Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Bonding Singapore
Bonding Singapore
Background
Goodwill committees were set up. The goodwill committees were made up of
community leaders from the various racial groups. The main job of these
leaders was to help restore harmony and peace between the Malays and
the Chinese by addressing the concerns of the residents.
Also the Deputy Premier, Dr. Toh Chin Chye, suggested on 2 August 1964
that legislation be introduced to prohibit newspapers from publishing articles
which incite communal strife.
Differences in religious beliefs and practices can create tensions if they are
not managed well.
Case Study
Maria Hertogh riots which took place between ethnic Malays and the
European and Eurasian communities in Singapore occurred on 11 December
1950. It was sparked by the controversial custody battle between Maria's
adoptive Malay family and her Eurasian parents. Maria was born to a Dutch-
Eurasian family in Java but when her father was arrested by the Japanese
during the war, her mother gave her to a Malay lady, Aminah to care for her.
In 1947, Aminah moved to Trengganu and raised her as a Muslim by the
name of Nadrah. At the age of 13, she was married off to a Malay teacher.
After the war, the Hertoghs found out about Maria and lauched a legal battle
for the custody of their daughter. The custody battle attracted intense media
attention worldwide. Photographs in newspapers of a Muslim girl in a Catholic
convent and claims that she had bowed down to the Virgin Mary affected
religious sensitivities and whipped up emotions. The Muslim side was
championed by Indian Muslim Karim Ghani. As editor of the Jawi daily, Dawn,
Ghani instigated emotions within the Muslim community by publishing
controversial reports of the case. He also worked out an extensive plan for
1,500 girls to protest in a procession. Exhortations were made at the Sultan
Mosque to wage a holy war to force the return of Maria to Aminah. At the
appeal hearing on 11 December 1950, the Judge dismissed Aminah's appeal
and custody was given to Adeline Hunter, her biological mother. Upon hearing
the judgement, huge crowds outside the court rioted, convinced that the
colonial laws, the courts and the legal system were prejudiced against
Muslims. For three days, mobs of Malay and Indian Muslim rioters attacked
any European and Eurasian in sight. They set up barricades along major
roads, set cars and houses on fire and took control of districts in the vicinity of
Sultan Mosque, North Bridge Road and Jalan Besar. Rioting was stopped
only after two troops of the Internal Security Battalion were called in,
supported by several Malays within the troops. Even so, scattered attacks
continued over two days. A 24-hour curfew had to be imposed for two weeks
before British and Malay troops and the Constabulary regained control of the
situation.
Altogether, 18 people were killed and 173 were injured. Nine were killed by
rioters while the others were killed by policemen. Aside from a Police
Inspector and a Special Constable, those killed by rioters had little to do with
the Hertogh case and their murder was motivated more by fanaticism and
racial hatred.
Lesson Learnt
Religious issues must be handled carefully otherwise hostility and distrust will
occur which may affect social cohesion and racial harmony. Eventually may
lead to violence and chaos.
Case Study
Political and religious leaders called for people to remain calm and be
committed to living in harmony with other religious and racial groups.
In a united voice, Muslim leaders condemned JI and emphasised that it did
not have the support of the Muslim community.
Declaration on Religious Harmony was introduced in 2003. This was used to
ensure religion is not used as an issue to create conflict or threaten
Singapore’s harmony, encourage Singaporeans to respect one another’s
freedom of religion and supports the building of common space between
races and religion and fosters inter-religious communications.
Lesson Learnt
Urgent need to ensure that social cohesion was not affected by the JI arrests
Crucial to ensure that the different racial and religious groups continue to live
and work harmoniously.
Reasons
Policy of multi-racialism
Policy that promotes equality among races with no special privileges given to
any racial or religious group. The Constitution prohibits favouring certain
group of people because of their race or religion.
Every person is seen as the valued member of the Singapore society, so this
creates a sense of national identity as Singaporean.
(c) Bilingualism
This policy is to give minority groups a say in governance and protect their
interest
Presidential Council of Minority Rights – made up of members from
minority and religious groups. It ensures that no law that is passed in the
Parliament is disadvantageous to any racial or religious group.
Sedition Act – law that prosecutes those who promote feelings of ill will
and hostility between races or classes of the population of Singapore.
Group Representation Constituency (GRC) – ensures that at least one
member in the team contesting in the General Election is from the minority
races so that the interests of the minority race is represented in the
government. And their concerns are made known to the government.
Self-help groups are to give help members of their community who are less
fortunate to get aid in studies or training for jobs. Also to give them moral
support.
In this way, all members of the society have an equal footing to compete with
one another. That way, their economic and social position will be improved.
Examples of self-help groups include CDAC, SINDA, Mendaki and Eurasian
Association.
Since 2002 the self-help groups have joint tuition programmes so that
students from different ethnic groups can interact and get along so as to
promote social cohesion.
Common space refers to the time and place the people come together. This provides
opportunities for Singaporeans to interact and deepen understanding.
In the 1980s, it was observed there were too many people from the same
racial group living in the same housing estate which could hinder social
bonding.
In 1989, the ethnic integration policy was introduced. It puts limit on the
proportion of races in every neighbourhood and block to ensure that there is
an even distribution of the different races. This is to provide opportunities for
people from different ethnic groups to interact.
Economic Growth
Sources :
http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_45_2005-01-06.html
http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_83_2005-02-02.html
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/cna/arrests/
http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_1411_2009-01-20.html