We, the Citizens of Singapore: Multi-Ethnicity, Its Evolution and Its Aberrations

• Main Author: TAN, Eugene K. B.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2004
• Subjects: Ethnicity; ethnic relations; cultural pluralism; Singapore; Asian Studies; Law and Race; Law and Society
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/441; https://search.library.smu.edu.sg/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=alma993527602601&context=L&vid=65SMU_INST:SMU_NUI&lang=en&search_scope=Everything&adaptor=Local%20Search%20Engine&tab=Everything&query=any,contains,Beyond%20rituals%20and%20riots:%20Ethnic%20pluralism%20and%20social%20cohesion%20in%20Singapore&offset=0
• Institution: Singapore Management University

The paper examines the conception and evolution of multi-ethnicity in Singapore and attempts to distill the thematic essence of state policy towards multi-ethnicity in the light of the imperatives of a sophisticated, authoritarian developmental state. It evaluates the aberrations of the multi-ethnic policy, which contributes towards heightened ethnic consciousness and generates competing concerns of cultural and ethnic security, especially among the Malay/Muslim indigenous minority who have also manifested increased religiosity. The international politico-economic dynamics arising from the rise of China and the regional geopolitical sensitivities of being at the heart of the Malay-Muslim world is examined for its impact on the ethnic relations. The challenge is to engender political unity while preserving cultural diversity within the framework of hegemonic state-led discourse of “controlled ethnicity”.