By Santokh Singh

WE should be mindful of race in certain situations, of course.

But does it really matter most of the time?

So, why are there still race categories in our presentation of national examination results?

With more and more inter-racial marriages taking place, definitions of race become more a matter of choice.

Hence, is an 'official' record of race really meaningful?

One outcome is when people argue over who the top student based on race really is.

Is it possible to present the results, in the same manner they are done now on the Ministry of Education (MOE) website, but in 'neutral' categories - those less likely to provoke controversies?

How about announcing the top students by the geographical zones they come from, regardless of race, language or religion.

We can then have award ceremonies, just like the zonal Schools' Sports Awards, at the North, South, East and West zones.

These are some questions worth asking in the light of the story of Samuel Wittberger.

It was a well-written e-mail that I received from the 12-year-old on Friday.

He said he was writing to The New Paper with the permission of his mother and he was providing both the telephone numbers of his mother and himself - just in case we needed to clarify facts.

He claimed he was a Eurasian and that he had bettered the results of the top boy's score of 271 as published in our paper.

He added that he was very clear about his identity.

He sounded just as sure and confident when I spoke with him on the phone.

He said his mother had tried but still could not get him registered as an Eurasian.

Going by the definition provided by dictionaries, a Eurasian is the offspring of a European father and an Asian mother.

It is the same combination that introduced the race to our part of the world.

Samuel looks like an Eurasian, talks like an Eurasian, but is officially not an Eurasian.

So, he does not qualify for the honour of being Singapore's top Eurasian student in the Primary School Leaving Exam.

That honour will officially remain with Ahmad Ashraf Muhammad Johari.

Many puzzled

Ahmad Ashraf's achievement, no less laudable than Samuel's, did raise some eyebrows. I, for one, did a double take when I first saw the press release.

Was there is mistake? How did a Mohd Ashraf become a Eurasian?

And, as I found out later, I was not the only one. Even a member of the Eurasian community called The New Paper to ask if there had been a mistake.

So why keep harping on race?

Why not leave it to the respective self-help groups like the CDAC, Mendaki, Sinda and the Eurasian Association to give out their own awards?

The Education Ministry can then concentrate on others - like the top students nationally, regardless of race. Or, as I would prefer, the top students from the various categories of schools.

Perhaps, have separate categories for SAP (Special Assistance Plan Schools), schools offering the Gifted Education Programme and the rest.

Surely, the schools which have creamed off the best through the Gifted Education Programme are expected to produce the best nationally. So how about separating them from the rest?

And how about giving our neighbourhood schools a chance to showcase their best? It will give more school kids a chance to celebrate their achievements.

Culture, not race

Ultimately, we should acknowledge that it's not race but culture that matters.

And the latter is based on and negotiated by relationships with others, our way of life, our social practices, and the artistic and linguistic worlds we embrace.

Some go further and say that two unrelated humans are 99.9 per cent alike genetically. So, there are no races to speak of in a genetic sense.

But in most cases, racial groups can be made out by the naked eye. That's enough.

We don't need racial grouping and stereotyping to be reinforced in other ways.

This article was first published in The New Paper on Nov 27, 2008.