Evaluating Intercultural Behavior

This is an incident which happened to me while at a social gathering a couple of years back. My friend, Shahid, who is an Indian Muslim had invited myself and several other close friends over to his house during Hari Raya Puasa. Hari Raya Puasa, which literally means Day of Celebration, is a day where Muslims all over the world celebrate the breaking of the fasting month.
While over lunch, we were “educated” on the traditional way of eating by Muslims, that is, using our bare hands, no forks and spoons allowed. It was fun trying to scoop rice with the first three fingers of one hand, gathering them into a morsel before putting the food into our mouths. We were also told that it was Sunnah (religious way) to lick the three fingers clean after finishing our meals, instead of washing our hands straightaway.
We were all happily indulging in our food when suddenly Shahid’s mother commented why I was using my left hand to eat instead. Shahid explained that it was because I am a leftie, hence the use of my master hand to handle the food. I was quite puzzled by her comments, but it was only later that I realised that Muslims only eat with their right hand, as the left hand was considered “unclean” in their culture. We all broke up into laughter when Shahid explained that the left hand was used exclusively to clean up after defecation in Muslim culture.
His mum added that in Islamic tradition, people will be handed a book containing all their deeds in life on "judgement day". Should the book be handed onto the right hand, it means good news, but if handed onto the left, it spells bad news. Therefore, Muslims do not like to hand things with their left hand or to other people’s left hand. Upon hearing that, I immediately switched to eating with my right hand, which drew laughters once again.
Overall, I learnt a few lessons on the Muslim culture, indeed especially valuable, since Singapore is such a multi-cultural society. Learning about the ways and cultures of each other’s culture will certainly go a long way in fostering better intercultural relationships.

Potential Research Topic: How giving are university students in the wake of recent charity frauds

Talk about scams and fraud brings to mind the Nigerian scams that were prevalent in the early 1990s which perpetuated further as electronic mail became more accessible. In recent years, a new type of fraud has started to manifest itself as charity fraud, dragging down the reputation of other legitimate charities in the process. Misuse of funds or forgery should never be seen in charity organisations anywhere in the world but repeated cases reported in Singapore are eroding the trust of Singaporeans as one becomes too sceptical of charity organisations to donate.

The National Kidney Foundation (NKF) saga and the Ren Ci probe are still very much fresh in the minds of every Singaporean. NKF and Ren Ci are arguably two of the biggest and most high profile charity organisations in Singapore. The controversy they were embroiled in has shocked and shattered the confidence of donors. There have also been cases of foreigners masquerading as monks and nuns collecting alms from Singaporeans and evading police by making quick getaways. Let’s also not forget the incident where a catholic priest, Joachim Kang embezzled 5.1 million in church funds.

The Singaporean government has since taken steps to regulate the activities of charity organisations in a bid to make the accounts more transparent. In fact 21 charities were de-registered in 2007, although details of why they have ceased to exist are yet to be released by the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports. In a speech given at the opening of the new premises of the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had urged fellow Singaporeans to donate according to their means and from their heart.

In public places, we often see uniformed teenagers holding metal tin cans selling flags and even in universities, we encounter students doing fund-raising activities for their overseas volunteer projects. The question thus posed would then be whether university students are in the giving frame of mind or simply sceptical about it. Even as they give, would they check or query the legitimacy of such events.