SINGAPORE – Eliminating the Chinese-Malay-Indian-Others administrative framework will result in Government not being able to identify and address the differences between racial groups, which may worsen outcomes, said Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam.
Mr Shanmugam told Parliament on Feb 5 that there is hard evidence overseas that demonstrates this, raising the example of how France has banned the collection of race-based data since 1978.
He said racial tensions remained, and France has seen a surge in race-related offenses in recent years.
He added: “I don’t want to draw a simple, straight-line conclusion from France banning collection of race-based data to its racial situation today, but it is one point of reference among several such points in a multi-faceted and complex issue.”
Mr Shanmugam added that the Government’s view is that the lack of race-based data prevents measuring and understanding the difficulties that different races face in different areas, and prevents effective intervention to resolve those issues.
He said: “Our model of multi-culturalism, multi-racialism with the data and framework we have has worked quite well for us so far.”
He was responding to a question from Progress Singapore Party Non-Constituency MP Leong Mun Wai, who had asked when the Government plans to review the CMIO model and what form such a review will take.
The model has been adopted by the PAP Government since before independence, but its relevance has been debated in recent years.
In January, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong said at an Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) conference that the model should constantly be reviewed to reflect Singapore’s increasingly complex multicultural landscape, and acknowledged ongoing debate about whether it adequately represents Singapore’s evolving identity.
Mr Shanmugam on Feb 5 also acknowledged this debate, adding that some have advocated removing the CMIO framework entirely.
He said: “They have claimed that the framework is overly simplistic and rigid, in our increasingly complex and heterogenous society.
“There is some truth to this.”
However, race remains a key identifier for many, he added. He cited a 2021 IPS study on national pride and identity which found that 87 per cent of Singapore residents considered race important to their identity.
He also cited a 2021 CNA-IPS Survey on Race Relations, which also found that over 60 per cent of S...