(2009, October 07). Speeches. Ministry of Education Singapore. Retrieved August 09,

2011, from http://www.moe.gov.sg/media/speeches/2009/10/07/unesco-35-

session.php

(2010). Singapore Culture. Best Singapore Guide. Retrieved June 4, 2011, from

http://www.best-singapore-guide.com/Singapore-culture.html

(2011). Singapore Cultural Statistics 2011. 64. Retrieved August 6, 2011, from

http://app.mica.gov.sg/

M. (2010). What Brings Us Together?. Resonance, (14), 12. Retrieved August 06, 2011,

from http://app.mica.gov.sg/

Papers:

H. (2010, August 09). Embracing all cultures. The Straits Times, Life. 10.

H. (2011). Notes. Bonding Singapore, 8.

sin eng-4 - culture in singapore

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