1. RAFFLES INSTITUTION
The Importance Of
Culture Among Youths In
Singapore
Year 2 Research Education 2011
Group Members
Muhammad Ridhwan (2G)
Raiyan See (2G)
Syafiq (2G)
Shohib Marican (2G)

2. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to express our gratitude to the following individuals for their kind assistance
and cooperation, without which the completion of this Design For Change project would not
have been possible.
Mrs Heryanti Suhaimy, our Research Education teacher mentor, for taking her time off to
consult with us, to advise us on the direction we are taking, to propose new ideas and
suggestions, to access the effectiveness of our proposals, to vet our reports and presentations
and for being an understanding teacher mentor who is always ready to help and who always
encourages us to strive for the better.
Our interviewees, Muhammad Alfian and Mr Abdul Wahab Marican for taking valuable
time off work to give us a better understanding of the current problems faced by youths today
regarding their own individual cultures, as well as providing us with relevant information
relating to the three different cultures in Singapore to aid in the completion of our Design For
Change project.
Last but not least, all those who have contributed in completing the online surveys. Without
whom, we would not have come up with such an effective course of action during the Action
Week.
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3. TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Choice of Topic
1.2 Rationale for Choice
1.3 Aims and Objectives
1.4 Target Audience
1.5 Proposed Course of Action
2.0 BACKGROUND RESEARCH
2.1 History of Cultures in Singapore
2.2 Who is affected?
2.3 Severity of Current Situation
2.4 Solutions for the issue
2.5 How did we arrive at the Solutions?
3.0 PREPARATION FOR ACTION WEEK
3.1 Brief Description of Action Plan
3.2 Work Allocation
3.3 Timeline of Tasks
3.4 Resource Management
3.5 Risk Management
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4. 3.6 Who Is Involved?
3.7 Survey
3.7.1 Survey data analysis
3.8 Interviews
4.0 ACTION WEEK
4.1 Actions, Processes and Impact of Actions
5.0 REFLECTIONS
5.1 Objectives Met/ Why?
5.2 Objectives Not Met/ Why?
5.3 Our Thoughts
5.3.1 ‘I Can’ Reflection
5.3.2 Strengths and Weaknesses of Team
5.3.3 Challenges Encountered Within Team
5.3.4 Learning Points
5.3.5 Improvements to be made
Bibliography
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5. 1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Choice of Topic
We have chosen the topic of the importance of cultures in Singapore. As Singapore is a
multiracial society, we want to encourage youths to be more knowledgeable about the
different cultures in Singapore to ensure that they would learn to be more tolerant towards
each other.
1.2 Rationale for Choice
Singapore is growing to be more diverse and multicultural. Hence, Singaporeans have to be
very tolerant towards each other as people have different backgrounds and cultures.
Without the knowledge on the various cultures in Singapore such as the Chinese, Malay and
Indian cultures, people will not be able to get along well with one another as the unique
practices of a specific culture might not seem to be appropriate by other people. Therefore,
by gaining insights into the various cultures in Singapore, youths will gain a deeper
understanding of the different practices carried out by each ethnic group and will grow to
be more tolerant and understanding.
1.3 Aims and Objectives
We have embarked on this Design for Change project with an objective in mind. Through
this project, our objective is to make a change for the better by encouraging youths to be
more knowledgeable and gain a deeper understanding of the different cultures in
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6. Singapore – Malay, Chinese and Indian culture, by helping them discover more about the
various cultures through a variety of ways which includes informative posters and games.
1.4 Target Audience
The course of action that will be carried out by our group during the Action Week will be
aimed at impacting youths aged 13-15. The current lack of emphasis on the different
cultures in Singapore is a worrying problem as youths will forget their roots and will not be
able to associate themselves well with their own culture when they grow up in future.
Therefore, this project is targeted at a younger audience to ensure that youths will not
forget the significance of their own cultures when they grow older.
1.5 Proposed Course of Action
After much research work, our group has created a course of action that would be carried
out during Action Week. An informative booth will be set-up at the RI Main Atrium from
19-21 July 2011 from 2.30 – 3.30pm to allow students to learn more about the different
cultures in Singapore and the important role that culture plays in this multicultural society.
In addition, students will also be able to discover more about traditional games by playing
them as we will be going around the school, mainly the Junior Block to introduce these
games to students. This action plan will definitely be able to benefit students as it is fun,
educational and interactive at the same time.
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7. 2.0 BACKGROUND RESEARCH
2.1 History of Cultures in Singapore
Each of the different cultures in Singapore has its own unique background and history.
Although each culture might be very different from one another, Singaporeans of various
backgrounds still come together as a united and multiracial society. Today, the youths of
Singapore play an important role of passing down the traditions to the next generation and
we can follow in the footsteps of our forefathers who have come together as one nation
despite being in differing ethnic groups to help Singapore prosper.
2.2 Who is affected?
In Singapore’s modern society today, the youths play the important role of passing down
the traditions of various cultures to the next generation of teenagers in Singapore. If youths
are not knowledgeable about their cultures and do not understand the importance of it,
passing down traditions to the next generation will be a very difficult task. Therefore, the
group of people who would be affected the most by the problem of the lack of cultural
awareness is youths.
2.3 Severity of Current Situation
The problem of the lack of awareness about the different cultures among youths can give
rise to other related problems such as the lack of tolerance. When youths do not
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8. understand the different cultural backgrounds of each other, they will not be able to accept
the practices of other cultures. Hence, the level of tolerance among youths will drop due to
the lack of knowledge and understanding of the different cultures in Singapore.
2.4 Solutions for the Issue
After conducting surveys and doing much research work, our group has come up with a 7-
day action plan. Our plan of action which will be carried out during the Action Week keeps
in mind the purpose of educating students about the importance of culture and
encouraging youths to associate themselves to their own individual culture by experiencing
activities related to the three main cultures in Singapore – Malay, Chinese and Indian
cultures. Our group will come up with an educational poster which allows students to
better understand the reason behind the importance of culture in our daily lives and
interesting snippets/ quick facts about the different cultures in Singapore. In addition, our
group of four members will be going around the school campus to get students to
experience playing the different traditional games. From these activities, we hope to
encourage youths to be more knowledgeable about the different cultures as they play an
important role in uniting everyone together as one people.
2.5 How did we arrive at the Solutions?
From the surveys conducted, we observed that many students in RI are not well acquainted
with their own individual cultures. Therefore, the most effective way is to set up a booth to
educate students about the importance of culture and tolerance in the community. Through
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9. this way, students will not only get to learn but to appreciate and associate themselves with
their cultures.
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10. 3.0 PREPARATION FOR ACTION WEEK
3.1 Brief Description of Action Plan
An informative booth containing a poster with information on the importance of cultures in
our daily lives and snippets of the various cultures in Singapore will be set-up at the RI
Main Atrium from 19-21 July 2011 from 2.30 – 3.30pm to allow students to gain a better
understanding about the different cultures in Singapore and the important role that culture
plays in this multicultural society. In addition, our group will be going around the school to
introduce traditional games to students so that they will be able to discover more about
traditional games by playing them. This action plan will bring benefits to students as the
activities are fun, educational and interactive
3.2 Work Allocation
In this Design For Change project, many components are required to be completed. Firstly,
there is the survey, where survey questions have to be crafted carefully. Secondly, is the
seven-day action plan. For this, team members have to work together to come up with an
action plan or solution to improve on the current situation faced by the majority of youths
today. Next, the project report has to be completed including the abstract, introduction,
survey results, methodology and the rest of the components. With so many tasks to be
completed, the work load needs to be allocated accordingly, to ensure that deadlines are
met promptly.
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11. For the crafting of the survey questions every group member contributed at least 2 or more
questions. Next, the group members came together during the Research education period
to brainstorm solutions that would be effective to improve the current situation. After
coming up with ideas, we as a group, decided to set up a booth and design an informative
and visually attractive poster that would capture the attention of students. Furthermore,
the action plan included the traditional games. The report was done by all the members.
Each of us was given a chapter of the report to write. After everyone completed their part,
the different parts were incorporated to produce the final report.
3.3 Timeline of Tasks
The survey questions were completed by term 2, week 2. The survey questions had to be
crafted early because the data from the results were very important as it serves as a
primary source of information to assess how knowledgeable youths are about the various
cultures. Secondly, the action plan for Action Week was completed by term 3, week 1 to
prepare for the Action Week that took place in term 3, week 4, from 19-21 July 2011 at the
RI main atrium. After the completion of the action plan, the poster designs were prepared
by term 3, week 2 to ensure that finishing touches and modifications were given sufficient
time to be completed. In addition, the final report was to be finalized by term 3, week 6 for
the submission to our respective teacher mentor. The oral presentation was also finished
by term 3, week 6 to ensure that there was enough time for each group member to prepare
cue cards for the actual presentation itself.
3.4 Resource Management
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12. For our Design For Change project, our group does not require much funding as the
materials needed are not expensive and are not needed in large quantities. The only
funding needed is for the poster and the traditional games. For the poster, the plastic board
is already provided. Hence, our group only needs to pay for the cost of printing the relevant
articles that will be pasted onto the plastic board. Coloured papers are also needed to make
the poster even more appealing to students.
In the area concerning manpower, our number of people in the group is already sufficient
to carry out the different activities proposed during the Action Week. The group will be
stationed at the RI Main atrium after school from 19-21 July 2011 to supervise the booth.
Furthermore, our group does not require any other for of help from other individuals as we
will be able to go around the school to introduce the traditional games of different cultures
to students from the different levels. For the time factor, not much time is needed as the
activities can be done in a rather short time frame. Therefore, other involvements,
including CCAs would not be interrupted by this project.
3.5 Risk Management
In the process of completing this project, our group has taken a few risks but we still try
our best to keep to our specific deadlines and requirements. For some of tasks given, we
were unable to manage and prioritise our time well. Thus, we end up having to rush
through some parts of the project in order to meet the deadline of the submission of these
tasks. Despite this problem, our group managed to keep to our plan and timeline. Thus, we
were still able to complete tasks given on time and produce good quality work.
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13. 3.6 Who Is Involved?
In our Design For Change project, the parties involved in this project are our group
members and the students who will visit our booth that is located at the RI Main Atrium.
Furthermore, we will also be going around the school to introduce the different traditional
games to students. Therefore, the students who participate in playing these games will also
be involved in the completion of the project.
3.7 Survey
The survey questions are carefully crafted to test the awareness of youths about the three
different cultures in Singapore. In addition, the survey responses will allow us to find out if
youths today really care and know about the importance of culture.
We are a group of students from Raffles Institution and we are conducting a survey
to assess how much you know about the various cultures in Singapore. Please fill in
this survey with your honest answers. We really appreciate your time in helping us
complete this survey.
1. Do you think culture is important?
Very Important
Important
Not Important
Useless
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14. 2. Why do you think Culture is important?
It helps us to understand our selves better
It helps us to preserve our roots.
It can serve as a purpose to unify a community
Not Important
It makes us unique and differentiates us from the rest
Other:
From here onwards, there will be a few questions on the different cultures within
Singapore.
3. Is Hari Raya Puasa the Muslim’s New Year?
Yes
No
4. Are the moon cake festivals and the lantern festivals the same?
Yes
No
5. What is the dot on the Indian woman's head?
Bindi
Fullstop
Puttu
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15. 6. Do you agree with the statement that most racial problems are caused with a lack
of tolerance due to lack of understanding of the different culture?
Yes
No
7. Singapore is a multiracial society, do you think that learning about cultures helps
us to tolerate one another better?
Yes
No
8. Do you agree that to understand other's culture, you must first have a good grasp
of your own?
Yes
No
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16. 3.7.1 Survey Data Analysis
1. Do you think culture is important?
Answer No. Of Percentage
responses
Very 16 40%
Important
Important 19 48%
Not 4 10%
Important
Useless 1 3%
2. Why do you think Culture is important?
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17. Answer No. of Percentage
responses
It helps us to understand our selves better 8 20%
It helps us to preserve our roots. 19 46%
It can serve as a purpose to unify a 8 20%
community
Not Important 3 7%
It makes us unique and differentiates us 1 2%
from the rest
Others 2 5%
3. Is Hari Raya Puasa the Muslim’s New Year?
Answer No. of responses Percentage
Yes 15 37%
No 25 61%
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18. 4. Are the moon cake festivals and the lantern festivals the same?
Answer No. of responses Percentage
Yes 23 56%
No 18 44%
5. What is the dot on the Indian woman's head?
Answer No. of responses Percentage
Bindi 25 61%
Fullstop 4 10%
Puttu 11 27%
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19. 6. Do you agree with the statement that most racial problems are caused with a lack
of tolerance due to lack of understanding of the different culture?
Answer No. of responses Percentage
Yes 36 88%
No 4 10%
7. Singapore is a multiracial society, do you think that learning about cultures helps
us to tolerate one another better?
Answers No. of responses Percentage
Yes 37 90%
No 4 10%
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20. 8. Do you agree that to understand other's culture, you must first have a good grasp
of your own?
Answer No. of responses Percentage
Yes 32 78%
No 8 20%
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21. 3.8 Interviews
For this project we interviewed firstly, Muhammad Alfian Bin Aman from 2Q and Abdul
Wahab Marican, a freelance tour-guide, self employed in the service industry and also a
motivational speaker. We decided on the two of them as I think they can provide us with
two differing viewpoints as they are complete opposites with one being experienced and
more of a traditional mindset while one is more modern. Also we can get a feel as to how
our target audience would respond as Alfian represents our target audience. I feel that
Abdul Wahab Marican is an expert in culture as he is a tour guide well versed in the
cultures of Singapore. He too does cultural workshops for EDN and the likes thus the
combination of these two interviews should provide us with a balanced insight on what we
should be tackling.
Interview Transcript:
1. Do you think culture is important and why do you think so?
Abdul Wahab Marican’s response
Yes I always feel culture is important since culture is what makes us unique. Without
culture, there won’t be a Singapore, we will just be another faceless country obsessed with
the west. However if we uphold our culture, Singapore can still have an identity. We are a
multicultural society, which have tolerated each other for years. Our cultures are what
define us to be as one. We are many, but we come together to form Singapore, to nurture
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22. Singapore, to make Singapore what it is today. We have to preserve our culture. Other than
making us unique, it makes sure we don’t forget our roots. Our cultures are what keeps us
grounded. It helps us to understand our past more therefore not allowing us to be too
obsessed with the idea of progress and take a step back to appreciate the simple things in
life such as our traditions. Also, with culture we all will be able to learn all the values which
our forefathers have been passing down. These Asian values which are held close to our
heart. Such as the Thai Pu Sam festival, where they poke themselves! This is a true sign of
faith! Can you see this in the western culture? No. We have to preserve our culture. Also we
have to understand our own culture before we can learn to tolerate other cultures. This is
why we have to learn cultures. Before we can tolerate we must understand and to
understand others first, we must understand ourselves. Then can we develop our empathy
towards other Cultures. This is why. We have to preserve culture.
Alfian’s response
People always say culture is important in your life because well, you should never forget
your roots and where you came from. But personally, I think culture is not important.
Firstly, it does not bring any benefit to you if you know every single thing about culture,
because you can’t get into Oxford anyway with that knowledge of culture, and in addition to
that, Singaporeans nowadays have a different mindset – they are now more materialistic
and getting a good job, with a big house, big car, etc is what their goal is. Thus, since culture
does not play a part in helping Singaporeans achieve this I do not think culture is
important.
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23. I also think culture is a waste of time because in my culture, the Malay culture, there are
some restrictions and that sort. An example would be the stages before you get married. If I
were to get married in 10 years, I would prefer getting married straightaway and not
wasting time and money because if I were to follow what has been encouraged in the Malay
culture, I would have to propose, get engaged, send in gifts, put on henna, solemnization,
get bathed in lime water, and lastly, the wedding ceremony. If I were to have it my own
way, I would only have solemnization and the wedding ceremony. This would in total save
a whole lot of money and time.
Lastly, the use of technology has more effect on everyone faster and better than the
knowledge of one’s culture. People nowadays are too focused on their own electrical
devices to the extend that they won’t have time to learn and get to know more about their
culture because I believe they don’t even think it’s that important to deserve their
attention. This just shows how irrelevant culture is in today’s context.
People always say culture is important in your life because well, you should never forget
your roots and where you came from. But personally, I think culture is not important.
Firstly, it does not bring any benefit to you if you know every single thing about culture,
because you can’t get into Oxford anyway with that knowledge of culture, and in addition to
that, Singaporeans nowadays have a different mindset – they are now more materialistic
and getting a good job, with a big house, big car, etc is what their goal is. Thus, since culture
does not play a part in helping Singaporeans achieve this I do not think culture is
important.
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24. 4.0 ACTION WEEK
4.1 Actions, Processes and Impact of Actions
For our action week, we did a poster for our school organized Design For Change week.
This poster was then placed on a board in the main atrium for three days (19-21 July
2011). We were assigned to stay there and explain our projects to interested people. We
would also give explanations on the importance of culture and also various snippets of
interesting facts on our very colourful cultures right here in Singapore.
We went and explain how people travel all over the world to experience different cultures,
but do not even appreciate the diverse cultures that are already here in our own backyard.
Moreover we also went around the whole year 1-4 campus for day 4 and 5 to educate the
school on cultures. We used an interesting tactic by introducing to them a cultural game
and after teaching them how to play it, we would then proceed to explain the importance of
culture before approaching the next person.
For day 6, 3 of the group members proceeded to participate in the Malay traditional
instruments performance and subsequently thought the juniors how to play this
instrument to show that we can walk the walk in this project. Lastly, we spent a day
explaining to our class on the importance of culture and also teach the class a simple
kompang beat to cap it all off. We may have started small but I believe that this can cause
the ripple effect and our small contribution will snowball and become a big change in
Singapore’s society. From this project, students were able to benefit from the activities as
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25. they became more aware of the importance of culture and how culture unites people from
different backgrounds as one society and one nation.
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26. 5.0 REFLECTIONS
5.1 Objectives Met/ Why?
Our objectives, as stated in the introduction were to educate our target audience on the
importance of culture and we think that we have achieved this. We managed to convey our
message across to a large spread of our students - target audience and we know and
believe that this can spark a change in the mindsets of youths towards culture. We really
think that we had successfully carried out the project in a fun and engaging way and our
participants have benefitted from it.
5.2 Objectives Not Met/ Why?
However, we cannot be too sure as to if we succeeded as there is no clear measure of how
well we executed our project. It is all very subjective. Also I feel that maybe more thought
could have been given on how we could approach the action week and perhaps do more in
terms of that. Also, maybe our survey was also a little to superficial and we should test
more deeper knowledge like common misconceptions that may lead to racial tensions.
Other than that though I felt that our project was a success!
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27. 5.3 Our Thoughts
5.3.1 ‘I Can’ Reflection
I can. That is the attitude that we all have gained after going through this Design For
Change process. We took a problem that can split the society, and we tried to solve it in our
community. We started small. But, this effort goes a long way into preventing racial
tensions that may jeopardize the safety of the nation. Really, I can is the attitude. Four 14
year old students can make a difference in the country today after going through this
process. We can prevent nations from collapsing. We can solve big problems at a small
scale.
5.3.2 Strengths and Weaknesses of Team
Our team’s strength was perhaps our creativity and our ingenuity. We were able to create
things out of nothing. We also have good teamwork and are committed to the task at hand.
Not afraid of burning the midnight oil. Our topic was not the most creative one, but how we
approached it perhaps can be an effective way. We managed to pull a rabbit out of a hat as
we managed to fulfil all requirements despite our lack of time due to our busy schedules.
Perhaps our main weakness was our time management. We procrastinated a lot especially
during the planning stages and ended up way far behind time. We should really try to
manage our time better. Perhaps a more detailed schedule may help in this aspect.
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28. 5.3.3 Challenges Encountered Within Team
Our main challenges were perhaps our busy schedules. That is the main challenge, yes. We
are all involved in various sports CCAs thus, a lot of our free time was taken up. Also we
barely gave a thought to the task at hand, procrastinating all the way till the final few weeks
before the deadline. We also felt that maybe we all had a few misunderstandings at the
start due to our indecisiveness to choose a topic. Other than that, our challenges were
mainly brought about by our weaknesses.
5.3.4 Learning Points
A few learning points could be taken from this project. These include that no matter how
young we are and how insignificant our contributions might seem, we can make a change
for the better. We also have learnt to stop procrastinating and do work more consistently
instead of burning the midnight oil. We have also learnt many interesting facts about
different cultures and also how all of us come together to make the Singapore Spirit. This
sense of multiculturalism that translates into one whole machine known as the Singapore
Spirit.
5.3.5 Improvements to be made
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29. A few improvements can be made to further improve on our project in the future. These
improvements include our attitude towards the project, the survey and also the action plan.
Students interested in pursuing this topic further should survey the people and target
audience more in depth. Also, we think that the action plan can be made into a one week
cultural enhancement week which can run as a programme concurrent to the Mother
Tongue Week initiative that the government had just put in place. This will then make the
whole project more effective.
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30. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Electronic Sources:
 (2009, October 07). Speeches. Ministry of Education Singapore. Retrieved August 09,
2011, from http://www.moe.gov.sg/media/speeches/2009/10/07/unesco-35-
session.php
 (2010). Singapore Culture. Best Singapore Guide. Retrieved June 4, 2011, from
http://www.best-singapore-guide.com/Singapore-culture.html
 (2011). Singapore Cultural Statistics 2011. 64. Retrieved August 6, 2011, from
http://app.mica.gov.sg/
 M. (2010). What Brings Us Together?. Resonance, (14), 12. Retrieved August 06, 2011,
from http://app.mica.gov.sg/
Papers:
 H. (2010, August 09). Embracing all cultures. The Straits Times, Life. 10.
 H. (2011). Notes. Bonding Singapore, 8.
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