Are we any different?

Scorpion Orchid (2001)

Lloyd Fernando

Everybody has their perception of what is right and what is wrong. People feel that their point of view is correct and they cannot fathom why the other cannot appreciate what is as simple as night and day. Why are they so dumb? Why do they do what they do?

This book which is set in the 1950s Singapore in the midst of social unrest. The country, which started as a confluence of races had prospered significantly. Every race had their idea of what success is. As long as each other had the liberty to do their thing, everyone was happy. The precarious balance just needs a slight jolt for the status quo to be tilted. This tipping is what happened in this historical tale.

Four young men, Santhi, Guan Kheng, Sabran and Peter, friends from Sixth Form find themselves in the middle of a riot. There is widespread turmoil in the city-state. Singaporeans state their dissatisfactions to the colonial masters, the British, for their control of the economy. The natives were demonstrating against a colonial company. The strikes progressed into a full-fledged mob situation, and the whole city is under siege. Locals attack whites and anyone who appear Caucasian, including those of mixed parentage. Peter is of Portuguese ancestry.

In the midst of this turmoil, four friends and another common friend, Sally @ Salmah, try to understand what it means for people of different backgrounds and origins with different cultures to live together under a falsehood of nationhood. Are we just putting up a front of cooperation and mutual respect when the going is good? Can this understanding withstand the test of time or the turn of tides? Are we quick to blame the bogeyman or blame an outside element for our shortcomings just to ignore our faults?

On the other hand, are we so different from each other? When you remove the particular item that stereotypes us, it may be difficult to tell us apart, as in the case of Sally who was actually Salmah with a checkered past. It also shows us how different people deal with a threat to their motherland. Some have one foot on their new found homeland and the other on the place of origin. At the slight hint of upheaval, they are the first to scoot off. Then they are those who know no other place to call home. They would go the whole nine yards, putting their life and future on the line, for the glory of the only country they know as home. Which one are you?

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