'Regardless of race' and the Reserved Elected Presidency

After he had responded to a telephone survey he said was from MINDEF in which he was asked for his opinions on various issues including the South China Sea and the increasing belligerent rhetorics towards Singapore, playwrignt Alfian Sa'at wrote some reflections which included the following:

"What's most worrying for me is seeing how some Chinese Singaporeans are completely siding with China--and some of them even parrot the line where Singapore, being a Chinese-majority country, should somehow orientate itself to Beijing. They seem to get away with saying things like these, as if these sentiments don't skate close to treason and sedition. But that's just another manifestation of Chinese privilege. ... 

In Singapore, the Chinese community is the majority, and in some ways share cultural similarities with mainland Chinese, including the adoption of simplified characters for Mandarin. Sociologists talk about a Sinicisation of the Singapore Chinese population, a process where Mandarin is emphasised over Hokkien, Cantonese etc, ... Is it possible to Sinicise a community and at the same time hope that they do not develop political attachments to the cultural motherland." (excerpts only)

Undercurrents in our race relations

While the sentiments expressed by Alfian Sa'at may not be widely held among the minorities, they represent the undercurrents in our race relations.

The water above may be all calm and peaceful but deep within, there are undercurrents that can be stirred any time.

The sentiments expressed by Alfian represent the unspoken fear or uneasiness of some within the minorities. Such sentiments have been largely pushed into the unconscious by the happy harmonious state that we are in. Yet this is the reality we are in that we cannot deny.  

Race relations are fragile.  Certain events or changes in circumstances can cause anxiety to one community leading to an erosion of trust between communities and the risk of instability.

This is why there is the reserved Elected Presidency. It is fundamental and necessary for our racial and social cohesion. 

During the Parliamentary debate on the Constitution (Amendment) Bill on the Elected President on 8 Nov 2016, PM Lee Hsien Loong said:

Because of our population composition and cultural familiarity, people may misunderstand us to be a Chinese country, and forget that in fact, Singapore is an independent sovereign country, cooperating with other countries on the basis of our own national interests and positions.  

It can lead to misunderstandings, it can lead to unrealistic expectations and it can lead to us being carried away, even domestically, ....

 We are not a Chinese country, but a multi-racial, multi-religious Southeast Asian country with an ethnic Chinese majority, .... 

We have to show this domestically, to our own population, ....

We have to show this externally to other countries too.

  

The multi-racial Office of President

If the President, who is the symbol of a multi-racial nation, always comes from the same race, then the very multi-racial character of the nation will come under question. - PM Lee in Parliament

What can threaten our harmony? 

We live in a region where, amongst our closest neighbours, race and religion are hot issues. We cannot assume that we are immune to events in the region or elsewhere. We also live in a world where the threat of terrorism is real and close.

"This is not a theoretical matter – for us race is a very live consideration, with real world implications. We have made enormous progress in our racial harmony, certainly, but we are not completely there. As a small, open, multi-racial country, our ethnic groups are always subject to different external pulls and influences. Our racial harmony can be affected by developments in other countries and this applies to all our ethnic groups." 

- PM Lee during the Parliamentary debate on 8 Nov 2016

Objection to the reserved EP has centred on the pledge - regardless of race, language or religion - and the assumption that we have arrived as one people. 

The question is: how did we get to be where we are? This happy state is not a coincidence or a natural state of affairs. 

Government Activism and racial integration

We are in a better situation than most countries, and have managed to avoid the toxic racial debates and tensions that we see elsewhere precisely because the Government has always taken an honest, pre-emptive, open and active approach to fostering multiracialism. We did not leave this to chance. 

We see this in the HDB'S ETHNIC INTEGRATION POLICY, and in the ethnic-based self-help groups, ..We also see this in the Group Representation Constituency (“GRC”) scheme, which has ensured multi-racial representation in Parliament.

As a result of these policies, we have expanded the common space, facilitated racial integration and ensured that our politics remain above race and religion. 

- DPM Teo Chee Hean in Parliament during the debate on the Constitution (Amendment) Bill 

The objection presumes that the current peaceful sentiments cannot be swayed in any way, that the good feeling we have towards each other has a permanence.

But race, language and religion are powerful forces. 

"Regarding of race, language or religion" is an aspiration and always will be an aspiration and not an arrival. 

It was no coincidence that our first four appointed Presidents were Malay, Eurasian, Indian and Chinese, respectively.

As then-Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew emphasised, this rotation was “important to remind Singaporeans that [our] country was multi-racial”, and the Elected Presidency had to continue to be “a symbol of a multi-racial community, and an expression of our national identity”. - DPM Teo

The Reserved Elected President is a hiatus self-extinguishing mechanism

It ensures that the office of President is multi-racial. 

It is triggered when needed. Otherwise it remains in hiatus.

If election after election throws up Presidents of different races demonstrating that we have reached a point where we are race blind,  then the mechanism would not even be needed. It is therefore a self-extinguishing mechanism.