The Dark Shadow Shrine

embrace the darkness; that you may see the light nestled within it......

Friday, October 09, 2015

Hindus don't bury the dead

Law Minister Shanmugam said, in a newspaper report recently about his views after watching '7 letters', that Hindus differ from Chinese in the sense that they do not bury dead bodies...bodies of loved ones are cremated instead. In contrast, the Chinese tradition is to bury our ancestors, until the land scarcity problem in Singapore causes us to cremate them instead.

This makes for an important eg we can use to illustrate how different races and cultures can give rise to different views and opinions that can polarise society....Given the difference in cultural practices, this makes for an interesting example for how differences in views can arise....imagine views about Bukit Brown....Hindus would probably have less empathy for keeping the tombstones where the Chinese ancestors are buried...
PM Lee made a similar remark concerning inter-racial marriages in Singapore.....families on both sides of the couple may face problems reconciling different traditional practices such as marriage rituals, death rituals, baby baptizing etc...
Different ways of doing things due to cultural differences can lead to potential conflicts that can divide our society....