Racist episodes spark soul-searching in Singapore: ‘Why is this still happening?’

Episodes of racial intolerance have fuelled soul-searching in Singapore, where a wide-ranging debate on race is playing out online

Some critics blame imported ‘foreign ideas’ for sowing dissent, but scholars say the younger generation is unafraid of the vocabulary of global racial discourse

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Despite laws aimed at curbing acts that damage social harmony, Singapore is no stranger to bouts of self-reflection on the matter of race. Photo: AFP

Published: 9:00am, 19 Jun 2021Updated: 8:45am, 28 Jun 2021

When a Singaporean woman of Indian descent was struck by a flying kick from an ethnic Chinese man spouting racial slurs last month, the attack was so alarming that it prompted Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to call it a moment of national embarrassment.

Racially motivated assaults are rare in Singapore, which is known for its laws aimed at maintaining peace among the majority Chinese and minority Malay and Indian communities, but the multi-ethnic city state of 5.7 million has long had to contend with episodes of racial intolerance.

The victim of May’s attack told local media that the suspect - a 30-year-old has been arrested - had approached her from behind while she was walking briskly through a park with her face mask lowered. The 55-year-old ethnic Indian woman said the man repeatedly shouted at her to pull her mask up, before becoming verbally and then physically abusive after she tried to explain that she was exercising. Pictures shared on social media showed the woman’s hands and arms covered in scratches from where she hit the ground.

Writing on his official Facebook account soon afterwards, Lee said the “wrong and shameful” attack on May 7 “goes against everything that our multiracial society stands for, and the mutual respect and racial harmony that we hold dear”, adding: “It harms our international reputation more than we realise.”

More than a month later, and Singapore remains embroiled in a wide-ranging debate on race – with questions being asked about the coronavirus pandemic’s effects on the issue, the extent of subtle discrimination such as microaggressions that members of ethnic minority groups face, and whether “institutional racism” is pervasive.

Much of the discourse has taken place on online platforms frequented by millennials and members of Generation Z, such as Reddit and Instagram, with the latter playing host to popular accounts like @minorityvoices that publish swipe-through galleries featuring pithy text and visuals to aid discussion among their many followers.

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