Ethnic and religious violence doubled in Singapore last year

The Home Affairs minister mentioned the figure in his response to a parliamentary question. Race-related incidents are cause of concern as the country’s economic crisis raises tensions with ethnic minorities in one of the most overcrowded places in the world.

Singapore (AsiaNews) – Incidents linked to religious and racial tensions have doubled in Singapore last year.

Home Affairs Minister Kasiviswanathan Shanmugam provided data related to the issue in response to a question raised in parliament. He indicated that some 60 cases were reported in 2020 compared to 31 a year earlier and 18 in 2018.

For the city-state of 5.7 million, such numbers are ostensibly very small, but great enough to cause great concern among politicians and ordinary citizens.

Some of the cases have been documented and analysed. In one case, a man engaged in a racially motivated assault against a woman of different ethnicity in a crowded city street last May. In another, an ethnic Chinese man was attacked.

Such behaviour is most likely fed by the country’s economic and employment situation created by the pandemic, but also by the increasingly tense debate over interethnic relations in one of the most overcrowded places in the world.

Singapore is home to various groups. Ethnic Chinese represent 76 per cent of the population, but there are sizeable communities of Malaysians, Indians and Europeans and a presence of temporary immigrants who constitute half of the workforce.

For this reason, striking a balance between ethnic and religious groups is an essential part of government policy.

The authorities tend to crack down on extremism and sectarian attitudes and try to promote social harmony by adjusting government actions towards the various communities.

A recent survey showed that 97 per cent of the population considers the level of harmony between communities to be good or high, but also found that a third of minorities believe that they are discriminated in the workplace.

• singapore
• race relations
• tensions
• incidents
• increase
• intolerance
• minorities