Syafik's & Ashraf 's Answers To The Question

What Were the Consequences of the Riots?

18 people were killed & 173 were hurt in the riots.Although the rioters were mainly malay, they included a lot of forigners including pakistani,indian & indonesian malays.119 vehicles were damaged & 2 buildings were set on fire.778 people were detained when the police set up a special investigation unit.Some were released & some were sentenced to death.

What were the lesson learnt from the riots?

Riots causes many innocent lives to be lost.Violence is not the key to solve any issues.Do not show anger by damaging public property & killing innocent lives.The importance of understanding each other culture is therefore important in a country like Singapore.

Why do people react sensitively to religious issue?

In multi-ethnic societies like Singapore,race and religion may be used to create ill-feeling among the ethnic groups.

What were the measures taken to foster social cohesion(unity among the people) in multi-ethnic singapore?

Common practices-
These are actions that Singaporeans carry out together, to build a strong sense of belonging/national identity in Singapore. Examples are singing the national anthem and taking pledges together during the morning, having a Racial Harmony day and National day where all races get together, etc.Inculcating loyalty and national pride towards Singapore is one way to create a sense of identity as one people among Singaporeans.

Bilingualism-
This policy was introduced in 1966, where students were expected to learn English and their Mother Tongue language. With this, English is used by many people, therefore enabling different types of ethnic group to communicate and understand each other better through talking with English, while Mother Tongue languages are used to cultural traditions and moral values of each race.