Singapore discrimination among the chinese, malay and

Singapore prides ourselves as one of the most racially and religiously diverse nations in the world. The country is living out multiracial ideals and believing in a meritocracy system, where regardless of race, language or religion everyone should be treated equally and be given a fair chance to succeed in life. As such, any form of discrimination shall not get in the way of Singapore road to multiculturalism.  Indeed to Singapore’s credit,  53 years of independence have shown how far the country has done well in addressing needs of racial discrimination.  Back then when Singapore was it in its early days, the nation was beset by ethnic tensions and race riots, which have caused the country to divide with hatred and discrimination among the Chinese, Malay and Indians.

So how did multiculturalism became Singapore’s identity?  Foresight, early detection and research by Singapore pioneer leaders were one of the crucial reason for the success in addressing racial unfairness. The pioneer leaders took the issues of the ethnic riots and discrimination among its people as well as observing others countries flaws in racial policies to understand and develop long-term strategies and systems that have shaped the country to be in a harmonious multiracial nation today. One example would be the creation of racial integration policies.

Singapore knew the importance of socialisation. They knew if Singaporeans interact and socialise with each other from different races, it could impact how they will treat each other.  As such, the housing policy was created to break up ethnic ghettoes of the same tracks into different racial quotas mean in every public housing blocks. This strategy turns out to be Singapore greatest strength in its efforts minimising racial discrimination.  The same thinking of housing policies, same went into its schools. People of different ethnic groups not only lived together but learnt to grow up together.  These founding policies led to building meritocracy system which people from various ethnic and religious minorities are well unified socially and economically.

Another example would be the creation of a pluralistic society.  Singapore emphasises on strong tolerance for ethnic diversity and to promote harmony and understanding. It declares public holidays for all key events, such as Chinese New Year, Deepavali and Hari Raya Aidilfitri as a way for Singaporeans to bond and grow together as a nation. Today we see many interracial marriages because of such implementation of policies.

It has shown that Inter-racial and Religious Confidence Circle was formed to promote racial and religious harmony.  To a certain degree, however, I do believe with the rise in social media; it can affect people attitudes and behaviour towards treating people. For example, the rise misconceptions of Muslims by the media creating the term, “ Islamophobia.” Many people fall to media influences indicating Muslims are evil and are terrorists who can cause the Muslims to be discriminated example, getting fired from jobs. Due to social media, it can cause Singapore to fail in addressing racial discrimination. The International Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), indeed would help to address the problem of people’s behaviour towards treating people. With the Rising of social media, (ICERD) can help in areas of support and removal of misconceptions.

This would eventually allow individuals to adopt objective and reflective standpoint on their awareness of their attitudes, beliefs and behaviours towards the society and people. The rise of media could also help (ICERD) to reach out to pluralistic racial learning among Singaporeans, to gather to the newer generation In conclusion, I do believe Singapore has done well in coming up with long-term policies that not only promote multiculturalism but opens the door for a pluralistic society. However to a small extent, the rise of Social Media can cause Singapore in the wrong direction in failing to address the needs of racial discrimination; thus with the implementation of (ICERD), they could use social media to help fight against discrimination.