Singapore's approach to race and religion 'better than many other places' but it is work in progress: Shanmugam

Singapore's multiculturalism has positioned our society ahead of other countries, but ensuring equality for all races is still a "work in progress", said Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs K Shanmugam.

Incidents relating to racism and discrimination is the "lived realities" of minority groups, he said in Parliament on Tuesday (Oct 14), adding that a fraction of the Chinese community have also told of similar experiences.

Delivering a ministerial statement on political interference and canvassing during the General Election 2025, Shanmugam stressed that race and religion is fundamental to the Republic.

He told of how founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew declared that all citizens would be equal and enabled to preserve their own racial and religious heritage.

English was recognised as one of the official languages and taught as the primary language in schools with Malay being a national language.

At that time, many other nations chose the language of the majority ethnic group as their official language and implemented policies favouring the majority. 

Lee and his party also faced opposition pressure to make Mandarin Singapore's national language and only official language.

Calling their actions "extraordinary", Shanmugam said this went against political realities and standard norms then.

@asiaone In his Ministerial Statement on Race and Religion on Tuesday (Oct 14), Coordinating Minister for National Security K Shanmugam emphasised that Singapore’s approach to racial and religious harmony is not to impose a singular identity, but to forge common ground and draw strength from diversity. #sgnews #singapore #Parliament ♬ original sound - AsiaOne

And to protect and preserve the rights of different communities, various legislation relating to race and religion have been established, and Government policies put in place to advocate integration between ethnic groups.

This has cumulated in an "exceptionally high level" of racial and religious harmony in Singapore, noted Shanmugam.

"I am not suggesting that race, religious harmony is perfect in Singapore, as I said earlier, it's work in progress. Members of different communities do experience racism and face other issues," he admitted.

Still, the minister said that Singapore is "in a good position", and "better than many other places".

Politicians play an important role in maintaining the harmony and integration between different ethnic communities and should not play into identity politics, he stated.

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While the situation in Singapore has been "broadly stable" because of the Government, he said various political parties and candidates "have tried to stir up the Chinese and Malay communities".

"If future generations of political leaders on all sides see such identity politics as gaining traction, then they will be pressured, and tempted, to themselves engage in it too.

"It is a one-way street to ruin."

Recognising that religion will inevitably overlap with public issues at some points, Shanmugam said individuals must be mindful when expressing their political views, influenced by their religious affiliations.

"Religion must not be misused for political purposes. It must never be brought into election campaigns... The same logic applies to race," he emphasised.

The Government will act if threats to Singapore's social cohesion emerges or if there are attempts to mix race and religion with politics.

Shanmugam added: "If we do not take a firm stand, some foreign countries including those not in our immediate neighbourhood, who must have been watching our GE very carefully, will be tempted to play on ethnic sympathies to influence our politics.

"And all our major communities are capable of being influenced from external sources."

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lim.kewei@asiaone.com