Violation of Secularism in a Singapore JC
August 28th, 2009 | 
Author: By a Temasek Junior College student
To whom it may concern,
I have wanted to send this email a long time ago. However, I felt that the time was not ripe. Following PM’s National Day rally 2009, I feel that it is the right time to inquire about secularism.
I am a JC2 student in Temasek Junior College, having previously attended St. Joseph’s Institution. I am an atheist by convert, having this (lack of) faith since secondary school.
I am quite grateful and inspired by the PM, raising of issue of secularism in schools. Despite being an atheist, I have always been comfortable in SJI as the institution is especially considerate for students having a different faith other than catholicism. The same cannot be say for TJC.
I feel uncomfortable in TJC because I witnessed a violation of secularism in TJC.
A few months ago, around May, the 32nd Student Council of TJC stood down and hand over to the 33rd SC. On the day, the President of the 32nd Student Council addressed the cohort. At the end of her address, she close with the phrase of “God Bless”
I feel that this is rather inconsiderate as it means that the individual is assuming that everyone believe in the same god. The individual failed to consider that some might believe in another religion (or no god at all in the first place). I am surprise that one can actually make such a provocative statement in a secular school. I would have accepted this phrase in SJI, but I cannot accept a secular school actually condone the action of ’blessing’ with a religion tone
The ministry might think that the fault lies in the individual. But I am very surprise that the college did not make any clarification to the address. which I take it as they agree with the phrase. When the speech included the phrase “God Bless”, I believed that a Secular school like TJC would have clarified without any one complaing or enquring in the first place. But the lack of action of TJC with regards to this violation of secularism in school is rather shocking.
I only write this email today because I believe that the government had clarified its stand through PM’s rally. I hope that the Ministry would look into issues of violation of secularism in school as secularism is one of the key principle of Singapore formation and education, whereby religion can co-exist peacefully because not one side is favoured. I hope that the Ministry will look into the matter and inquired into it further. Secularism must be preserved in our schools to ensure harmony.
I look forward to the response by the Ministry
Thank you
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41 Responses to “Violation of Secularism in a Singapore JC”
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I am surprised that a short passage written by a JC2 student contains so many basic grammatical errors. As for the writer’s gripe about the use of “God bless”, I only have one thing to say, give it a rest!
The term ‘God Bless’ is generic. It is the same as saying ‘Have a good day’.
I can’t understand your umbrage at this rather trivial phrase.
A Muslim would see the phrase as Allah blessing him while a Buddhist would interpret it as ‘Buddha bless’, etc. If you are an atheist, think of the phrase as ‘Have a good day’.
It may be a habit of the speaker to say what she said. No need to be overly sensitive. We live in a multicultural society. Little things like this should not be blown out of context.
Ridiculous. If small little things we can’t put them aside, how could we be in harmony. I starting to get sick of all this religious ranting. If everyone is being so sensitive, we are giving it into those terrorist who destroy and disrupt everybody lives. Think about it. The person who publish this should also be scrutinize as he or she does not realize the stupidity of it.
wow, intolerant much?
that student council president should go to hell with his god blessing
Apparently race and religion IS still an issue in Singapore if someone this young could raise auch an issue. I am an atheist too but part of what makes Singapore works is how we tolerate, adapt and accept this “rojak” that makes us Singapore.
If the speaker ends with the phrase “God bless”, it just means phrase of goodwill and hope that things will go well, probably what the writer will mean by “Good luck”. To pick up such a little thing, how narrow minded does the writer have to be?
Seems Singapore has a much greater challenge other than religion and race if the writer is the future of what the younger generation may be.
I agree with bird. Is like saying a Muslim cannot say asa lama lakum to a non-Muslim. I like asa lama lakum or amitabha, its make us human and showing we could co exist. Two words to describe the writer, young and foolish. Try reading that when you’re 30…yes is stupid.
I think that the content of this article is more important rather than focusing on the writer’s grammar mistake. I agreed too that this is only a small issue and we should not go on to purse this matter any further. I believe that the student council used the “God Bless” phase as a closing gesture rather than “assuming that everyone believe in the same god”. There are a lot of valedictorian have used this phase in their speech and everyone has no issues about it before. I do not deny that some people might that this rather offensive. It all comes down to how sensitive you are to all these. Here is an example,
Using the word “God Bless” in speeches is okay compared to asking everyone to kneel down and pray which I think is a NO GO.
The term ‘God Bless’ is generic. There are much more pressing issues at hand than playing word games.
Give it a rest and move on!
‘god bless’ = generic? = have a good day? = god bless america? big hairy deal !
Some people are just too free.
Why will the ministry even respond to a SINGLE nobody?
You’re dreaming.
mountain out of a molehill
His bad grammar is a reflection of the quality of his intellect and knowledge. And does discredit to some smart atheists I know.
Secularism in the S’pore (and British liberal tradition) context means that there is no favoured religion, not that religion is banned from public spaces. Now if she had said “Jesus/ Yahweh/ Allah/ Satan/ Damien Siow, spawn of Satan bless us”, then she should be arrested by ISD, jailed and the key thrown away.
Only in a state (like France or Turkey) that defines secularism as anticlericalism, will this phrase (God Bless) be illegal.
God Bless and may the Lord keep you safe from someone like this JC student ))))) But then person from third-tier JC.
The writer says he is an atheist. Atheist is one who disbelieves or denies the existence of God or gods. Then why pick such minor issues. God bless means nothing to atheists. Go rock and roll, man. Have a good day, be happy and stop spending time writing frivolous matters.
seen and heard those mediacrap artistes give their thanks after receiving an award? many of them openly thank jesos and lord for their success. bad follows the bad. have you heard any buddhist or taoist voicing their thanks to gods when they receive a prize?
Why do you write in English? Are you from England?
There….
last time old army, the sgt would curse & swear at your own parents…i think the writer won’t be able to take it…
I think the writer is just trying to make an issue out of nothing. How is religion being involved in the organisation when the word ‘god’ is commonly used in expressions such as ‘oh my god!’; ‘goddam’; godforsaken; etc..?
Give it a rest, loser!
The writer is lucky to be in TJC… in some JCs like Saint Andrew’s, all students are REQUIRED to attend mass every friday, in an effort to convert as many people as possible.
While it’s understandable that SAJC and its ilk are originally Christian schools, these practices should at least be made known to student applicants who are not Christian, since it’s still a public school.
I thought there should be considerable consensus on secularism among the vast majority of people in our little city state; but from many of the rather covertly or overtly hostile responses to the above writer’s emphasis on constitutional secularism, I seem to see a rather surprising unity among fervent monotheistic religious believers to defend their faith against what they see as an onslaught on their monotheistic believe. I hope to be proven wrong on this account because if my reading on the responses to the said writer’s complaint were to be proven valid by later events, then the perceived secularistic consensus in our society can be easily replaced by intense religious acrimony among the ethno-religious diversity in our midst. Such acrimony has been plaguing so many multi-ethno-religious communities in the world since history can be recorded.
Please refrain from name calling of any kind; it tends to trivialise whatever possible serious discussion on social issues brought up in this forum. Respect begets respect.
Thank you and deepest regards.
Mediacork Star Awards, you are aware that Ivy Lee credits her Best Actress wins to a Buddha statue her husband brought back from Hong Kong, right?
that being the case, ban ‘oh my god’ or even OMG too
We’re taught to tolerate each other, not complain about little things. Mountain out of a mole hill indeed.
Shameful, absolutely shameful, how can an uneducated opinion like this even see the light of day? The author of this letter is taking things much too seriously, and would probably get angry if people around him started talking about Invisible Pink Unicorns. If this is the best kind of dissent Singapore has to offer on “religious fault lines”, I am not impressed.
You know, you should have just continued to think whether the time was right to write this article. You are too sensitive and naive. I was intrigued by your opening paragraph and was curious about the issues that you were going to bring up. To my disappointment. God bless.
..chinses saying “Wu Leow”….got nothing better to worry about..no brain student from TJC…
From the replies above, can tell who is fundie xtian and who is not… shame on name calling.
hmmm…fascinating…
scenario 1:
every kind is allowed. amitabha, god bless, namaste, have a nice day, etc.
scenario 2:
only non religious allowed. like, have a nice day.
i am all for scenario 1.
does the student feel uncomfortable because he thinks it’s a violation of secularism or because it simply irks his own atheism (and merely using the big violation as presentation leverage).
if it’s more of the latter, then,okay, feeling noted. in fact, instead of writing to the ministry to get a top down execution, he could opt for a bottom up approach, ask his peers what they feel, talk to the speaker of ‘god bless’, and the teachers, and basically have a discussion.
if it’s more of the former, meaning, he really really thinks that it’s a violation of secularism, meaning it’s a big issue rather than a personal one, then it’s a bit more tricky foundation for a complain.
i mean, what exactly does he mean by violation of secularism? strictly no religion? i am reminded of the four tudung girls who were suspended from school due to tudung wearing; a pap logic -abstinence as foundation for fake harmony.
wetry on Fri, 28th Aug 2009 2:26 pm
mountain out of a molehill …
you perfectly right about the student. BUT you ARE EVEN MORE Right about ‘Religious ExTremists’ like …
redux on Fri, 28th Aug 2009 9:57 am
that student council president should go to hell with his god blessing …
Who CURSE OTHER like AS IF he IS a god himself??? …
Dear TJC Student AND redux … When YOU recieve a GOOD GIFT from someone for YOUR BirthDay … ESPECIALLY A Loving But also poor person …
DO you LOOK at The Size AND COST OF THAT GIFT??? … Or …
DO you look at The ENORMOUS LOVING-HEART OF The “GIVER” of The GIFT To YOU “In LOVE”???
Point IS … One side of a coin or note, usually shows the picture of it’s Country’s President. The other side show Scenary(ies) of it’s Country and it’s Legal Currency Value…
Which SIDE and things STRIKE YOU And Affect YOU MORE??? …
I think you get my point??? If I now evwen say THAT “I’ll PRAY FOR YOUR WELL BEING … WILL You Get annoyed With me too”
Let’s BE Tolerent WHER Tolerance IS DUE … And to ALSO Look AT The POSITIVE Purpose in the sides of things. Yong LADS … You may one day be OUR GOOD … EVEN BETTER Leaders THAN those now … If you learn to be HUMBLE and APPRECCIATIVE of First … GOOD INTENTIONS … SINCERITIES … LOING KINDNESS IN SPOKEN Words AND DEEDS … Meaning LOVE to BE WISE and Then IN GIVING like her … Who said “God Bless”!!! Amen.
A certain old man will tell you that secularism is a high faluatin aspiration, as with everything else in Singapore.
Wow kangwei, seriously? Stop blowing things out of proportion, it was most probably a slip of tongue on her part. Even if it wasn’t, there’s no reason to assume she assumed that everyone shares the same faith. By the way, don’t you have A levels to study for?
Wow you’re so brilliant with your excellent nonsense. I think you need to live within your own imagination, because utopia doesn’t exist in our world.
Good luck.
Oh, and btw, please remember not to curse or swear with ‘oh my god’ because that’ll betray your faith towards atheism ! : O
Just a kind reminder, no offence meant. : )
This is a joke… right? LOL.
OMG HE/SHE SAID GOD BLESS OMG!
Sorry, this is probably a biased view. But honestly, this is such small matter.
The speaker and many other speakers alike use god bless as a form of ending salutation and well wishing. It could be perceived to also to be ‘blessings’ from which ever belief you subsribe to. It is intended to be out of goodwill. Such comments are not meant to be under the assumed state that everyone follows the same god.
In this case, what if the president was not a christian (inferring this from what you thought since you stated that you would accept this in SJI)? Yes, I do recognise that the term is used widely used by christians particularly but really, it was a form of kindness!
You mentioned that you felt you had to write this letter especially after the national day speech by our PM. I believe you were not there when the PM also reminded the audience about tolerence for each other’s beliefs and practices?
Oh by the way, just curious, why didn’t you feel the need to approach the president or (if you already have and are still disgruntled) the TJC’s administration??? I’m sure they’d like to hear about this.
aghast. shame.
its ok kangwei we are still friends.
sorry but if you want to insult people you must improve your english first!
[...] From a lapsed Catholic to a converted atheist: don’t be one of those self-righteous pricks. [...]
haha wheres francis’ intervention in this one.
Dear Sir,
To be frank, I’m not quite sure what I feel offended the most by: the glaring grammatical errors in your article or your utterly nonsensical line of logic, or rather, lack thereof. First and foremost, I would recommend you pay attention to the grammar and spelling tools in MSWord (SpellCheck is your friend!) or at least get someone to read it over before posting it on the Net, so at the very least people will somewhat understand the point you are trying to make.
And now onto the nit-picking: I am most amused at your description of how you “converted” to atheism– because doesn’t atheism mean a total rejection of faith and isn’t the word “convert” usually tied to those who are switching to noather faith (i.e. a believe in some supreme force in the Universe)?
That said, I wholly agree with the above comments that you are blowing the Student Council President’s use of the phrase “God Bless” completely out of proportion– it was not as though she was proclaiming her faith to any particular “superior power” or calling on the student body to join her faith, whatever it may be, she was simply using a generic phrase in the way people say, “Hey, good luck!”, though of course then you might proclaim me a heathen for believing in such paganistic concepts. Also, well, I believe it is quite a common and widely accepted practice of giving motivational speeches to your juniors when you step down handover certain posts to them, but maybe it doesn’t take place where you go to school to, so I don’t know.
And finally, I just wanted to thank you for providing such immense amusement to us all– I hope to see more of your articles in the forseeable future.
Once again, thank you and GOD BLESS.