Singapore minister urges locals to be sensitive to minorities

A SENIOR Singapore minister on Friday (25) appealed to the local Chinese community to be sensitive towards minorities.

"First, we must recognise that in any multi-racial society, it is harder to be a minority than a majority. This is so everywhere in the world," finance minister Lawrence Wong said in his address at a forum on race and racism organised by the Institute of Policy Studies.

The forum was organised in the wake of a series of incidents that had sparked debate on the state of race relations in the nation.

"It is important for the majority community in Singapore to do its part, and be sensitive to and conscious of the needs of minorities," he said.

Wong said racial attacks leave a bad impact on the people who face discrimination.

"It matters to our students, neighbours, co-workers and friends who have to deal with stereotypes about their race, or insensitive comments," he added.

He asked the majority community to take extra initiative to make people from the minority group feel comfortable.

"Treat others in the way you would like to be treated; and by your actions, teach your children to do the same,” he said.

Besides, Wong addressed the concept of "Chinese privilege" and said that there may be "biases or blind spots that the Chinese community should become aware of and should rectify".

Recently, Singaporean media reported a number of racial remarks and attacks made against Indians.

In some cases, people expressed anger over the Singapore-India Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement, a free trade pact, alleging that it drew Indian professionals to high executive positions, leaving behind the native people.

According to reports, in May, a Chinese man kicked an Indian woman in the chest while uttering racial slurs.

In another incident earlier this month, a Ngee Ann Polytechnic lecturer, a Chinese man, confronted an inter-racial couple in a video that went viral. The incident was condemned by Singapore law minister K. Shanmugam.