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Others Is Not A Race
What is a Eurasian? Are Eurasians truly Singaporean? What does it mean to be a Eurasian living in Singapore? European + Asian = Eurasian Despite existing in Singapore for as long as any other community, Eurasians continue to be somewhat enigmatic to their fellow citizens. Unlike the Chinese, Malays and Indians, who have their own category under Singapore’s multicultural race policy, Eurasians are classified as ‘Others’. ‘OTHERS’ IS NOT A RACE is a vibrant tapestry that weaves together narrative fiction, creative nonfiction, literary food writing and intimate family memoir. This eclectic mix provides a unique perspective into an underrepresented community, all viewed through the candid lens of the author’s personal experiences of growing up and living as a Eurasian in Singapore, as well as visiting family in Melaka’s Portuguese Settlement in Malaysia, where the Eurasian community has thrived for over 500 years. Memory, language, identity and cultural reclamation punctuate this journey of self-discovery, exploring what it means to exist at the confluence of being Singaporean and being Eurasian, and to interrogate the liminal space between two cultures, Asian and European, occupied by this community.
144 pages, Paperback
Published October 17, 2023
14 people are currently reading
247 people want to read
About the author
Melissa De Silva
4 books7 followersMelissa De Silva is the author of 'Others' is Not a Race, about Eurasians in Singapore. It was awarded the 2018 Singapore Literature Prize in the creative non-fiction category. Her fiction has been published in Best New Singaporean Short Stories: Volume Three, Quarterly Literary Review Singapore and LONTAR: The Journal of Southeast Asian Speculative Fiction.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews
September 13, 2018
I did not like this book at all! Given the title, I was expecting a more critical assessment of the CMIO policy (for context: Singaporeans are categorized according to their race i.e.: Chinese, Malay, Indian, and Others; Eurasians, or Filipinos, Thais, Burmese would fall into the category of Others. Yes, it’s a leftover colonial policy and dictates a large part of our lives, and determines what you get policy-wise as well.). De Silva does not critique the system or structures at all. So if that is what you are looking for, look elsewhere.
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Eurasians are often not considered part and parcel of the Singaporean identity and I can empathize with her not feeling at home here in her place of birth: getting called Malay – when she’s not, feeling angry at how people are badly appropriating Eurasian cuisine, learning a language that is not your own etc. It’s all justified frustrations. What I did not like was the lack of introspection on De Silva’s part. Although Eurasians are the minority, it is not uncommon that they come from families with “old money”. So they are privileged: class-wise. This whole book was devoid of any form of self-awareness. Her paternal grandmother lived in a bungalow and her mother’s “kampong” was not a kampong at all! The moment you can have the whole house to yourself, with a space to build a porch, it does not become a kampong. A kampong in the 60s/70s, would be a wooden house, shared by four other families – communal toilets, communal kitchen and no space for a porch. It was incredibly infuriating because it felt like a lot of the times, De Silva tried to portray her family and her as part of the lower class, minority, disenfranchised… when her home, opportunities, school, heritage, says otherwise…
.
I sympathize with De Silva’s identity crises, but the lack of self-awareness that her ethnicity (being considered part white), name, language, and intergenerational wealth affords her made reading this book incredibly difficult (for me).
.
One thing I liked about this book is knowing that there are efforts to revive Kristang and the history of Eurasians and their ancestry.
.
Eurasians are often not considered part and parcel of the Singaporean identity and I can empathize with her not feeling at home here in her place of birth: getting called Malay – when she’s not, feeling angry at how people are badly appropriating Eurasian cuisine, learning a language that is not your own etc. It’s all justified frustrations. What I did not like was the lack of introspection on De Silva’s part. Although Eurasians are the minority, it is not uncommon that they come from families with “old money”. So they are privileged: class-wise. This whole book was devoid of any form of self-awareness. Her paternal grandmother lived in a bungalow and her mother’s “kampong” was not a kampong at all! The moment you can have the whole house to yourself, with a space to build a porch, it does not become a kampong. A kampong in the 60s/70s, would be a wooden house, shared by four other families – communal toilets, communal kitchen and no space for a porch. It was incredibly infuriating because it felt like a lot of the times, De Silva tried to portray her family and her as part of the lower class, minority, disenfranchised… when her home, opportunities, school, heritage, says otherwise…
.
I sympathize with De Silva’s identity crises, but the lack of self-awareness that her ethnicity (being considered part white), name, language, and intergenerational wealth affords her made reading this book incredibly difficult (for me).
.
One thing I liked about this book is knowing that there are efforts to revive Kristang and the history of Eurasians and their ancestry.
July 29, 2021
Rating: 2.5 stars
A generally eye-opening read regarding a very specific community of Eurasians, but not a well-delivered one.
First of all, this is one gripe many others also shared: the fact that De Silva's title and synopsis were misleading. I was expecting mini-essays discussing how CMIO categorisation had impacted her experiences as a Eurasian in Singapore, but instead a large portion of this book spoke of the author grappling with her poor knowledge of her culture, with a few chapters sharing more about the history of Eurasians. This disconnect made me quite confused while reading because CMIO was only deliberately spoken about for one chapter.
And while I appreciated learning more about the Malay-Portuguese Eurasian customs she spoke of, her insights and reflections on her culture felt repetitive since she kept on bringing up the same point for almost every personal experience she shares: that she felt embarrassed and sad for not really knowing her culture and how it came about. While interesting at first, this constant repetition was disappointing because I would have liked if she had expressed other angles of her experience rather than just scratching the surface.
Another problem I had with this book was that there was absolutely no transition between chapters. There would be personal experiences given, followed by some sudden historical fiction chapters, and then back to personal experiences again. It was jarring and sloppy. I realised why it felt that way when I came to the end of the book; it comprises of a few of De Silva's previous works that were published in other journals. I have no problem with a book being a collection of works but there was a lack of coherence in the arrangement, so the reading experience wasn't a very good one.
Overall, it was an educational read on the community of Eurasians, but it could've been better.
A generally eye-opening read regarding a very specific community of Eurasians, but not a well-delivered one.
First of all, this is one gripe many others also shared: the fact that De Silva's title and synopsis were misleading. I was expecting mini-essays discussing how CMIO categorisation had impacted her experiences as a Eurasian in Singapore, but instead a large portion of this book spoke of the author grappling with her poor knowledge of her culture, with a few chapters sharing more about the history of Eurasians. This disconnect made me quite confused while reading because CMIO was only deliberately spoken about for one chapter.
And while I appreciated learning more about the Malay-Portuguese Eurasian customs she spoke of, her insights and reflections on her culture felt repetitive since she kept on bringing up the same point for almost every personal experience she shares: that she felt embarrassed and sad for not really knowing her culture and how it came about. While interesting at first, this constant repetition was disappointing because I would have liked if she had expressed other angles of her experience rather than just scratching the surface.
Another problem I had with this book was that there was absolutely no transition between chapters. There would be personal experiences given, followed by some sudden historical fiction chapters, and then back to personal experiences again. It was jarring and sloppy. I realised why it felt that way when I came to the end of the book; it comprises of a few of De Silva's previous works that were published in other journals. I have no problem with a book being a collection of works but there was a lack of coherence in the arrangement, so the reading experience wasn't a very good one.
Overall, it was an educational read on the community of Eurasians, but it could've been better.
September 7, 2018
As a Singaporean, I'm keen on supporting the literary scene, and I really wanted to like this book. I didn't.
There is no doubt that this book is important in that it acknowledges and chronicles a bit of Eurasian history and culture where there is none in the mainstream, but the writing style was extremely grating. The narrator frequently goes on stream of consciousness ramblings that add no value to the narrative at all ("[My Latin spirit] looks olive-skinned, and seems to be wearing a red dress. But this might be the subconscious influence of the WhatsApp emoticon of a woman in a red dress holding maracas I sometimes use.") and are painful to read. She throws in stream of consciousness paragraphs that are self-referential and completely irrelevant like "While I'm snapping a photo, a thought occurs to me. Did I actually say "Oh my lord, the sugee?" just now? I have never, in my entire life, uttered the phrase. What am I, someone's Aunt from the Deep south?". Spare us.
There is no doubt that this book is important in that it acknowledges and chronicles a bit of Eurasian history and culture where there is none in the mainstream, but the writing style was extremely grating. The narrator frequently goes on stream of consciousness ramblings that add no value to the narrative at all ("[My Latin spirit] looks olive-skinned, and seems to be wearing a red dress. But this might be the subconscious influence of the WhatsApp emoticon of a woman in a red dress holding maracas I sometimes use.") and are painful to read. She throws in stream of consciousness paragraphs that are self-referential and completely irrelevant like "While I'm snapping a photo, a thought occurs to me. Did I actually say "Oh my lord, the sugee?" just now? I have never, in my entire life, uttered the phrase. What am I, someone's Aunt from the Deep south?". Spare us.
October 25, 2017
A wonderful and necessary addition to Singaporean letters, a fragrant melange of fiction, oral history and narrative nonfiction about being Eurasian in Singapore. Though they make up less than one percent of the population (relegating them to the status of a micro-minority), Eurasians have a distinct culture, language (Kristang) and cuisine that has played a vital role in the region since the 1500s, and Melissa brings this to life in her various writings gathered here. Her considered look at the Eurasian experience is an important window into an Othered community, and she does so with confidence and lyricism. And I'm immensely proud that her story "Blind Date", which I published in LONTAR, was chosen as the anchor piece for such a remarkable collection. Very highly recommended.
October 1, 2024
3.5 stars. I really liked the parts about food, and the short story at the end.
February 11, 2019
Perhaps for these, the ritualistic element of the proper bone china tea service and the codified English-like behaviour surrounding it might have been. But I think it's reasonable to conclude that for many families, afternoon tea wasn't a matter of trying to adopt British behaviours. It likely boiled down to a very universal human concern - the rumbling of the tummy.
I did not pick up the book due to the policy, but due to my education background and a deep interest in what constitutes identity (for those who have picked up this due to the same reason, I also recommend Gary Younge's Who Are We And Should It Matter In The 21st Century?). However, it is easy to see the frustrations of some who have chosen the book exactly and mainly for that reason. Though, it is obvious that De Silva's intent (as demonstrated by quote above) was for the book to be a personal expression, not a critique on the policy (hence the stream-of-consciousness style, which is also a criticism of some readers).
This is a beautiful memoir - with her linking generations together through the common tongue (and food) which makes her identity distinctly hers, and completely unique. There are moments which would make it more than Eurasian, but Singaporean in nature, due to the brief nods to history (may this be a warning to fellow non-Singaporean readers to be equipped with some knowledge of the history, though it is easy to pick up from her references). There are moments which would make one reflect as well, such as Gerald commenting that there was not a lot to leave to his children from his Eurasian culture, "No, don't you see? I don't have anything Eurasian to give them. At least Joyce has a whole bloody country full of culture. Those people have songs, they've got stories, a language, so many dishes their names make my head spin... One song doesn't make a culture." It prompts one to reflect on what a culture entails - and to those who like theory, on how true the Marxist comment that "culture" is one of the hardest words to define really is.
Final warning: one would like to be armed with snacks as well - the constant mentioning of food would make one really hungry midway.
September 24, 2018
Very interesting book by Melissa de Silva about the Portuguese-Eurasians / Kristang of Singapore and Malacca. I’ve always been aware of the Kristang - my first friend of Portuguese Asian descent was the boy I had a crush on when I was 12 (Juanito Santiago, shout out to you wherever you are) - but this was my first time reading anything in-depth about this community and culture. I didn’t know about sugee cake and now I’m desperate to try it.
This book left me feeling sad though. The community is small; what is its future? All four of the writer’s grandparents are of Portuguese-Eurasian descent, but I think today, there is more intermarriage with Chinese and Indians, and how does that affect them? The language is dying too, though de Silva ends her book on a hopeful note - she is learning Kristang now, and wishes to pass it on to her children.
Very glad I picked this up, though it was not at all what I was expecting. I thought it would be about first generation Eurasians in Singapore / Malaysia like my own child, not a community that has been around for hundreds of years. Still, it’s very useful for anyone trying to grapple with issues of identity, mixed heritage, and belonging.
This book left me feeling sad though. The community is small; what is its future? All four of the writer’s grandparents are of Portuguese-Eurasian descent, but I think today, there is more intermarriage with Chinese and Indians, and how does that affect them? The language is dying too, though de Silva ends her book on a hopeful note - she is learning Kristang now, and wishes to pass it on to her children.
Very glad I picked this up, though it was not at all what I was expecting. I thought it would be about first generation Eurasians in Singapore / Malaysia like my own child, not a community that has been around for hundreds of years. Still, it’s very useful for anyone trying to grapple with issues of identity, mixed heritage, and belonging.
March 22, 2018
When people jokingly respond to ignorance with “educate yourself” and go hahaha after, it softens the insult and makes ignorance sound less problematic. It also makes the education sound less urgent. And I’m sure there is a time for jokes, but also a time to get serious about educating ourselves and making a concerted effort to diminish, if not put an end to, that ignorance. This thin volume was that much needed education for me. And reading it made me hungry, not just for the food so lavishly described, but also for the culture and history of the Eurasian community in Singapore. I am looking forward to finding out more.
April 2, 2020
i appreciate the intention of this short collection, and so i hesitate to rag on what i felt could have been done better in execution.
when i was in primary school, the four racial categories of singapore i was taught were CMIE: chinese, malay, indian, eurasian. somewhere along the timeline (i hadn't kept up closely enough to know exactly when), the categories became CMIO, the 'O' standing for 'Others', presumably because the rarity of eurasians and the increasing influx of other races as globalisation marched on made it easier to lump them all into a single, administratively convenient group.
i did get called out by this book on my lack of knowledge about eurasians and how they define their cultural heritage and identity. and so i'm very grateful! for what i've now learnt about this community of singaporeans, their history and how they feel about being citizens of a country that doesn't really acknowledge their presence. it is an important book that records memories of eurasian childhoods, customs and language, formalising these aspects of their culture where local media will not. its genre of 'creative non-fiction' was interesting: not just meant to be a history book spewing facts about these people, but also with a lot more uncomfortable overt truth that might otherwise be shrouded in a completely fictional collection.
however, i have a couple of small gripes with it. maybe it's the title - 'others' is not a race, but should the indignance with which De Silva writes on behalf of her own ethnic group be extended to the other races that have been similarly bundled into this general category? like i get that this is supposed to be a book celebrating eurasians specifically but titling it this way made me expect some kind of discussion to speak up for every other silenced race. also, there are flaws even with the C, M and I (lmao) categorisations as well: as she briefly glosses over in illustration, those who don't fit comfortably into one group are forced to choose one of three prescribed languages to study as a 'mother tongue' in primary school - children from interracial families, or non-tamil-speaking indians, or chinese families where the language spoken at home is a dialect rather than mandarin. maybe there could have been some discussion on that?? idk if this is a fair critique. writing-wise, though, i felt the stories could have done with slightly more engaging prose to make this a more enjoyable read, awareness-raising agenda aside.
when i was in primary school, the four racial categories of singapore i was taught were CMIE: chinese, malay, indian, eurasian. somewhere along the timeline (i hadn't kept up closely enough to know exactly when), the categories became CMIO, the 'O' standing for 'Others', presumably because the rarity of eurasians and the increasing influx of other races as globalisation marched on made it easier to lump them all into a single, administratively convenient group.
i did get called out by this book on my lack of knowledge about eurasians and how they define their cultural heritage and identity. and so i'm very grateful! for what i've now learnt about this community of singaporeans, their history and how they feel about being citizens of a country that doesn't really acknowledge their presence. it is an important book that records memories of eurasian childhoods, customs and language, formalising these aspects of their culture where local media will not. its genre of 'creative non-fiction' was interesting: not just meant to be a history book spewing facts about these people, but also with a lot more uncomfortable overt truth that might otherwise be shrouded in a completely fictional collection.
however, i have a couple of small gripes with it. maybe it's the title - 'others' is not a race, but should the indignance with which De Silva writes on behalf of her own ethnic group be extended to the other races that have been similarly bundled into this general category? like i get that this is supposed to be a book celebrating eurasians specifically but titling it this way made me expect some kind of discussion to speak up for every other silenced race. also, there are flaws even with the C, M and I (lmao) categorisations as well: as she briefly glosses over in illustration, those who don't fit comfortably into one group are forced to choose one of three prescribed languages to study as a 'mother tongue' in primary school - children from interracial families, or non-tamil-speaking indians, or chinese families where the language spoken at home is a dialect rather than mandarin. maybe there could have been some discussion on that?? idk if this is a fair critique. writing-wise, though, i felt the stories could have done with slightly more engaging prose to make this a more enjoyable read, awareness-raising agenda aside.
July 15, 2018
Informative, important and necessary insights into being Eurasian in Singapore. The writing is sharp and incisive, the author did loads of research and integrated her personal experiences and family memories with the history and facts well. This slim volume mixes multiple genres like short stories, essays, and oral memories of family members recorded by the author. I enjoyed the more personal narrative essays written in the first-person more than the rest. There were loads about Eurasian cuisine with vivid food images and even recipes, but it was the ones that discuss the Eurasian language Kristang interested me most.
Most of the stories and essays focused on providing historical information and to emphasis the need to recognise Eurasians as Singaporeans, equally and respectfully. I completely agree and love learning more about Eurasian history and their community. But i was hoping for some more narrative to pull me into their world, and personally the book didn’t keep me very engaged most of the time. The pieces didn’t flow very well as one collection, many facts and stuff kept repeating.
Granted, I probably have a lot of things on my mind this week, but I also think it’s because the author worked on getting the cultural setting right, sharing with us the statistical details, setting the gravity of the situation for Eurasians in Singapore, more than she worked on developing some characters for the reader to get personally and emotionally immersed in the world and perspective. The last story, a speculative fiction one, had more of the characterisation i was looking for, so i liked that one.
Most of the stories and essays focused on providing historical information and to emphasis the need to recognise Eurasians as Singaporeans, equally and respectfully. I completely agree and love learning more about Eurasian history and their community. But i was hoping for some more narrative to pull me into their world, and personally the book didn’t keep me very engaged most of the time. The pieces didn’t flow very well as one collection, many facts and stuff kept repeating.
Granted, I probably have a lot of things on my mind this week, but I also think it’s because the author worked on getting the cultural setting right, sharing with us the statistical details, setting the gravity of the situation for Eurasians in Singapore, more than she worked on developing some characters for the reader to get personally and emotionally immersed in the world and perspective. The last story, a speculative fiction one, had more of the characterisation i was looking for, so i liked that one.
March 17, 2019
As a Singaporean, I'm keen on supporting the literary scene, and I really wanted to like this book. I didn't.
I sympathize with De Silva’s identity crises, but the lack of self-awareness that her ethnicity (being considered part white), name, language, and intergenerational wealth affords her made reading this book incredibly difficult (for me).
There is no doubt that this book is important in that it acknowledges and chronicles a bit of Eurasian history and culture where there is none in the mainstream, but the writing style was extremely grating. The narrator frequently goes on stream of consciousness ramblings that add no value to the narrative at all ("[My Latin spirit] looks olive-skinned, and seems to be wearing a red dress. But this might be the subconscious influence of the WhatsApp emoticon of a woman in a red dress holding maracas I sometimes use.") and are painful to read. She throws in stream of consciousness paragraphs that are self-referential and completely irrelevant like "While I'm snapping a photo, a thought occurs to me. Did I actually say "Oh my lord, the sugee?" just now? I have never, in my entire life, uttered the phrase. What am I, someone's Aunt from the Deep south?". Spare us.
I sympathize with De Silva’s identity crises, but the lack of self-awareness that her ethnicity (being considered part white), name, language, and intergenerational wealth affords her made reading this book incredibly difficult (for me).
There is no doubt that this book is important in that it acknowledges and chronicles a bit of Eurasian history and culture where there is none in the mainstream, but the writing style was extremely grating. The narrator frequently goes on stream of consciousness ramblings that add no value to the narrative at all ("[My Latin spirit] looks olive-skinned, and seems to be wearing a red dress. But this might be the subconscious influence of the WhatsApp emoticon of a woman in a red dress holding maracas I sometimes use.") and are painful to read. She throws in stream of consciousness paragraphs that are self-referential and completely irrelevant like "While I'm snapping a photo, a thought occurs to me. Did I actually say "Oh my lord, the sugee?" just now? I have never, in my entire life, uttered the phrase. What am I, someone's Aunt from the Deep south?". Spare us.
November 22, 2018
i had the pleasure of listening to melissa de silva on three different panels at the singapore writers festival earlier this year. she struck me as an incredibly intelligent and self-aware individual, with a deep understanding of her cultural identity and hopes for it—so much so that i just bought her book without a second thought.
now that i’ve finished it, i am extremely satiated and satisfied. a stunning read! de silva paints a vivid journey into her experiences that is at once delightful and insightful. some of my favourite scenes from this is the anecdote about her primary school experience with ‘ms pat lim’. de silva does not take it upon herself to be the educator—a job that can sometimes be deeply frustrating and annoying in a world that doesn’t know otherwise—and her assured prose and calls to action are deeply profound.
i liked that some fiction was also blended in this book, especially the last chapter which somehow seems outlandish but accurate at the same time. all of this combined makes a very enjoyable read into the depths of identity and what it means to be treated as ‘other’. would highly recommend.
now that i’ve finished it, i am extremely satiated and satisfied. a stunning read! de silva paints a vivid journey into her experiences that is at once delightful and insightful. some of my favourite scenes from this is the anecdote about her primary school experience with ‘ms pat lim’. de silva does not take it upon herself to be the educator—a job that can sometimes be deeply frustrating and annoying in a world that doesn’t know otherwise—and her assured prose and calls to action are deeply profound.
i liked that some fiction was also blended in this book, especially the last chapter which somehow seems outlandish but accurate at the same time. all of this combined makes a very enjoyable read into the depths of identity and what it means to be treated as ‘other’. would highly recommend.
December 11, 2020
An interesting book covering the topic of labeling Eurasians under 'Others' on their passports and other legal documents through short stories and anecdotes from the author and her family.
This book was both poignant as well as informative and I feel like I learned a lot about Eurasian culture in Singapore, something I had no idea about even though I've lived in Singapore my whole life.
Though it was a good book, I didn't love it. I'm an Eurasian myself with my father being French and my mother being Singaporean, so when I picked up this book I thought I would be able to relate to what was written in here, but soon discovered that 'Others' Is Not A Race was about the type of Eurasians that descended from when the Spanish and British came to Singapore during the 1800s and 1900s. I live very different lives than those in this book (going to an International school being one such example, and so I really didn't feel any connection to anyone in this short collection of stories).
This book was both poignant as well as informative and I feel like I learned a lot about Eurasian culture in Singapore, something I had no idea about even though I've lived in Singapore my whole life.
Though it was a good book, I didn't love it. I'm an Eurasian myself with my father being French and my mother being Singaporean, so when I picked up this book I thought I would be able to relate to what was written in here, but soon discovered that 'Others' Is Not A Race was about the type of Eurasians that descended from when the Spanish and British came to Singapore during the 1800s and 1900s. I live very different lives than those in this book (going to an International school being one such example, and so I really didn't feel any connection to anyone in this short collection of stories).
March 22, 2018
Refreshing view on Eurasians in Singapore
December 1, 2017
Last month, I visited Singapore for the first time in my life for no apparent reason. (I just felt like it. Maybe because I’ve stumbled upon an art exhibition of young artists from Singapore in Shibuya Tokyo, or maybe I wanted to get way from the gloomy-rainy-cold Tokyo.). I make it a habit to visit a local bookstore when I visit foreign place, and this time that was the famous bookstore “Booksactually”, which is where I found this book. (I confess. I bought this book at Kinokuniya Books the next day. Well, Kinokuniya books in Singapore is the biggest Kinokuniya outside of Japan! I had to visit there as well!)
What was I saying? Oh yeah. This book.
It turns out that I knew nothing about Singapore and their culture. I knew literally (usually I am hesitant of using this word, but it feels apt to use it here) nothing about the Eurasian people. I thought Eurasian people looked like me (i.e. East Asian), so when I read the part where the author was referred as “Indian girl”, I was confused. That is how much I didn’t know about everything.
(by the way, I know when people say “Asian”, they include people from all the Asia, but I was always uncomfortable about that umbrella term. Yeah, people in China, Korea and Japan look the same, but when you compare the people from the west and east part of Asia, say, people in India and people in Japan, they do not look the same. Why put those people in a same category?)
Oh sorry, got sidetracked again. Anyway, this book was enlightening. The first few pages where confusing to me since I knew nothing of Eurasians nor Kristang (ugh, stop trying to replace the word Kristang with Kristine, Microsoft Word!), but once you google few things while reading the book, you find yourself reading a Wikipedia page where they explain the origin of the word “compound”. (You’ll know what I mean when you read the book.) The more I read, the more I learnt something new. Like, the tasty sounding “Sugee Cake”. (okay, sorry, the brackets again. The word “sugee” sounds like a Japanese word meaning “awesome”, so first I thought “huh? The ‘Awesome Cake’?”)
This book made me think about the cultural identity. When we refer to the certain culture, what do we have in mind? Language? Race? Cuisine? And how many people do we need to have, to proudly proclaim that we ARE this unique culture, not to be ignored? Is the “mix” (or amalgamation/union/blend) of the other cultures not entitled to have their own culture? How/why do we identify as belonging to the certain culture? What is the difference between ethnicity and race? (my understanding is that ethnicity is “what we do” and race is “how we look”) What would people with parents from Korea and China living in Japan (and legally Japanese: the second generation Korean/Chinese) think about this whole “race” thing? (One of my close friend is from China but she became “Japanese” when she was 5. My ex had a Korean last name but could not understand a single word of Korean.) Korean/Chinese/Japanese all look the same (please don’t be mad at me, since I’m talking about my own race, and even I have hard times telling the difference between all these three… Well, usually you can tell from the way people move, except when they grew up in other countries e.g. US, then you can never tell.), so the way we look cannot be counted as a part of our race except when compared to people with different skin colour? Hmm wait…. I am really confused here. I need some Eurasian tea.
It’s a really small book with huge questions inside, and I could not be happier for discovering this book.
(Okay, final confession. I don’t always finish the book I’ve bought at the bookstores in foreign country. I always try to buy a book written about the country I’m visiting, and most of the time they’re written by the author I’ve not heard of. First few pages are fun. Then I get bored and distracted. Not this book.)
Why only four stars? Well, because when I rate five stars, that means I want to re-read the book over and over again. I want to live in the world I’ve just finished reading. Or force people to read the book. However, I don’t have those urges for this book. Maybe because I’m more of a fiction reader, or maybe because I loved learning new things about Singapore, but not reading the story (I don’t usually read short stories.) But that does NOT mean I didn’t love this book. I loved it and enjoyed it A LOT. (As you might have guessed from the unnaturally long review. Wait, can you call this a review? Oh god I’m blabbering.)
What was I saying? Oh yeah. This book.
It turns out that I knew nothing about Singapore and their culture. I knew literally (usually I am hesitant of using this word, but it feels apt to use it here) nothing about the Eurasian people. I thought Eurasian people looked like me (i.e. East Asian), so when I read the part where the author was referred as “Indian girl”, I was confused. That is how much I didn’t know about everything.
(by the way, I know when people say “Asian”, they include people from all the Asia, but I was always uncomfortable about that umbrella term. Yeah, people in China, Korea and Japan look the same, but when you compare the people from the west and east part of Asia, say, people in India and people in Japan, they do not look the same. Why put those people in a same category?)
Oh sorry, got sidetracked again. Anyway, this book was enlightening. The first few pages where confusing to me since I knew nothing of Eurasians nor Kristang (ugh, stop trying to replace the word Kristang with Kristine, Microsoft Word!), but once you google few things while reading the book, you find yourself reading a Wikipedia page where they explain the origin of the word “compound”. (You’ll know what I mean when you read the book.) The more I read, the more I learnt something new. Like, the tasty sounding “Sugee Cake”. (okay, sorry, the brackets again. The word “sugee” sounds like a Japanese word meaning “awesome”, so first I thought “huh? The ‘Awesome Cake’?”)
This book made me think about the cultural identity. When we refer to the certain culture, what do we have in mind? Language? Race? Cuisine? And how many people do we need to have, to proudly proclaim that we ARE this unique culture, not to be ignored? Is the “mix” (or amalgamation/union/blend) of the other cultures not entitled to have their own culture? How/why do we identify as belonging to the certain culture? What is the difference between ethnicity and race? (my understanding is that ethnicity is “what we do” and race is “how we look”) What would people with parents from Korea and China living in Japan (and legally Japanese: the second generation Korean/Chinese) think about this whole “race” thing? (One of my close friend is from China but she became “Japanese” when she was 5. My ex had a Korean last name but could not understand a single word of Korean.) Korean/Chinese/Japanese all look the same (please don’t be mad at me, since I’m talking about my own race, and even I have hard times telling the difference between all these three… Well, usually you can tell from the way people move, except when they grew up in other countries e.g. US, then you can never tell.), so the way we look cannot be counted as a part of our race except when compared to people with different skin colour? Hmm wait…. I am really confused here. I need some Eurasian tea.
It’s a really small book with huge questions inside, and I could not be happier for discovering this book.
(Okay, final confession. I don’t always finish the book I’ve bought at the bookstores in foreign country. I always try to buy a book written about the country I’m visiting, and most of the time they’re written by the author I’ve not heard of. First few pages are fun. Then I get bored and distracted. Not this book.)
Why only four stars? Well, because when I rate five stars, that means I want to re-read the book over and over again. I want to live in the world I’ve just finished reading. Or force people to read the book. However, I don’t have those urges for this book. Maybe because I’m more of a fiction reader, or maybe because I loved learning new things about Singapore, but not reading the story (I don’t usually read short stories.) But that does NOT mean I didn’t love this book. I loved it and enjoyed it A LOT. (As you might have guessed from the unnaturally long review. Wait, can you call this a review? Oh god I’m blabbering.)
January 22, 2025
this book had a lot of highs and lows imo. the first chapter is extremely well written, and resonates incredibly with people who feel desperate connection with their mother tongue. then the second chapter was really unimpressive in comparison, and later chapters express a similar idea but much better, generally i have no particular clue why it was necessary other than to illustrate the importance of sugee, which is done in the next chapter anyway. i really like the chapters that are told by others, usually abt eurasian heritage food, and moments where de silva feels a strong connection with people she did not expect, like in immigration that one time. but the chapter abt the mosquito felt half-baked, and the descriptions of the future in the last chapter felt too cliche, though the conversation between the men did feel really earnt. the email she writes comes from a place of resentment and desire to not be classified as "others" but then throws other "others" under the bus, as if only eurasians have a right to have their own classification, and though this was definitely not her intention, it certainly comes off that way - by focusing on what Eurasians have done for singapore and why theyre forced to still be "others" INSTEAD of asking why anyone who isnt CMI is just relegated to O regardless of their actual race, which to me is a much more important discussion to have abt the CMIO model.
in general, i think this book really needed a LOT more nuance. theres another review on here that i really agree with, about how de silva never really talks about the privilege that she definitely grew up with, even though it wouldve made the discussion much more rich. additionally, i also think that restricting the definition of eurasian to just having roots in colonial interracial relations feels outdated, not just in this book but in general. it simply feels wrong that there would ever only be 2 eurasians left, 2 that have express roots all the way back to portuguese colonialism, instead of acknowledging that like... wasian people will still exist??? like in general???? while i get that the kind of heritage de silva wants to talk about stems from back then etc, i feel like that simply ignoring that eurasian people from other origins still exist does not mesh with the message that this book is trying to provide.
i really was not expecting to write such a long review about this book, but as of now its around a 1.5-2 stars, because i have many issues with the execution of its messages, and de silvas underlying biases and lack of nuance, but her writing is mostly well done and she carries a lot of emotion and struggle in how she wants to uphold her identity. this sentence probably makes no grammatical sense but its okay
in general, i think this book really needed a LOT more nuance. theres another review on here that i really agree with, about how de silva never really talks about the privilege that she definitely grew up with, even though it wouldve made the discussion much more rich. additionally, i also think that restricting the definition of eurasian to just having roots in colonial interracial relations feels outdated, not just in this book but in general. it simply feels wrong that there would ever only be 2 eurasians left, 2 that have express roots all the way back to portuguese colonialism, instead of acknowledging that like... wasian people will still exist??? like in general???? while i get that the kind of heritage de silva wants to talk about stems from back then etc, i feel like that simply ignoring that eurasian people from other origins still exist does not mesh with the message that this book is trying to provide.
i really was not expecting to write such a long review about this book, but as of now its around a 1.5-2 stars, because i have many issues with the execution of its messages, and de silvas underlying biases and lack of nuance, but her writing is mostly well done and she carries a lot of emotion and struggle in how she wants to uphold her identity. this sentence probably makes no grammatical sense but its okay
April 16, 2020
Fun fact: I did not know that the Singapore Recreation Club was formed in 1883 as an exclusively Eurasian club in response to European only clubs which as the Singapore Cricket Club.
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This book was such an eye-opening introduction to the Eurasian culture. Melissa De Silva weaves in the struggles, history, and culture in short chapters shared from different angles, into a cohesive book about life as a Eurasian in Singapore.
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𝟛 𝕓𝕠𝕠𝕜 𝕓𝕪𝕥𝕖𝕤 📚
📕Unlike the Indians, Malays and Chinese which have their own race category under the multicultural policy, Eurasians are classified under the category ‘Others’. This book brings perspective of how it feels to be part of ‘Others’
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📗Sugee cake, Belachan, Chinchalok, European tea, Debal curry... tentalising stories about Eurasian cuisine captured in the chapters. 😋Any recommendations for restaurants serving up Eurasian fare anyone?
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📘”Blind date”, the last story is about two last Eurasians in Singapore, and how their meeting to reminisce surfaces their fears. I loved this chapter.
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𝕎𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕀 𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕪 𝕝𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕕💎
This book is really a voice for the micro-minority Eurasian community in Singapore. We don’t hear enough of these stories but we should!
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ℝ𝕖𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕕 𝕗𝕠𝕣: Singaporeans, especially those who ask ‘Singapore got Eurasians meh?’ 😦
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This book was such an eye-opening introduction to the Eurasian culture. Melissa De Silva weaves in the struggles, history, and culture in short chapters shared from different angles, into a cohesive book about life as a Eurasian in Singapore.
•
𝟛 𝕓𝕠𝕠𝕜 𝕓𝕪𝕥𝕖𝕤 📚
📕Unlike the Indians, Malays and Chinese which have their own race category under the multicultural policy, Eurasians are classified under the category ‘Others’. This book brings perspective of how it feels to be part of ‘Others’
•
📗Sugee cake, Belachan, Chinchalok, European tea, Debal curry... tentalising stories about Eurasian cuisine captured in the chapters. 😋Any recommendations for restaurants serving up Eurasian fare anyone?
•
📘”Blind date”, the last story is about two last Eurasians in Singapore, and how their meeting to reminisce surfaces their fears. I loved this chapter.
•
𝕎𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕀 𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕪 𝕝𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕕💎
This book is really a voice for the micro-minority Eurasian community in Singapore. We don’t hear enough of these stories but we should!
•
ℝ𝕖𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕕 𝕗𝕠𝕣: Singaporeans, especially those who ask ‘Singapore got Eurasians meh?’ 😦
April 11, 2025
With a name like ‘Others’ Is Not A Race, I expected a strong critique of Singapore’s racial classification system — especially the CMIO model that still impacts everything from policy to identity. It’s a system that marks entire communities as “Other” and then conveniently forgets them. I thought this book would interrogate that.
While Melissa De Silva’s feelings of cultural displacement are valid — being mistaken for Malay, navigating the erasure of Eurasian identity — there’s a noticeable lack of critical reflection on the larger structures that perpetuate that erasure.
What bothered me most was the absence of class awareness. The book frequently gestures toward marginalization, but ignores the comfort and privilege embedded in her own background. Family homes with porches and bungalows aren’t exactly what comes to mind when we talk about disenfranchisement — especially not in the Singaporean context.
There’s also a missed chance to confront how proximity to whiteness can complicate narratives of exclusion. That nuance never really surfaces.
The parts on Kristang and cultural revival were meaningful and necessary — and I wish more of the book had that depth.
While Melissa De Silva’s feelings of cultural displacement are valid — being mistaken for Malay, navigating the erasure of Eurasian identity — there’s a noticeable lack of critical reflection on the larger structures that perpetuate that erasure.
What bothered me most was the absence of class awareness. The book frequently gestures toward marginalization, but ignores the comfort and privilege embedded in her own background. Family homes with porches and bungalows aren’t exactly what comes to mind when we talk about disenfranchisement — especially not in the Singaporean context.
There’s also a missed chance to confront how proximity to whiteness can complicate narratives of exclusion. That nuance never really surfaces.
The parts on Kristang and cultural revival were meaningful and necessary — and I wish more of the book had that depth.
July 8, 2022
my only gripe is how badly this was edited. typos everywhere is just... not it.
BUT with that out of the way, this was such a lovely read – I so loved reading each of the stories and the variety of perspectives and voices that spoke life into the Eurasian experience, and I'm now inspired to put together something like this for my maternal extended family's stories. reading this was also a good exercise in reexamining my Chinese privilege because I've honestly never thought much about the experiences of Eurasians, or how they've been in this region for many many more generations than my family has, and yet are treated as such outsiders and anomalies.
also. all those negative reviews are so dumb for judging this book for what it is not, and never set out to be: academic discourse/essays on minority racial identity in Singapore. sheesh.
BUT with that out of the way, this was such a lovely read – I so loved reading each of the stories and the variety of perspectives and voices that spoke life into the Eurasian experience, and I'm now inspired to put together something like this for my maternal extended family's stories. reading this was also a good exercise in reexamining my Chinese privilege because I've honestly never thought much about the experiences of Eurasians, or how they've been in this region for many many more generations than my family has, and yet are treated as such outsiders and anomalies.
also. all those negative reviews are so dumb for judging this book for what it is not, and never set out to be: academic discourse/essays on minority racial identity in Singapore. sheesh.
July 8, 2023
i'm just like most people in the reviews - Eurasian struggles are valid and insights into such are interesting to read, everything else not so much...
stories were fun but arrangement felt cluttered, was a little overbearing with author's insistence on reminding us of their embarrassment and borderline self-hatred of her lack of connection to her culture (which i thought i would relate to, being mixed and having similar issues, sadly i started feeling a little miffed instead).
otherwise i personally loved the stories involving food, may want to try out some of these recipes in the future as well. i'm also happy on behalf of the author for re-learning kristang, that story was the most endearing for me and i do wish the best for them on this regard!
stories were fun but arrangement felt cluttered, was a little overbearing with author's insistence on reminding us of their embarrassment and borderline self-hatred of her lack of connection to her culture (which i thought i would relate to, being mixed and having similar issues, sadly i started feeling a little miffed instead).
otherwise i personally loved the stories involving food, may want to try out some of these recipes in the future as well. i'm also happy on behalf of the author for re-learning kristang, that story was the most endearing for me and i do wish the best for them on this regard!
May 24, 2024
The book is labelled "Creative nonfiction" which is somewhat of a new "crossover" category. It claims to talk about Eurasians in Singapore and Malaysia, but really it focuses on the Portuguese Euroasians, mostly rooted in the Portuguese presence in Malacca. It doesn't cover the broader group of Eurasians (say with Dutch roots, think of the Burghers in Sri Lanka). With that in mind it is a pleasant short book, with many short personal anecdotes. The book lacks perhaps structure as it seemingly randomly meanders from one anecdote to another. On the other hand, the stories are indeed personal and intimate, many about food and language, most in a family setting, some of these going back to WWII. They give in insight in how the protagonist experiences her unique (Portuguese) Eurasian identity.
March 23, 2019
This short collection of stories — some fictional, some not, some in between — does a beautiful job of showing the tension inherent in being caught between cultures while simultaneously being part of a unique, separate culture. I loved the balance between humour and pain, beauty and destruction. It also gave me tremendous insight into a minority group in Singapore that is not only underrepresented, but also largely misunderstood. I appreciate De Silva's openness with the internal conflict that surfaces when one's heritage is very much a part of history but not always the part people (want to) remember. This is a recommended read.
January 28, 2019
Though the writing is generally cringey and immature, I'm giving it 5 stars because I'm choosing to think that this was deliberate. Remember that some of Singapore's successful english-language tv shows include Phua Chu Kang, Police & Thief, Under One Roof. Stuff only the very young and very old laughed at sincerely. But it was nice to see Singapore on TV, and not all of it was bad. This book is like that. Not all of it is bad, it speaks about and for a neglected minority, and its title is 100% correct.
September 16, 2018
This is my first time reading about the Eurasian experience in Singapore. In learning about Melissa and her family - their history, tradition, food and culture, I am reminded of the songs, sayings and food that my grandmother used to share with me (which I could barely remember fully now) only to realise that they have roots in the Eurasian culture and Kristang. Mindblown!
December 20, 2024
A mini recollection-of-the-past book from the lens of an local Eurasian girl. Pretty short and anecdotal about what the author had recollect and living via her past experience within the Eurasian Community. Wouldn't said it was well-delivered but good introductory to someone who does not have an idea on the Eurasian counterparts that shape Singapore.
November 21, 2017
Wonderful book by Melissa De Silva. Loved how she wove reality and fiction together to produce a story that was relatable across generations. It's a slim book, but it manages to give a sampler for Eurasian culture in Singapore and leaves you wanting to learn more.
August 11, 2018
Having studied in a convent primary school meant that I wasn't unfamiliar with Eurasians. I have to confess though that I never thought if they had their own language though I was somewhat familiar with their cuisine.
Overall a good read though the last short story was a bit flat.
Overall a good read though the last short story was a bit flat.
September 11, 2018
An interesting story. I never knew about Eurasian until I read this book. It tells stories from different people, I can imagine this is the kind of story being told in a family meeting.
October 24, 2018
If you don't know what Kristang or Debal curry is, then you probably don't know what a Eurasian is, and so you'll have to read this book.
May 29, 2019
a really nice set of short pieces reflecting on various aspects of being Eurasian and what that means in the Singapore of today/the future
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