My Take | Is there such a thing as ‘Chinese privilege’?
- Like many white people who deny the existence of ‘white privilege’ in English-speaking countries, Chinese in Southeast Asia tend to feel the same way about ‘Chinese privilege’ but it may be time to face up to this hot-button issue
Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has made an impassioned plea for racial harmony and argued that claims about “Chinese privilege” were “entirely baseless”.
He was speaking at his National Day rally late last month and was no doubt addressing the issue only in Singapore. Still, I think it is an important issue that Chinese overseas should face up to in Southeast Asian countries generally.
Lee said the country was founded on racial equality and Chinese Singaporeans had made concessions for the greater good, such as by adopting English as the country’s lingua franca.
“[It] is entirely baseless to claim that there is ‘Chinese privilege’ in Singapore,” Lee said. “We treat all races equally, with no special privileges. Few countries have made this their policy, and even fewer have actually managed to make it a reality.”