SAP school and racial segregation

STRAITS TIMES APR 12 1999 
SAP schools here to stay, says BG Yeo 

He made these points in the wake of the recent debate about whether SAP 
schools should be abolished or modified to ensure that top Chinese students 
are exposed sufficiently to Singapore's multi-racial society. 

The issue arose at the dialogue when a resident, Mr Adam Hamid, complained 
that his children could not be admitted into a SAP school near his home in 
Tampines Street 72 because they could not take Mandarin at first language 
level. 

The minister replied that there were other schools near Mr Hamid's home, 
adding that there were some Chinese parents who preferred not to send their 
children to SAP schools. 


"All students acting through their parent or guardian...the right to exercise 
a choice of the race of the teacher desired."
Gov George Wallace of Alabama (Washington Post Dec 1, 1966).

STRAITS TIMES APR 12 1999 
SAP schools here to stay, says BG Yeo 

"I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever!"
Gov George Wallace, 1963


Comment:
The old racist argument: You can let us discriminate against you because you 
can always work in another job or leave the country. Sounds a bit odd coming 
from the minister!!!

All the rest of us want is for equal treatment. Maybe, if the other races got 
the same kind of Special Assistance for their ailing cultural icons or 
schools, we would not be so upset. Or maybe if market forces were allowed to 
play their part in the future of traditional Chinese schools instead of them 
demanding handouts from the rest of us....




Edmund Chia:

Hmmm, COULD NOT or WOULD NOT?

I am a brainwashed minion so maybe I cannot tell the difference but is
there not a difference between 'could not' and 'would not' - if I
started a school to teach French as a first language and a student
WOULD NOT agree to learning French, am I being a racist when I say
'sorry, this school is only for those who want to learn French' - and
if I recommended a German language school down the road to students
who insisted on learning German in my French language school, would it
be strange of me?

Well, apparently if you belong to that crowd determined to portray
Singapore as a racist country and Singaporeans as out and out racists,
such arguments actually make sense. Indeed, one cannot blame the likes
of Habibie for believing that Singapore is a country that has
institutionalised racism against the Malay community when there are so
many fine and loyal Singaporeans persuading him that this is the case.

A strange argument coming from one who purports to want equal
treatment, especially given the determination to impose guilt on
anyone unlucky enough to be born Chinese for wishing to see his/her
culture preserved and promoted.

And the talk of 'market forces' - hmmm, an interesting study in the
way racially motivated agitators side-step significant and relevant
issues. Given the fact that the ethnic Chinese represent nearly 80% of
the population, the fact that the ethnic Chinese control more than 80%
of the wealth, that would suggest that those advocating 'market
forces' are in effect demanding entrenched inequality. I don't know
how much the 0.9% of the Malay community (8.2% for Chinese) that are
graduates or the 6.4% of the Malay community earning over $3000/month
(23.1% for Chinese) can raise to maintain schools and similar
institutions but given the distribution of wealth and income in
Singapore - my impression (no doubt it is clearly in error) is that
'market forces' have been deliberately set aside so that richer
communities like the Chinese communities can help poorer communities
such as the Malay communities achieve socio-economic parity with the
other communities in Singapore. I have never grudged the Malay
community their subsidised/free education and the other assistance
they recieved as I believed that it was only a matter of time before
they would not need such assistance. Moreover, I saw such assistance
as 'a helping hand' rather than 'a handout'. Now it seems that we are
accused of giving the Chinese community 'hand-outs' - hmmm - from
someone who is actually suggesting that we should allow 'market
forces' to determine the distribution of resources in Singapore - in
the belief that this benefits minorities.

As for ailing cultural icons - maybe I have been away too long but I
was not aware that up to half the Malay community could no longer
speak Malay fluently or that up to half the Malay community no longer
identified with Islam as a religion. Moreover, Singapore celebrates
Hari Raya, Thaipusam and other ethnic-centric festivals. In a
'market-forces' driven society, does that mean that we should not be
spending so much time or money on giving Malays time off during
Ramadan or celebrate festivals that only mean something to a rather
small percentage of the population.

Well, I am afraid that I don't believe in 'market-forces' on such
matters. I believe that it would be racist of Singapore to ignore the
multiracial character of our society and fail to accomodate the
cultural festivals of minorities or to hoard the resources of the
ethnic majority for its own use only. I believe that Singapore and
Singaporeans should dedicate resources to each of its many ethnic
communities as and when needed - however - where I differ from some
bigots is the fact that I happen to consider the Chinese community an
ethnic community too and am able to recognise that even an ethnic
majority has needs. Just as it is racist to suppress ethnic
minorities, so too would it be unfair to do the same to an ethnic
majority.