Display rules in M'sia/Singapore

Emotion is an interesting topic for social scientific investigation as it explains as a notion about our true selves; the self that, after all the thinking and interacting are done, feels the rage, love, despair (Boellstorff & Lindquist, 2004). In terms of methodological individualism, emotions are framed as the property of persons. Emotion can be universal, or are influenced by its social experience which namely ‘context.’ Emotion’s location in culture are acknowledged in broad terms (Wierzbicka, 1999).

Singapore is a multiracial and multicultural society, which consists of 3 main ethic Asian communities, Chinese, Malays, Indian and other races. English is the main language used in Singapore, followed by Chinese language. However, Chinese culture in south East Asian countries still deeply rooted with Confucianism. Emotional and psychological matter may be affected by the mother tongue culture (Woo et. al., 2004). Confucian cultures emphasize on the social order and show respect for higher rank people, like the elderly. For example, one should not shout at parents, especially in public places. However, it is common to see the other way round like as what Sonja pointed out, scolding and beating kids in public when they are disobedient. Anyway, expressing emotion freely is possible within same ranking like friends or colleagues.

Besides, languages often considered as part of culture, and researchers found that all speakers of a language share a cognitive structure for emotion (Wierzbicka, 1999). I agree on this point. In the national secondary school for Malaysia, Chinese students are generally from two types of education stream. One type receives Chinese primary school education where chinese is the medium of instruction, and study Malay and English as second and third language subjects; another type study in a national Malay school, majority Malay students where malay language is the medium of instruction, and study English as a second language. It is widely recognized that two groups of Chinese students have differences in their emotion, way of communication and behaviour. The first group are typical Chinese who are more indirect communicator where emotions are hidden and subtler. In contrast, the latter group who are mixing with Malay classmates are more straightforward and blunt in communication and express emotions more directly. They are more outgoing and easy going as it is easier to understand and get along well compared with the typical Chinese students.

Public display of affection is different across culture and countries. When I first came to Singapore, I was a bit startled to see couples hugging and kissing freely in public. In my home country, Malaysia as an Islamic country, dominated by Malays, public display of affection is very rare and forbidden by Islamic law. Few years ago, a Chinese young couple aged around 23 years old was prosecuted by the local town council. The town officers claimed that the couple was hugging and kissing in a park was indication of indecent behaviour. This case was eventually brought up to the court and became a hot topic for debate at that time. I believe that such event sounds queer to westerner. Conservative culture doesn’t encourage openly express of emotion.

Anthropical study of this topic makes interesting reading. It may explain why westerners’ common comment of Asians being inscrutable.

References:
Boellstorff, T., & Lindquist, J. (2004). Bodies of emotion: Rethinking culture and emotion through southeast asia. Routledge Journals, 437–444.

Wierzbicka, A. (1999). Emotions across languages and cultures: Diversity and universals. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Wooa,B. S. C., Chang, W. C., Funga, D. S. S., Koh, J. B. K., Leong, J. S. F., Kee, C. H. Y., Cheryl, K.F., & Seah, C. K. F. (2004). Development and validation of a depression scale for Asian adolescents. Journal of Adolescence, 27, 677–689.