Editorial: It’s time to reflect on how we can be truly racially inclusive

To ensure the Elected Presidency better reflects our multiethnic society, a new committee helmed by Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon will be reviewing the election process for Singapore’s highest office. This review could not be more timely.

Before 1993, Presidents were appointed by Parliament. The position was rotated among the four main ethnicities. They include Mr Yusof Ishak, a Malay; Dr Benjamin Sheares, a Eurasian; Mr Devan Nair, an Indian; and Mr Wee Kim Wee, a Chinese.

But since the Presidency became an electoral process in 1993 to safeguard the financial reserves, no Malay or Eurasian has attempted to run for the office, much less been elected. The sole note of consolation has been Mr S R Nathan’s two presidential terms in 1999 and 2005.

It is not difficult to imagine why this is so. One of the many requirements a potential candidate must fulfil to qualify is that he or she must have held a key leadership position in a company with a paid-up capital of at least $100 million. There is also the matter of the almost $50,000 deposit.

Considering the economic inequality between the races, the onerous requirements disproportionately impact certain minority groups. According to the latest population census published in 2010, the average monthly income for Indian and Chinese households are significantly higher at $7,664 and $7,326 respectively, compared with Malay households that have an average monthly income of $4,575.

It is imperative that steps are taken to ensure minority voices are heard and interests represented lest we perpetuate a system that undermines them.

The Group Representation system introduced in 1988 already ensures minority representation in Parliament. The potential changes to the Presidential Elections are hence a long-overdue realignment towards our cherished values of multiethnicity.

For decades, the ability to co-exist peacefully in spite of our racial and religious differences (or diversity, as we proudly tout) has been credited for the nation’s political and social stability. But more can definitely be done in the political sphere and elsewhere.

In 2013, a study by the Institute of Policy Studies and OnePeople.sg found that more than one in two Singaporeans did not have a close friend of another race. About two in 10 Chinese had a Malay or Indian friend, while almost two-thirds of minorities had at least one close Chinese friend.

This raises the uncomfortable suggestion that we may simply be co-existing and paying lip service to the idea of being “One Singapore,” instead of being racially inclusive in our daily lives, in schools and at work.

This should be taken seriously as Singapore becomes more ethnically and culturally diverse.

It is high time that instead of relying on political leaders and taking racial harmony for granted, Singaporeans re-examine the way we put into practice the principles of multiracialism at the individual level.

An immediate change that each of us can effect in our daily lives is to be conscious of the little instances of discrimination towards minority races that are so endemic they frequently go unremarked upon. This can be as simple as choosing to speak in a common language — most probably English — while around friends and colleagues of other ethnicities.

Societal structures and constitutional dictates are important tools, no doubt, in our common struggle towards parity. But they can only be the first of many steps required to get there.

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Nanyang Chronicle on March 7, 2016, with the headline ‘It’s time to reflect on how we can be truly racially inclusive’. Print Edition