Singapore Democrats
The SDP will be launching our Malaypolicy paper this Saturday. The single most importantmotivation for writing this paper is the concern that the Singaporeanidentity is being eroded with the influx of foreigners.$CUT$
Titled A Singapore for AllSingaporeans:Addressing the Concerns of the Malay Community,the paper calls for the properregard for, and of, our Malay community which forms an integral part of ournational culture and identity.
Neglectingthe Malay-Muslim community will also mean destroying a part of who weare, and have come to be, as Singaporeans. It has grave implicationsfor our future as a people.
But A Singapore for All Singaporeans ismore than an affirmation of our nationality, it is an alternative blueprint to building a truly multi-racial andmulti-cultural society that lives up to the promise of our nationalpledge: We the citizens of Singapore, pledge ourselves as one unitedpeople regardless of race, language or religion…
Many Singaporeans complain that theyfeel alienated and have become strangers in their own country with the current population policy. This is a result of the sudden and massive increase in foreigners on the island.
Theantidote is not to become xenophobic. It is to develop an inclusive system. When we do this, we buildtrust and cohesiveness amongst the various races in our country. Withtrust comes loyalty. Only then will we be able to hold together ifand when a crisis befalls our nation.
To achieve thisnoble and necessary objective, we must tackle the underlying causesthat put the Malay community in Singapore at a disadvantage.
For example, weexamined the number of scholarships awarded by the Public ServiceCommission (PSC) and counted the number of Malay recipients. (PSCscholarships are awarded to promising students at the pre-universitylevel to groom them for leadership positions in the Public Service). Ofthe 380 awarded holders between 2009 to 2013, only 6 (1.6 percent)were Malays.
Are Malays lesshardworking or less intelligent thanthe majority Chinese – and by such a large margin – and therefore undeserving of the scholarships?Or is there some other dynamic at work that is causing such a skewedoutcome?
These questionswill be discussed at the public forum on Saturday. More importantly,we will present realistic and viable solutions to address suchshortcomings in our system.
Other topics thatwill be discussed are the economic disparity between the Malays andother ethnic groups in Singapore, the lack of Malays in our armedforces, and the narrow definition of the Special Assistance Plan(SAP) schools.
The other issuestackled in this paper include pre-school education, madrasahschools, the Tertiary Tuition Fund Scheme, healthcare, housing, andsocial spending issues, each topic accompanied by concrete and viableproposals.
As stated at theoutset, of central importance in presenting this alternative paper isthe fact that Singapore’s future depends on building a strongSingaporean identity that must necessarily include the Malaycommunity.
Already, nearly 40percent of our population are non-Singaporeans. This number threatensto increase if more foreigners flood this island and native-bornSingaporeans leave. When this happens, we will not know where is homeand who is the Singaporean.
Let us begin theprocess of building A Singapore For All Singaporeans.
“A Singapore for All Singaporeans: Addressing the Concerns of the Malay Community”
Event: Launch of SDP’s Malay policy paper
Date: 7 September 2013, Saturday
Time: 2pm – 5pm
Venue: Bras Basah Complex, Action Room, #04-41 Location map