I lost count the number of ways I have read or slipped in and out of my mind why this White Paper is badly conceived and totally wrong. I let those thoughts appear and evaporate. I know they will come back and all of them and more will reappear all over the place come the next GE. There is however one thought I must record and especially when I am not Malay.
It is patently obvious that the government will have limited or no success attracting Malays either from our next door or the closest possible cousins i.e., the Indonesians to settle here. Over time these non Malay immigrants will reduce the proportion of Malays in our population. This is a sure recipe for racial trouble. It is amazing all the top minds they boast of in government could conveniently just let this vital issue slip. It almost make you think they don't care if they do in the Malays. I would insist that we put aside race and see them as fellow citizens in the spirit of regardless of race, language or religion. Therefore I would want them to feel secure and confident maintaining their ratio in our population.
I am aghast that the Malays have been mostly quiet online about this threat to their reduced representation. I wonder why. Perhaps I ought to start checking with my Malay friends. It would be better to hear them protest or voice their reservations. It is when nothing is heard that it eventually blow up Black Swan style.
Update: Feb 6, 10:00am
Found this off a friend's facebook page. A good article by ISEAS senior fellow Terence Chong, 'Singapore Population White Paper: Impending Integration Challenges'
Update: Feb 6, 9:00pm
Finally found but actually it fell on my lap, a Malay Singaporean blogging about this issue as, 'A Malay Perspective on the White Paper'
yes i agree with your observation, kee chiu!
ReplyDeleteOur government knows that if we do not import more new citizens, Singapore will revert to the Malays whose TFR are higher than the Chinese and Tamils.
ReplyDeleteRe: Grace Fu: proportion of Malays in citizen population will not shrink
ReplyDeleteMinister in the Prime Minister's Office Grace Fu said that the pace and profile of immigration intake has been "calibrated to preserve the racial balance".
Speaking during the parliamentary debate on the Population White Paper, she reassured Malay MPs who had expressed concern that the Malay-Muslim share of the population may shrink as Singapore expands towards 6.9 million.
She said that among citizens, the Malay proportion has remained stable, growing slightly from 14.9 per cent in 2000 to 15.1 per cent in 2010.
Among the residential population - which comprises citizens and permanent residents - it has dropped slightly from 13.9 per cent in 2000 to 13.4 per cent in 2010.
But Ms Fu emphasised that the ethnic balance in the citizen population will be maintained "as far as possible."
"Malays constitute the second largest ethnic group after the Chinese, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future."
http://uahmarican.wordpress.com/2013/02/10/why-are-malays-special-in-singapore/. Read this blog.
ReplyDelete