Yee Tat /tjc09_violence

In passage 1, the author states that it is neither one experience nor one biology trait that causes someone to commit violence but instead it’s a combination of all factors. The most common factor which seems to have a large impact is living in a mobile and heterogeneous society – as it causes one to feel alienated thus leading to him becoming frustrated and want to release his pent-up anger through a medium like violence. Such cases of social segregation resulting in violence is not very applicable to Singapore as the government tries it best to breed racial harmony between its citizens and encourages tolerance of each other differences and beliefs. Singapore has assimilated many foreigners into our culture and way of life, this reduces the chances of an individual feeling that he is isolated from society and hence may turn to violence as a mean to release his frustration and anger towards the society he is living in. The government also has developed more common spaces for greater interaction between the different races to increase their understanding towards each other. Such practises would certainly prevent violence resulting from lack of tolerance. Hence government involvement in areas of assimilating foreigners and promoting tolerance between the different races and religions shows that the issue of social segregation is of concern to Singapore.

In passage 2, violence erupted in the country in context because people are denied of having a different identity as they seek to be recognized as different group and seek acceptance. When this fails, they use violence as a means of vengeance. This is not very applicable to Singapore, as Singapore is a multi-cultural society where people of different races and religions are seen everywhere. This has resulted in everyone having an identity of their own choice as Singaporeans are used to having other citizens being of a different race and religion. This is thanks to the promotion of social tolerance by the Singaporean government. However in the past, due to differences of racial perception, riots such as the Maria Hertogh riot in 1950 and the 1969 racial riot has erupted before as Malays in Singapore felt aggrieved by decisions made seen to be anti-Malay. Hence the government has worked hard to promote racial harmony to prevent a recurrence of similar episode.