Actor Tay Ping Hui clarifies his position on Chinese privilege

Actor Tay Ping Hui has clarified his position on the concept of Chinese privilege, saying that he did grow up experiencing it in the years before he entered junior college.

"I suffered from a condition known as 'Chinese privilege'," he said yesterday. "When I say Chinese privilege, I do not mean that I thought I should have any sort of special privilege, nor that the Chinese race was superior in any way.

"It was more of a feeling that there wasn't a need for me to understand the perspectives of the other races, their beliefs and culture."

This came after a Straits Times article about comments he made at a dialogue on race last Saturday organised by Reach and Lianhe Zaobao. ST had reported, based on an English interpretation of Mr Tay's remarks in Mandarin, that he had grown up with a majority blind spot instead of Chinese privilege.

Yesterday, Mr Tay provided an English version of his speech at the dialogue, in which he shared that he had grown up in a very "Chinese" environment. This included speaking Mandarin at home, attending a Special Assistance Plan school, studying Chinese literature, and having more than 90 per cent of his friends being Chinese.

"I was very comfortable being around most of the things which were Chinese-based and hence I never really felt the need to know more about other races and cultures," he said.

"It was only when I went to (junior) college, army, then university, did I gain the opportunity to meet and interact with friends from other races, countries... people with different beliefs. It was during that time that I came to a realisation that there were so many things that I did not know."

He acknowledged that this was Chinese privilege.

"There's a term that is also used nowadays, which is called 'majority blind spot', or kind of a racial blind spot," Mr Tay added.

"I had that blind spot too, until a time when I had to travel after my graduation from university. I was in Australia and the US, where I experienced some pretty intense racial discrimination."

This experience, he said, made him truly understand how it felt to be part of the minority where others did not see a need to understand their perspective.

"I believe that there might be many within the Chinese community who still do not see a need to understand the history, traditions and perspectives of other races and cultures. They might think that it is not important, but it is," said Mr Tay. "Because only when we open our minds to actively seek to understand others' perspectives, will we be able to have constructive discussions."