SeaPRwire

Workplace discrimination and new racial harmony act among topics of interest for Malay community

aseanpr
3 minutes

SINGAPORE - There is great interest in how fair workplace guidelines will soon become law, as announced in Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's National Day Rally (NDR) speech on August 29. This is evident from the questions being asked about how seriously the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (Tafep) will take complaints on discrimination at the workplace. The concerns were raised, among other issues, during a post-NDR dialogue session with grassroots volunteers and Malay-Muslim community leaders on Wednesday (Sept 08) night. About 200 participants attended the event organised by The People's Association Malay Activity Executive Committees Council. The panellists for the dialogue included Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Maliki Osman. Questions from the floor probed the panellists regarding discrimination in the workplace and how Tafep will address the issue. A participant who joined the dialogue through Zoom asked for clear guidelines to be put up regarding language requirements for job postings. Issues facing Singapore's ageing population were also brought up during the dialogue. Someone from the floor described his experience facing age-relate...

SeaPRwire

Racial discrimination, wage issues raised by Indian grassroots leaders at post-NDR dialogue

aseanpr
5 minutes

SINGAPORE - Discrimination and racism in Singapore were the main concerns that Indian community leaders raised during a dialogue session on Tuesday night (Sept 7) to discuss views on Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's National Day Rally speech. About 200 participants from various Indian organisations and grassroots volunteers attended the two-hour virtual session, which was organised by the People's Association Indian Activity Executive Committees Council (Narpani Pearavai). Other issues raised included the impact of the progressive wage model implementation and mental health concerns among isolated elderly residents. One of the dialogue participants, undergraduate student Loshini Sivakumar, 21, said the session helped her gain fresh perspective on some of the topics mentioned during PM Lee's speech. Ms Loshini, a grassroots volunteer since last year, said: "The session gave me a chance to share my views on how our civic curriculum in school can be restructured to dismantle racial stereotypes and promote a better understanding. "My takeaway was that beyond the school curriculum, lived experience outside the classroom can be equally important in fostering a good relationship between t...

SeaPRwire

Singapore High Commissioner to the UK rebuts Economist article on race relations in Singapore

aseanpr
3 minutes

SINGAPORE - An Economist article on race relations and racial harmony in Singapore has drawn a rebuttal from Mr Lim Thuan Kuan, Singapore's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. In a letter published on the magazine's website, Mr Lim stated that readers of the article titled Imperfect Harmony would not have guessed that Singapore was born as an independent country precisely because its leaders refused to countenance a political arrangement based on the dominance of one race. He added that, having separated from Malay-majority Malaysia in 1965, the easiest path for founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and his colleagues would have been to base their political legitimacy on the Chinese majority in Singapore. "Rather, against the odds and with great courage, they insisted on building a multiracial polity." Mr Lim was responding to the article published on July 31, which said that Chinese chauvinism has deep roots in Singapore, and characterised tensions between the races here as having "simmered for decades". The Economist wrote that minorities here are marginalised, that successive Prime Ministers having been Chinese, and that Chinese privilege continues to be sustained. "The gove...

SeaPRwire

Solidarity in River Valley High School incident shows we are fellow S’poreans: Chan Chun Sing in Racial Harmony Day post

aseanpr
4 minutes

SINGAPORE - In the wake of the alleged murder of a 13-year-old at River Valley High School, several religious groups have come forward to pray with the bereaved and for the well-being of students, said Education Minister Chan Chun Sing on Wednesday (July 21). "These heartfelt gestures of solidarity, transcending race and religion, have brought light in our nation's hour of darkness. They embody the inherent understanding that before all else - we are fellow Singaporeans," he wrote in a Facebook post to mark Racial Harmony Day in the country. Schools, community groups and other politicians also took to the social media platform to commemorate July 21, a date set by the Ministry of Education since 1998 to remind students of the 1964 race riots and importance of racial harmony. The riots resulted in 36 deaths and injuries to 556 people. Mr Chan said the shared, multiracial Singaporean identity was not about the cultures of minorities being subsumed by the culture of the majority. "Neither is it about all of us giving up our own identities," he said. "Instead it is about building a shared and forward-looking identity based on a common set of values, with the foundation steeped in our r...

SeaPRwire

Lianhe Zaobao replies to open letter over its editorial on race

aseanpr
4 minutes

SINGAPORE - Chinese daily Lianhe Zaobao has responded to an open letter signed by local academics and scholars who took issue with its recent editorial on race relations, saying it has consistently upheld racial equality and advocated for mutual understanding among all ethnic groups in Singapore. As the anchor Chinese newspaper, it has publicly and unequivocally condemned several recent local incidents of racial discrimination, and jointly defended racial harmony through its editorials, Zaobao said on Monday (June 14). "Singapore is a multiracial nation. We truly believe in the ideals expressed in the national pledge and cherish the hard-won racial harmony, but that does not mean that we believe that there are no tensions in racial relationships," it said. "Lianhe Zaobao has always taken a consistent stance on upholding equality among all races and advocating that there should be mutual understanding among ethnic groups. This is evident from our editorials, news reports and feature articles. In the midst of the pandemic, we have seen more racial tensions simmering, which is why we have published a total of seven editorials related to this issue in the past year and a half." The ope...