What does it mean to be Eurasian in Singapore?

What does it mean to be Eurasian?
I think it's about being part of two worlds. I am Chinese-Eurasian, which makes me part of both the majority and minority in Singapore at the same time. This duality has been quite eye-opening.

I’ve been in groups of only Chinese or only Eurasian people, with each accepting me as one of theirs. I’ve heard the negative stereotypes they hold of each other. For me, a significant part of being Eurasian is recognizing – and to some extent advocating – that we are all really the same.

What's your mix?
Aristocracy, apparently. Just kidding. But I understand that one of my ancestors was Sir Francis Light, the man who founded Penang. He was British. My mother was born to two Eurasian parents, and my maternal grandmother's mother came from Goa – so there's some Indian heritage as well. And then there's my mother's surname, Capel, which hints to some Viking roots. Although I'm not too sure about that, as I am seldom the tallest guy in the room. 

My father is Chinese, and that part of my ancestry, I believe, is predominantly Chinese. I am thus the result of a fair amount of mixing, but the most immediate being Chinese and Eurasian.

How often do you get mislabelled as a foreigner? 
As I am of the brown-skinned variety of Eurasians in Singapore, people typically place me as Malay at first. They would automatically try to converse with me in Malay, or I might receive the occasional questioning look during Ramadhan. I have also been asked if I’m Filipino, Mexican, Spanish, Middle Eastern, Thai, Indian, Spanish – or even Hawaiian. Seldom do people actually guess Eurasian or Chinese. 

What's interesting though, is being mistaken as a local overseas. This has happened countless times. I'm Filipino in the Philippines, Thai in Thailand, Spanish in Spain, Indian in India, Burmese in Myanmar.

Once I was walking up a mountain village in India, and an Indian family approached me speaking in Hindi asking for directions. More recently, I was standing around in an electronics store in Manila waiting for a friend, and a customer (without any hesitation whatsoever) came up to me and asked a question about the product in his hands in Tagalog.  

What were traditions like at home, growing up?
A lot of it is centred around family, food, and Christmas. We don't have an ethnic holiday like Chinese New Year, so Eurasians celebrate Christmas very seriously. 

Christmas to us is a period where you have four to five feasts in a single day – think devil's curry, shepherd's pie, beef semur, and sugee cake. Each family has a slightly different recipe and secretly thinks theirs is the best. 

What does your Eurasian identity mean to you? 
To me, being Eurasian means to be inclusive and welcoming of peoples and experiences from any given background. I'm currently working on a @eurasian.ish campaign that has allowed us to get in touch with a number of Eurasian youths. They share their own experiences of what it means to be Eurasian in today's Singapore. 

What’s your mix?
I often get asked this question and it is difficult for me to pinpoint. The nature of things would mean that I would have to trace every single one of my ancestors and forefathers, which is not something that is accessible to everyone. 

If people must know, I usually explain that my surname is supposedly of Dutch/Flemish descent. But would I hold any affinity to said places? No. Because I'm really just a mixture of Singaporean-ness. 

What were traditions like at home, growing up?  
My mother is Chinese and my dad is Eurasian. So I get the best of both worlds: Chinese New Year, Easter and Christmas. Growing up, when the school holidays began, it also marked the beginning of the end of year spring cleaning. My siblings and I would trail after my mum in our house and would work at cleaning, wiping, vacuuming each room till its spick and span for the Christmas season.

Besides decorating our home, it also involves making trays of pineapple tarts, cherry cookies, achar. The wafts of bunga rampai from the Geylang Serai market would immediately signal the beginning of the most wonderful time of the year.

What does it mean to be Eurasian? 
I'm proud of my Kristang, Peranakan and Teochew heritage. They each come with a wealth of traditions, practices, beliefs and tangible and intangible heritage. My ancestors gone before me led lives filled with stories of hard work and kindness, which make me very proud of them even though I never had the privilege of meeting them.

What’s your mix? 
My dad has Dutch and Portuguese blood and his mom is Peranakan. The Peranakans are close to the Portuguese Eurasians because both groups speak Malay. My mom, on the other hand, is Teochew. 

Do you often get labelled as a foreigner?
People assume I'm Thai, Filipino, Malay, Chinese, or whatever. I often get questions about my name. Frois is a migrant Portuguese surname, although there are few Frois families left in Portugal. Nowadays, they are more common in North America and Brazil.

What were traditions like at home, growing up?
I look forward to Christmas the most every year. Although many old relatives have passed on, I still look forward to the hearty Eurasian dishes that are seldom served because they are difficult to make. I look forward to the witty conversations, Eurasian-style humour, stories from the old days by elderly relatives, and being around family. There's an old book in NLB archives that details Eurasian traditions: like how we celebrate baptisms, first communions, weddings, and how we embalm our dead. That book also helped me when I was researching where my ancestors came from. 

What's your mix? 
If I did a blood test, the doctor would probably find Chinese and whisky. Jokes aside, I'm Chinese, Javanese, Portuguese, English, French, Scottish. Being Eurasian means I have a richer genealogy and heritages of both Asian and European lineages.

Do you always get labelled as a foreigner?
I don't look Chinese, Indian or Malay, so people always speak to me in English – especially at coffee shops! I do appreciate the KPT (kopitiam) aunties and uncles who try to accommodate someone they think won't be able to order a meal at their stall. Foreign workers like Filipino F&B staff also ask how my holiday is going and how long I'll be in Singapore. 

What were traditions like at home, growing up?
I especially like the freedom to mix cultures and therefore make our own. Christmas food will usually consist of shepherd's pie, ham, turkey, Jalan Kayu prata, lontong, and other Nasi Padang type dishes. For our tea time eats, it's mostly fruit cake and Chinese New Year egg rolls (love letters).