Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced in his National Day Rally Speech yesterday that Singapore will be passing a new law on racial harmony, to complement it’s existing law.
The new law will be called the Maintenance of Racial Harmony Act.
The new law will put together the government’s powers in handling racial issues while at the same time incorporating “softer and gentler touches”.
PM Lee said:
“Each new generation has its own perspective on racial issues. Older Singaporeans lived through Singapore’s independence journey. They think: discussions can become disputes, disputes can become quarrels, better don’t talk about such things too much.
Younger Singaporeans didn’t personally experience the racial tensions and riots of our early years. Their living experience has been largely racial peace and harmony. They believe: we are mature and stable now. We want to improve the status quo. We must talk about racial and religious issues more openly, and relook our policies and assumptions afresh.
These generational differences in views are perfectly understandable and should be accommodated.”
He also added that Singapore is very much exposed to external racially motivated issues like the Black Lives Matter movement.
He added:
“Our own circumstances and context are completely different, and these are not our quarrels, but they do affect our people.”
“We should do so with caution, because race and religion will always be highly sensitive issues. We have to take the time to discuss respectfully, make sure everybody understands, and build a consensus before we make any move.”
PM Lee also added that “Chinese privilege” in Singapore is “baseless”.
Images source: Lee Hsien Loong Facebook and PAP.org.sg