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speaking up for nature in singapore
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on youths of singapore to speak up PM's call on youths | list of all articles speak up for nature: why bother? | what others have spoken | feedback channels Today, 1 Sep 04 Born or bred identity? NUS students discuss Singapore's national identity Tor Ching Li chingli@newstoday.com.sg EVEN in multi-racial Singapore, more young people may feel better able to identify with the colour of their skin than the national colours. According to a written and online survey of 748 National University of Singapore (NUS) undergraduates conducted by the NUS Political Association, about 67.8 per cent of respondents identified with their race while 66.8 per cent chose nationality. Respondents were allowed to indicate more than one factor of identification. Of those who did not choose nationality at all, 64.9 per cent chose race, 53.6 per cent profession and 39.1 per cent religion. Other options included dialect groups or political membership. The issue of race was the focus of yesterday's two-hour lunch forum themed "The Search For Our Identity", at which the survey results were discussed by the Government's youth feedback team — consisting of Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Acting Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS), Dr Mohamad Maliki bin Osman, Parliamentary Secretary for Health and MCYS, and Ms Penny Low, MP for Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC. They fielded questions on racial integration, national identity and social divides from the audience of 150 undergraduates. One Indonesian student asked if Singaporean society could truly be called "united" and cohesive judging by the lack of visible political upheaval. In fact, survey results seemed to indicate that the current racial quotas in public housing policies had not encouraged much racial interaction. Only 7.4 per cent of respondents — 73.3 per cent of who stay in public housing — communicate with their neighbours of different ethnicity on a daily basis, while 44.3 per cent almost never talk to neighbours of different races. A total of 60.3 per cent of the Chinese respondents support the racial quota policy, while only 50 per cent of the Malays, 36.6 per cent of the Indians and 35.7 per cent of "others" did. More than a quarter of the respondents across all races were neutral about it. Stating the increased opportunities for racial interaction today, Dr Balakrishnan said: "We have not reached perfection yet as a society, but we are moving in the right direction." . "If out tolerance is based on ignorance and passivity, then we are not really united — but I think we have moved beyond that," he said. Speaking to the media later, Dr Balakrishnan said there was room for debate and discussion on race, as long as it not abused as a divisive political tool. |
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