Singapore's model of race reations is commendeble, allowing Chinses Malays, Indians, and others to be themselves.

'In just two hours, the main entrance to the Ang Mo Kio MRT station resembled the perennially chaotic New Delhi railway station,' he said, describing the scene on Saturday, Feb 3, when he was among volunteers at Ang Mo Kio.

Piled up near the stairs was a mountain of plastic bags and sacks. There was a constant swarm of people, and a general air of disorder and excitement.'

'Although the drive had not been very well-publicised, the outpouring of sympathy was astounding,' he remarked, adding that 150 tonnes of material had been collected in about 12 hours at the four designated MRT stations, including Ang Mo Kio, instead of the expected 30 tonnes.

The benefactors ranged from a woman who donated 1,000 kg of rice; to a poorly-dressed elderly man, who gave 10 kg of rice; to a teenaged girl who offered the contents of her piggy bank but had to be informed that the volunteers were not collecting money, but only goods.

That is not the whole story, however.

Mr Narayan Swamy, an Indian national, wrote: 'True, Indian nationals also came. But the overwhelming majority of the donors were Singaporeans of all races - generous and always willing to share, even for a place they may not have heard of before it was hit by the worst earthquake in the Indian subcontinent in 50 years.'

'There were hundreds of them - men, women and children,' he said, referring to people who had come to make donations, as well as those who had come to volunteer their time at the collection point.

As a Singaporean, I am proud of the fellow citizens whom my Indian colleague praises, but I am also humbled by his observant reminder of the multi-racial underpinnings of generosity in Singapore.

Why am I humbled?

It is because his re- port on the outpouring of support, cutting across racial and religious lines, affirms the multi-racial nature of Singapore, a reality that is sometimes in danger of being obscured by the role of ethnicity in the collective life of Singaporeans.

From the identity embodied in identity cards which mention race, to the presence of self-help groups to serve racial communities, ethnicity plays a crucial role in the self- definition of Singapore.

I admit that it is futile to ignore the reality of race. The self-help groups, for example, have genuinely improved the lives of their communities, contributing thereby to improving the lives of Singaporeans in general.

Some of their success comes, no doubt, from their closeness to the concerns and the aspirations of the races they serve.

The larger point is that Singapore's model of race relations is commendable.

Chinese, Malays, Indians and others are allowed to be themselves.

One alternative to this approach would have been racial assimilation. The question, then, would have been: Which race should assimilate the others?

Given the logic of numbers, the answer would have pointed to the Chinese, but the other races would have resisted assi- milation by the majority community, and naturally so.

By contrast, multi- racial integration gives the races space to be themselves while encouraging them to develop overlapping areas that allow the races to live, work and play together.

The merits of this approach are apparent in the racial tolerance that prevails today. Every Singaporean can take pride in this achievement.

That said, what is necessary is to move from tolerance to greater understanding, friendship and trust.

That goal calls for greater momentum in defining the fundamentals of Singapore's collective life in terms that acknowledge the reality of ethnicity but try to transcend it.

What lends urgency to the goal is that, globally, peace, tolerance and understanding are by no means guaranteed among the international races and relig- ions represented in Singapore.

All that Singaporeans can do, within the frontiers of this country, is to try and ensure that any clash of racial and religious civilisations does not destroy our space on earth, our home called Singapore.

Mr Narayan Swamy's article was a reassuring commentary on what makes us Singaporeans.

The fact that citizens of all races participated in the relief effort for an overseas community, one related to a minority within a minority here - as Gujaratis are among ethnic Indians in Singapore - reiterated that what makes us Singaporeans is not that we come from China, India, Malayan South-east Asia or elsewhere, but that we are here.

And shall always be.

The cynic may argue that occasional shows of generosity - when disasters have struck Turkey, Taiwan and now India - do not add up to a truly multi-racial spirit of caring.

By their very nature, the disasters are exceptions, and so the response to them is exceptional as well, they may say.

This is a dim view to take. How would Singaporeans have felt had the response to the plea for help for Gujarat come largely from Indian Singaporeans and Indian nationals?

By contrast, when Singaporeans of all races showed their humanitarian side, they made a statement about the nature of Singapore.

Let this spirit persevere, not only when Singaporeans respond to calamities abroad, but also when we are in a position to help those within our borders who need our help, whatever race or religion they may be.

Generosity will cement our relations as a people, as it shows others that we are a single people.