Racism exists in Singapore but the situation is much better than before and improving over the years, Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam said on Sunday, in the wake of a controversial video by two Indian-origin YouTubers in response to a recent "discriminatory" advertisement by an e-payment website.
Shanmugam's comments on Sunday came after Preetipls, whose name is Preeti Nair, and her brother Subhas Nair apologised "unconditionally" over a video they created and starred in to call out a NETS E-Pay advertisement for being discriminatory.
The Nair siblings have been in the spotlight over the video, which featured vulgar language and questioned the use of "brownface" in the ad featuring Chinese actor Dennis Chew portraying minority races in Singapore.
Shanmugam, speaking on the sidelines of a temple event in Woodlands, acknowledged that the siblings, like everyone, had the right to raise the issue of racism but said the way they did it was not right.
"If everyone starts discussing race and religion in the way they did, you will in fact get more racism, not less. That is our key concern," he said.
They used the "language of resistance" in the United States, Shanmugam said, but Singapore is in a very different situation, he added.
You look at the regular discussions on race, issues - this is a basic fact. But the situation now is much better than before, improving over the years," he said
"We want to build a cohesive society, but racism corrodes and deepens the fault lines in society," Channel News Asia quoted the Minister as saying.
He added that Singapore does "a lot" to counter it.
In Singapore, racism is discussed "openly", studied and reported in the media, he said, pointing to surveys done by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) as examples.
He referred to the local survey released last week, that, he said, showed a "slight increase in perception of workplace racial discrimination, despite improvement in some other areas of race relationships."
Racism is a key concern for his and other ministries, the Minister said.
In any multi-racial society there is always a need to frankly discuss issues like casual racism and how to deal with and increase awareness, he said.
The minister said this is done through regular conferences, symposiums and dialogues on these issues, some by government agencies, some by Non-Governmental Organisations and others.
"There are areas where the Government can do things, there are aspects where people have to become more aware and more sensitive," he said.
Nevertheless, much progress has been made since Singapore became independent, said Shanmugam.
He also reiterated the words of founding Prime Minister, late Lee Kuan Yew: "We are not a Malay nation, we are not a Chinese nation, we are not an Indian nation. This is a country for all Singaporeans."
He also said Singapore has progressed by having clear Government policies, and Singaporeans generally accept multi-racial values, adding that "we must see how we can progress further".
As many of us recognise, there continue to be racial fault lines and religious fault lines. It is always work in progress, he said.
The Minister also said the E-Pay advertisement was in "poor taste".
Many disapprove of it and the people behind the ad, and others need to learn from that - be much more sensitive, he said.
There is "much" Singaporeans can be positive about as National Day (August 9) approaches, he said, pointing to headlines on unrest, conflicts and shootings in places like Hong Kong, Texas and others.
"But we in Singapore can be thankful that we have avoided headlines like these. And we must continue to focus on getting things better, discuss issues openly and work on them," he said.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
