Singapore is a multi-racial and multi-religious society. We have come to respect and tolerate each other. We are now seeing each other as fellow Singaporeans instead of members of different races living together in the same space. After 43 years on our own, we ask ourselves have we done enough to prevent racial discrimination?
We have made improvements in our education system to ensure that cases like university of California regents v Bakke do not take place in Singapore. Local universities make it a point to not outrightly reject candidates on racial grounds. We have made sure that we all take the pledge together, to ensure a sense of equality, we are encouraged to live in flats with different races, we all wear uniforms to school, so uniform that the head-scarf is banned from use in school. All if us have a common English-Medium curriculum. We are all allowed our own prayer. In these ways, we have almost perfected the system. We essentially give every child an equal shot at studies.
This is valid all through the university stage, but it ends when the student becomes an adult and enters the work-force. When one enters the work-force, they are forced to become part of the intricate web of politics that makes up the working environment. In this case, it is impossible to prevent any discrimination from occurring. However, it is all a part of life. Even in advertisements for jobs, there are lines like "non-chinese applicants need not apply," which is a politically correct way of saying the job is only for chinese. The job may have a special requirement, so that is fine. We cannot intend to stop discrimination completely, it is a part of life. At the same time, we cannot make it turn the other way, and make the majority suffer just because they are the majority. As such, there is no case for "affirmative action" in Singapore.
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