Today, I read in the TODAY paper that many residents are complaining about the Ethnic Integration Policy. Therefore, I will be sharing my views on this policy and how it can be improved.
Basically, the ethnic integration policy, created in 1989, was driven by the desire to facilitate interaction between the different races in Singapore by preventing the formation of racial enclaves. Personally, I feel that the intentions of this scheme were correct. However, it has not turned out the way the government wanted.
Following the implementation of this scheme, the distributions of a new flat would be divided according to race. Therefore, 75% of families living in the flat would be Chinese, about 10% each for Malays and Indians and 5% others, encompassing all other races. My parents when they bought the flat which we are still living in up to now were classified as Indian because of course my father is Indian. No problem – my parents were able to get a flat in their preferred housing estate—Pasir Ris so were people of other races. The problem comes much later for some families.
The bugbear for many Singaporeans regardless of race stems from the problem of selling flats owing to the racial quota. When a Malay family wants to sell a flat, he must sell it to another Malay family so as to keep within the minimum quota of number of different races in the flat. The problem may be that there are no interested buyers who are Malay and Chinese or Indian buyers will not be able to purchase the flat. The Malay family will then have to sell the flat below market price. The system therefore makes families of minority races poorer in a sense.
I will also like to ask what the purpose of the Ethnic Integration policy is. What is wrong for people of similar race and culture to form racial enclaves? I feel that it is natural for people that they would want to be near people whom culture they are familiar with, especially for new PRs and residents who know little about Singapore, so that they would feel more comfortable. Let me give you an example, many Myanmese foreign workers who work at shipyards on Jurong Island want to buy a flat in Jurong West as it is near where they work and there are quite of number Myanmese already there. Is it not the same thing when people of the same religion congregate at places of worship? I think the government’s main worry is that Singapore’s racial harmony will be at stake should they remove this policy. However, for one to survive in Singapore, it is almost certainly necessary to be able to interact with people of other races at many jobs and for students at schools in order to be a successful in your field.
However, the policy has to some extent has boosted Singapore’s racial harmony. Preventing racial enclaves is good in such a way that no one will ever feel surrounded or threatened by the vast number of people of one race.
Nevertheless, I feel that this policy should be abolished. It does little to boost interaction among neighbours of different races. From what I know, most families do not have much interaction with their neighbours. Everyone just lives in his own unit minding his own business. There is no longer that kampong spirit which there was in the old days.
A suggestion by the author in the article was to introduce a scheme such as the Ethnic Integration Grant. Basically, if a family buys a unit so that the minimum quota for a particular race is met in each neighbourhood instead of flat, this family will be rewarded with a housing grant. This system deters racial enclaves from forming and will continue to so called ensure a racial balance. This system will also minimize occasions where families of minority races have difficulty selling off their flat (due to the fact that it is ever neighbourhood and not each flat).
However, I feel that racial enclaves should be allowed to form in certain areas like the one about the Myanmese workers in Jurong West. They are not locals and it would probably be more convenient for them and their families if they were to stay together in one neighbourhood.
To conclude, the Ethnic Integration Policy has had its benefits but it needs to be slightly more flexible.
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