Assessing racism in Singapore : replacing Singapore's customary focus on intentionality with a focus on impacts

• Main Author: Lee, Lavelle Wen Ning
• Other Authors: Christopher Louis Suhler
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2019
• Subjects: Humanities; Humanities::Philosophy
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/136504
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Singapore is a nation that prides itself on racial harmony and equality, with strict measures in place to ensure that this harmony is not disrupted. It has specific laws that prohibit racist behaviour, and the public can even report instances of racism to the police. However, Singapore’s approach to racism focuses more on identifying and punishing racist intent, rather than racist impacts. As such, instances of covert racism (racism that does not initially appear to be racist) often escape detection—or at the very least, face much smaller consequences. Even as Singapore continues to promote racial harmony and regard multiculturalism as a major characteristic of its national identity, the reality is that racism continues to thrive in Singapore, mainly because of its inability to acknowledge more subtle instances of racism. This is aggravated by the culture and practices in place that serve to worsen implicit racial biases, and Singaporeans’ refusal to engage in racial discourse. Appraising racism in terms of impacts can improve Singapore’s approach to racism because it can identify many instances of racism that intentionality cannot, and encourages an exploration of racism in Singapore that can lead to a more nuanced understanding of racism in its many forms.