Let’s Talk About Queer Chinese Privilege In Singapore
Discrimination against queer brown people and some possible solutions
Introduction
When Preeti Nair’s YouTube clip was taken down, and a 24-month conditional police warning issued [1] last year, it sparked conversations that were dying to be had in Singapore [2].
Facebook, YouTube and Twitter were instructed to take down her video [3], which they duly complied, as the Minister for Law, K. Shanmugam, mentioned that it was unacceptable [4] as it had violated the Penal Code [5].
However, playwright Alfian Sa’at points out that:
“The ones perpetuating racism get a wrist slap, the ones who call out acts of racism have the instruments of the state used against them — through the weaponisation of police reports, as well as minority MPs lining up to perform the over-policing of their own, as if to demonstrate to the majority that they’re still committed to majoritarian interests.” [6]
With a resident population comprising 74.3% Chinese, 13.4% Malays, 9.0% Indians, and 3.2% Others [7], the state has often reiterated that racial harmony is important.
Since 1997, every school celebrates Racial Harmony Day [8] on 21 July each year to commemorate the first day of the riots that happened in 1964, and politicians have repeatedly emphasised that there is nothing more important than maintaining racial harmony.
But underneath this respectable veneer lies a silent simmering tension [9] between the various races due to differences in power dynamics.
Many from the Chinese majority often seem largely ignorant of the plight faced by our Malay and Indian friends in Singapore, where they frequently face greater hurdles in obtaining employment [10], housing [11] and more.
In the queer community, this too seeps through.
Therefore, in this article, we will first run through a brief overview of what Chinese privilege in Singapore is. Then, we’ll examine how it affects queer brown people through a series of interviews. Finally, we discuss possible solutions to this long-standing problem.
A caveat
As a Singaporean Chinese person, I am well aware of my privilege and while I have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of all that is stated here, any remaining errors lie entirely with me.
Also, for some who claim that racism does not exist in Singapore, here is a comprehensive list of examples of racism [12] that someone has helpfully put together.
What is Chinese privilege?
Queer writer and activist, Sangeetha Thanapal, defines “Chinese privilege” as the “unearned advantages bestowed upon Chinese people in Singapore simply for being Chinese, which exist despite their gender, class, etc.”
A PhD candidate at RMIT working on the issue of Chinese privilege, she notes that queer Chinese people occupy a space called “opportunity and oppression” where they are oppressed for being queer, but are given opportunities for being Chinese.
“It is why they are the face of queerness in Singapore and why they monopolise and dominate the space. I also think it is why 377A is being challenged in a way racism never has been in Singapore — it is because it impacts Chinese people,” she points out.
How it affects the queer community
a) In the dating scene
Arjun* mentions that on Grindr, there are often Chinese men in Singapore who specifically indicate “No Indian men” in their bio, and points out that they not only want to avoid local Indian men, but are also avoiding Bangladeshi migrant workers on the app.
Moving away from the dating scene, even gay Meetup groups he’d signed up for tend to be heterogeneously Chinese where the silent power imbalance is felt by the only brown person in attendance.
b) All Chinese queer panels / excos
Jane*, an agender brown person, who has lived in 7 countries, remarks that Singapore is several steps behind the rest of the world in terms of discussion on the topic of the intersection between race and queerness.
Firstly, they note that in many queer groups she’d been a member of, that the executive committees are run solely by Chinese people. Because of that, when they once proposed to have a resource made exclusively for queer brown people in Singapore, they were told that “they’re not our target group.”
“But we exist!” — Jane
“I hold the queer community to a higher standard because we are already a minority, compared to cis-het Chinese men,” they add.
This is evident even in spaces that claim to be inclusive. In an event organised last year by media company Coconuts, they featured an all Chinese panel [13] even if they might represent different letters in the LGBTQ+ community.
c) Opportunities (or a lack of)
Sherry Sherqueshaa, an activist with Project X, explains how Chinese privilege manifests itself among trans sex workers.
When asked why there are more Malay trans sex workers than Chinese ones in Singapore, she said that she feels bad answering this question (posed to her several times before in other interviews).
She explains that when she was younger, she saw many fellow Malay trans females working as sex workers. “It was the first thing I noticed when I first transitioned,” she stated.
She clarifies that she cannot speak for all Malay trans sex workers, but is only sharing that for her, seeing how most of her peers got into sex work, it felt like she would too for a long time.
In contrast, most of the Chinese trans people she noticed, were still schooling, whether in polytechnics or universities.
This appears to be a reflection of the socio-economic differences between Chinese and Malay people in Singapore where different papers [14] [15] have highlighted a clear disparity in educational attainment, income levels and distribution among STEM jobs among the different race groups.
d) Lack of representation
Arjun notes that Pink Dot only chooses a “certain kind of minority (person), usually one that’s very educated and they don’t represent those who speak Tamil 90% of the time and listen to Tamil music 90% of the time.”
“Representation is very important.” — Arjun
“A lack of it creates social isolation,” he explains, but adds that “it’s not entirely their fault, but a problem of systemic inequality.”
He believes that it is important to allow minorities to develop their sexuality in an authentic way because currently, “you have to give up your ethnicity because of your sexuality.”
e) Exceptions
However, Timmy* points out that the older he gets, the more he feels that it’s not discrimination per se, but a matter of preference.
He goes on to elucidate that Grindr is a meat market where both racial preference and superficiality play a part. Many only want men with ripped bods of their type.
He hypothesises that as brown community on the platform is small and the majority are Chinese, so like heterosexuals who go for the same race as it is more convenient, gay men do the same.
In addition, Alex said that it was more their perceived queerness in school that got them into trouble rather than their race. They cited an incident where they were sporting a fresh crew cut in school, and was promptly hauled to the principal’s office for a dressing down for not conforming to hairstyles appropriate to afab students.
‘My struggle is firstly as a queer person, rather than as a brown person.” — Alex
Alex shared that when they walk around with their partner, people stare at them, trying to suss out their gender, which makes their dysphoria worse.
However, they did point out that there is an incident that stood out to them as a queer brown person.
Once on public transport with their ex-girlfriend, a man came up to and yelled at them, “You are a disgrace to society and the Malay community!”
Their girlfriend asked if they wanted to alight and if they were uncomfortable, but they calmly replied that they weren’t.
Alex wants to give other queer brown people exposure because “I am really outspoken and others are faceless.”
They find it important to do these sort of things and has set up skrrrt.central, a centralised platform for artists and musicians to flourish, giving priority to those who are queer and brown to showcase their work.
Possible solutions?
a) Create public conversations led by minorities
Timmy suggests that public conversations amongst minorities would be a good avenue to voice out any issues they might have without getting shut down by a Chinese voice.
“Just like women don’t like to be mansplained, we don’t want to be Chinese-gay-splained,” he pointed out.
“Just listen to us.” — Timmy
b) Lean into your discomfort
In addition, Jane reminds us that talking about race can be uncomfortable. “There is a reason for that discomfort and one needs to question why they feel that way,” they note.
“People need to lean into their discomfort instead of brushing it aside because it is important to hold space for minorities,” they added.
“Don’t say they are too sensitive when brown people tell you when they feel hurt.”
c) Lift each other up
Sherry feels that LGBT youth should help each other out as they are easily moved by what they see around them. This pertains to issues not only relating to sexual identity and is exacerbated by social media and dating apps.
She points out that on Grindr, a Malay person often gets less messages than a Chinese gay man, and instead of boasting about it, the latter would do good to tone it down.
d) Have clear policies and enforce them in queer spaces
Queer groups and safe spaces need to have and enforce clear wording for rules of engagement in those spaces, not just a generic ‘we will respect every person’s opinion’, is crucial.
“If someone is asking me to die (because of my race), I don’t want respect their opinion. I feel unsafe and I don’t even want to be in the same room as that person.”
“Also, like Sweden, not talking about it has the opposite effect of breeding racism instead of quelling it. Because Singapore likes to pretend it is all nice and dandy with racial harmony, racism then ferments due to a lack of open dialogue addressing issues that minorities face.” — Jane
d) Call out racism when you see it
Finally, they point out that queer Chinese people also need to call those of their own race out when the latter makes racist comments. Often, it seems like those belonging to the majority race will dismiss the concerns of brown people and that is precisely when Chinese people need to use their privilege to call people out.
Conclusion
The intersectionality of being brown and queer is something that often makes their lives in Singapore doubly hard.
“The queer community can hide from the general public, and a lot of people aren’t out in Singapore. But a person of colour can’t hide the colour of their skin.” — Jane
“Discrimination therefore affects you directly as a person of colour, but for the queer community, it often does not affect one directly,” they continued.
They explain that for a queer person who passes as straight, derogatory comments may be made in conversations with them, but not directly at them.
“The dynamics of the two are so different the same policies can’t be applied,” they add.
Instead of sweeping it under the rug, talking about things honestly is one way things can move forward. [16]
Perhaps that’s what Singapore needs — open and honest dialogue about difficult conversations, which will hopefully be a step closer to tackle the systemic inequality present in our country [17] today.
After all, if us queers claim to be truly inclusive, we cannot only include just those of your own race in our conversations, committees, and collaborations.
A question for you
What are your thoughts on the issue of queer Chinese privilege in Singapore? Let me know in the comments down below!
Note
*Names have been changed to protect the privacy of the individuals.
Bibliography
- Two Given Conditional Warning For Online Rap Video, Public Affairs Department, Singapore Police Force, 14 August 2019; https://www.police.gov.sg/media-room/news/20190814_others_two_given_conditional_warning_for_online_rap_video.
- Singapore government accuses YouTuber Preetipls of ‘blatant racism’ over rap, BBC News, 3 August 2019; https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-49205225
- Social media sites block satirical rap video in Singapore after government complaint, Reuters, Fathin Ungku and John Geddie, 2 August 2019; https://www.reuters.com/article/us-singapore-socialmedia/social-media-sites-block-satirical-rap-video-in-singapore-after-government-complaint-idUSKCN1US0K8?il=0
- Rap video by local YouTube star Preetipls on ‘brownface’ ad crosses the line, not acceptable: Shanmugam,The Straits Times, Adrian Lim, 30 July 2019; https://www.straitstimes.com/politics/rap-video-by-local-youtube-star-preetipls-on-brownface-ad-crosses-the-line-not-acceptable
- Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion or race and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony, Section 298A(a) of the Penal Code, Chapter 224, Revised Edition 2008, Singapore Statutes Online, Attorney-General’s Chambers; https://sso.agc.gov.sg/Act/PC1871#pr298-
- I’m actually starting to feel unsafe just existing as a minority in Singapore, Alfian Sa’at, 31 July 2019, https://www.facebook.com/alfiansaat/posts/10156608389667371
- Singapore in Figures 2019, The Singapore Department of Statistics. Ethnic Composition of the Resident Population, 2018, page 6 of 34; https://www.singstat.gov.sg/-/media/files/publications/reference/sif2019.pdf
- Racial Harmony Day in Singapore: 20 years on, The Straits Times, Toh Yong Chuan, 23 July 2017; https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/racial-harmony-day-in-singapore-20-years-on
- Brownface and Racism in Singapore, New Naratif, Ruby Thiagarajan, 1 August 2019; https://newnaratif.com/journalism/brownface-and-racism-in-singapore/
- Half of all Malays, Indians in Singapore feel discriminated against when applying for jobs: IPS survey, Business Insider Singapore, Rachel Genevieve Chia, 31 July 2019; https://www.businessinsider.sg/half-of-all-malays-indians-in-singapore-feel-discriminated-against-when-applying-for-jobs-ips-survey/
- ‘No Indians No PRCs’: Singapore’s rental discrimination problem, BBC News, Helier Cheung, 1 May 2014; https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-26832115
- Examples of Racism in Singapore, Visakan Veerasamy, @visakanv’s Singapore blog; http://www.visakanv.com/sg/examples-of-racism/
- The Anti-Manel: Real talk on the LGBTQ experience in Singapore [Coconuts Colloquium], Coconuts Singapore, 18 July 2019, https://coconuts.co/events/the-anti-manel-real-talk-on-life-as-lgbtq-coconuts-colloquium/
- The Economic Status of Malay Muslims in Singapore, Pang Eng Fong, Journal of the Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs, 1981, 3 (2), 148–161; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1437&context=lkcsb_research
- Socio-Economic Problems of the Malays in Singapore, Wan Hussin Zoohri, Sojourn: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia, Vol. 2, №2, pp. 178–208; https://www.jstor.org/stable/41056728?seq=1
- Singapore’s ‘brownface’ saga sparks debate on race as Preetipls rap video condemned, South China Morning Post, Bhavan Jaipragas, 31 July 2019, https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3020844/singapores-brownface-saga-sparks-debate-race
- Racism in Singapore: A Review and Recommendations for Future Research, Journal of Pacific Rim Psychology, Volume 12, e5, page 1 of 8, Peter K.H. Chew, 2018, ; www.cambridge.org › core › content › viewRacism in Singapore — Cambridge University Press
