David Austin: The idea of racial harmony is deeply ingrained in Singapore's national identity. The national pledge recited daily by school children states, "regardless of race, language or religion" - yet discussing racial integration remains a touchy subject.
Dr Mathew Mathews is Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Social Lab at the Institute of Policy Studies, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy where, among other things, he conducts research in race, religion, immigrant integration, family ageing, and poverty.
You know racial integration can be a touchy subject, there are so many fractious issues about it. From a scientific point of view and in a policy point of view and as a social scientist, how do you even define racial integration?
Dr Mathews: [Racial integration] is a multi-faceted construct, [it] is really the ability to participate in a society without barriers due to race –whether it's employment, normal social activity, politics, whatever, your racial background, your religious background doesn't seem to hinder [your participation]. When you think about ethnic integration in general, this idea [also involves] different t ethnic groups [being] a part of the broader nation state and enjoying full participation in it.
David Austin: So, that touches on things like discrimination, anti-discrimination you talking about people having full access to all the benefits that citizenship has, but then are there any ways to measure that when you're looking at it from afar?
Dr Mathews: We tried a few years ago [to measure racial integration] and we did a repeat of that [recently]. We tried to operationalise the notion of racial harmony into a series of indicators. We came up with what we call the Indicators of Racial and Religious Harmony.
There are various dimensions of this construct. Certainly there are dimensions related to whether people are excluded or included – it's about perceptions of exclusion from top positions, exclusion from a prosperous life, for instance. Of course there are other angle [to this construct]: whether there is, within society, an interest to understand the other, appreciate the other; [also] to buy into a logic that it is not just one racial group that should dominate or should set the agenda but every racial group has important contribution towards the broader nation state. [We also] look at friendships, for instance. If you think about a society which is integrated, clearly you expect to see cross-cutting friendships, you expect to see that [people of your ethnic groups] are comfortable with people of other groups, whether it's in close proximity relationships or more public kinds of relationships.
David Austin: I wanted to reference the remarks that you made recently at that Forum on Religion, Extremism and Identity Politics. Along those lines, you said, "religious and racial harmony is something that Singaporeans treasure." What exactly did you mean by that and can you elaborate a bit?
Dr Mathews: Singaporeans are all too familiar with the conditions around them. In Asia, we know that there are many parts which [have] experienced considerable violence. Societies are fractured in different ways. You think about different places – Indonesia, Myanmar, definitely parts of South Asia, and you can find fault lines based on race and religion. They are very strong ones and they make people live sometimes quite separately with substantial amount of suspicion.
And I'm not saying [it happens] all the time, but certainly at different points. Sometimes [this suspicion happens in] the aftermath of violence. There's been a fairly long history of violence [in some parts of this region]. Singaporeans know that, they recognise [this happens] even in large developed nation states, not just in Asia... where from time to time, you see some kind of ethnic violence, or some groups feeling very upset that they're excluded from the benefits that society gives to other citizens who are not of a particular ethnic group. Singaporeans understand that this is not the path we want to take. What we have here, the kind of peace, the fact that on the streets people don't shout an insult at you because of your minority status. [Here] you don't see explicit or outright attempts to discriminate you in employment. So, in many ways, people treasure the kind of state we are in.
David Austin: Is there a possibility though that it's also taken for granted?
Dr Mathews: I think there's an assumption that everything is extremely hunky-dory - there are no racial barriers, that we have reached a multicultural Nirvana, it doesn't matter what your colour is, what creed you hold on to, it's purely merit which gets you anywhere. But that's not true.
Certainly we have realised, through the surveys that we do regularly, that acceptance [of different groups] is not a hundred percent. Different segments of our population feel differently. We've all come through the years to, at least in the public arena, learn to accept others, but privately we do have our considerations and our concerns. We do hold stereotypes. We do have prejudices. These things have not eroded, there is a little bit of racism in all of us. There is a preference for the in-group, the same human inclinations [such as racism] that affects people everywhere else affects us.
When [Singaporeans] look at the state of harmony here, sometimes some groups here just forget that others may have a harder time [dealing with racism]. Recently some have expressed their discontent; there's the recent Brown-face ad issue [and the Preetipls parody video to respond to it] [Some feel they] may not have gotten the best deal possible. Especially because Singapore sets itself up as "[nation where multiculturalism is very important]." The Pledge that kids recite daily [has the phrase] "regardless of race language and religion." As such more and more people call out whenever they find instances where, we have not reached that. Of course the goal is so high, it's lofty. There's an aspiration to reach as high as possible.
David Austin: Okay. Well, then this would be I think a good time to talk about the different types of government policies and how they affect race relations, racial identity, racial integration, how they've been working and where it's worked and where it hasn't worked.
Dr Mathews: You know, when Singapore separated from Malaysia to form an independent nation state, race was a big part of this [decision]. The founding fathers of Singapore expressed it quite firmly that we are not a Chinese nation, not a Malay nation - this is a Nation for Singaporeans. So there was a strong conviction and that drove various kinds of policies that pushed for racial integration.
One of the policies which has been talked about very often has been the ethnic integration policy. When it was first introduced, people were upset because this went against people's choices about where they could live. Here you've got a policy which demands [racial quotas] in public housing where the great proportion, 80 percent of Singaporeans live. People are forced to have to live in integrated settings where they is going to be people of different ethnic groups within your housing estate.
And of course if [there are] people of different ethnic groups, that means you also have to accept that there's going to be different languages spoken around where you live, and there are [different] religious traditions, cultural practices, funeral rites, wedding practices, the whole gamut of different kind of life experiences. That, of course, also means that if you've got integrated neighbourhoods, then your schools tend to be a little bit more integrated and that results in quite a bit of social mixing. It, doesn't mean necessarily, just because you have someone who is [of a different] ethnic group living next to you as a neighbour, that you're chummy friends with them, but it does force you to have to live with the reality that there is diversity around you... So then you build, a little tolerance for difference. Hopefully over the years some people try to celebrate more of the differences which are around them.
I would say that [the ethnic integration policy] would be one of the more extensive types of policy [to build racial harmony]. When you make changes in people's living arrangements, you also [engineer] arrangements at schools, There is now diversity in the school system. Multicultural education then becomes very important. Even in our Special Assistance Plan (SAP) schools - we do have some schools which prioritise the teaching of Mandarin and Chinese cultural values, but even there, they push to ensure that students there, despite the fact that they don't have as much contact with minority students, are still schooled in what is expected of a multicultural citizen. There are all kinds of attempts to get them to have extra activities with kids from Madrassahs or kids from other schools where they is a lot diversity of racial groups. So, this kind of attempt to intervene at the neighbourhood level has proven to be very successful.
David Austin: So you have kind of the housing issue or the housing sector that's involved, you've got the education sector –are there any other unseen policies that are at play that might not be so obvious?
Dr Mathews: I think the policy of ensuring there is representation of the different groups. And you'll see this attempt to represent the different races that constitute Singapore, whether it's in a National Day parade, and in all kinds of official activities. It's not [merely] an attempt, it's [very intentional], If we think about the Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs), this essentially forces Parliament to have a certain number of minorities.
Today, Singaporeans accept that you will never have a parliament which will be mono ethnic. You always will see diversity, you always see someone who is Malay, who is Indian, perhaps Eurasian all within Parliament. Recently the government has worked towards ensuring that there will be a mechanism for the President to be of a minority race [from time to time]. Once in 35 years if you can't get [minority representation] by normal elections you do a restricted election, this I think demonstrates to the population how much we value in Singapore multiculturalism, We try in one way or another to engineer [such representation] so that you can have a parliament which has [members] of different racial groups, and you do have a President from time to time who is of a different racial group.
I think that sets a tone for the population to understand that we live in such a context and we give priority to the fact our racial differences are something to be celebrated.
David Austin: Going back to the housing issue and the integration in the public housing – that's something that's very unique to Singapore because I don't know of any other countries where 80% of people live in public housing. So, I don't know of anywhere else where a policy like that would have such a huge effect on a single population. Do you have any insight on that, like Singapore compared to other countries? And is that sort of like a one-time only policy that could ever be implemented?
Dr Mathews: Some of the limits we have placed on expression when it comes to insults or hate against other groups [are useful for other societies to consider] Some societies have laws against hate crimes, so that's good. But quite a few societies, allow substantial amounts of freedom, even when it comes to denigrating other groups and being very nasty. Singapore has a very strong stance about that. Many Singaporeans know how to mind their p's and q's especially in public when talking about people who are different racially.
I think that's something quite a few societies could adopt, it needs substantial political will because sometimes it's in the interest of the majority and politicians to allow majority groups the [freedom when there are] issues with minority communities (whether it's racial communities or religious communities), to be able to beat them up politically. Singapore has [taken a different path], We are a 75% Chinese population by ethnicity but the government has taken a strong stance about [how the majority deals with the minority]. You've got portions of the majority ethnic group who probably would like to have Singapore to be very much more of a Chinese society. There will be some who feel that Chinese cultural rights need to be expanded. There will definitely be those who will feel that Chinese heritage and culture is superior to other cultures. However you've got a strong state [here in Singapore] which has reined in those forces. I think that's important.
I mean, think about it –these are very unpopular decisions because it affects the majority of your population. In doing that, it's built a lot of confidence that minorities are confident that you have a government which treats Singaporeans equally, believes in the ideology of being a multiracial state. I think Singapore has shown an example of politicians, national leaders holding on to [a multicultural ideology] very strongly. I think that's an important contribution [to global society].
David Austin: Let's talk about the future then, since this is the foreseeable podcast. So what do you foresee as far as racial integration, where do you foresee this going in the next five to ten years?
Dr Mathews: The reality is we are going to see a lot more diversity in Singapore. For years, we have looked at the CMIO model, the Chinese-Malay-Indian-Others model. That seemed to encapsulate the multiracial relationships we have here. We have to keep re-examining this. Certainly, it's an important model, it served its [purposes] but more and more people are calling, for instance, the expansion of the models.
There are going to be more and more people who would fit what we call the "Others" category. Whether it's just by the sheer force of immigration, you've got people from different places it would [also] no longer be [possible to find people who are] a hundred percent Chinese, or a hundred percent Malay or [100 percent] Indian person. People have hybrid identities and that obviously [means a need] to expand how we understand different groups within society.
Of course with increased immigration, and also a lot of Singaporeans are moving elsewhere – they emigrate and they come back - perhaps a few years in some part of Asia, a few years in Europe, come back here for a while and move out again. With these movements you see people bring in new culture.
So you'll find a great vibrant mix of ideas, of cultures and backgrounds. And how do you navigate all that? The more you have diversity, the general trend has been that there will be an increase in conflict. On the other hand, Singapore has tried to build a model where people learn to work together in a common space and keep increasing our common space, that's an important aspect of keeping a nation together. So Singaporeans for a long time, have learned that despite all the differences, if we can navigate in such a way that we keep expanding the common space, this will be good for our lives here in Singapore.
Ultimately in Singapore people care about ensuring that the nation-state thrives and we are economically competitive – able to have the best jobs and the best companies coming. So we don't want to be a place where people shun because you know, we're xenophobic, we reject different kinds of people. What if it's people from Latin America who soon come up with great discoveries, [and are at the cutting edge of] technology? Same goes with Africa, different parts of Asia. So I think it's that ability of Singaporeans to be able to accept, be open to that kind of diversity, which is very crucial, That will help them to navigate what's going to happen in the years to come. If the common vision is to keep making this place a harmonious place. We're not the multicultural nirvana yet, but that does not mean we can't aspire towards being a society where really our backgrounds don't become such an impediment.
Photo credit: cattan2011