Extended Essay (Geography)
Racial regrouping, Inter-Ethnic relations
and their impacts on Singapore
Done by ….. Name : Daniel Teo Wei Guang Class : 6 CKS Supervisor : Mr Chia Choong Kiat (Geography teacher)
Acknowledgements:
I would first and foremost like to thank the good Lord, to whom all things are made possible.
Additionally, Special mention to my Geography teacher and supervisor, Mr Chia Choong Kiat , whose unwavering dedication and guidance has made this research essay possible .
Lastly, I would like to make special thanks to my family and friends particularly my brother Joshua who would cheer me up with his lame but funny jokes just to get me through the many sleepless nights when writing this essay.
Yours sincerely,
Daniel Teo Wei Guang
Table of contents:
Title page 1
Acknowledgements 2
Research Question, Abstract 5
Outline 6
Introduction 7
Racial Regrouping:
Trends of Racial regrouping 8-11
Ethnic composition of Singapore 12-13
Extent of the Ethnic integration policy 14
Spatial distribution of the policy 14-15
Flaws and problems of the policy 16
Solutions &Improvements 17-18
Racial Harmony:
Ethnic relations and Evaluation 19-22
Conclusion 23
Bibliography/References 24- 25
To what extent was the ethnic integration policy effective in achieving racial harmony and the eradication of racial enclaves in Singapore?
Abstract:
This essay examines the extent in which the ethnic integration policy was effective in achieving racial harmony and the eradication of racial enclaves in Singapore. The ethnic integration policy was chosen as it was one of the key and pioneering policies in trying to promote racial harmony in Singapore. In addition, the policy was created with the ideology that racial regrouping (which leads to the elimination of racial enclaves) would ultimately bring about racial harmony though no official evidence or research has successfully proved this link.
On a separate note, it should be noted that the bulk of the data used comes predominantly from secondary sources and not primary ones due to the infeasibility of primary research in this essay (primarily due to the wide scope of this research and the nature of this research essay) .Moreover, in order to successfully evaluate thispolicy, I have decided to research deeper into racial regrouping and explore the possibility of racial regrouping leading to racial harmony. In so doing, we would be better able to determine whether racial regrouping could play a role in the promotion and public awareness of racial harmony in Singapore due to its possible co-relation as well as determine whether the government’s efforts in trying to promote racial harmony has been largely successful since a bulk of their policies in trying to maintain racial harmony has been centred around racial regrouping.
Outline:
The essay would investigate how the policy aims at maintaining the racial mix,investigating the trends of racial re-grouping in public housing estates, the extent and impacts of the ethnic integration policy, and lastly, recommendations on how the policy may improve. These components focuson how the implementation of the policy has led to the elimination of racial enclaves through racial regrouping, and how it may be further improved.
The other components namely,ethnic relations in Singapore and the essay’sevaluation focuses on whether the policy, aimed at racial regrouping was successful inpromoting racial harmony. These components would be supported and checked against multiple studies and surveys conducted by several notable Singaporean sociologists and researchers to successfully evaluate whether racial harmony did ensure after the policy.
The conclusion, it is noted showed that there is a high level of racial tolerance and to some extent harmony in Singapore after the implementation of the policy. However, it is to be noted that there were a few limitations in this study as surveys and most studies conducted by researchers were all conducted after the implementation the policy and hence, it is inconclusive that the policy in itself was the sole reason that actually promoted racial harmony in Singapore.Additionally, there is no clear definition what racial harmony is as different organisations (both public and private) interpret it differently though most definitions would include at least some form of racial tolerance.
Introduction:
The ethnic integration policy (EIP) was a policy implemented by the Housing and development board of Singapore (HDB) on the March of 1989to maintain the ethnic mix among public housing residents. The policy was just one of the many measures initiated by the government to promote racial harmony and in this case, through racial regrouping in response to the many racial riots that occurred inSingapore throughout the 1960s
Hence this raises several questions such as, is racial regrouping ethical? How do we maintain the ethnic mix in public housing estates? Why does the policy only affect public housing and not private ones? But the key question is that whether racial regrouping (which leads to the eradication of ethnic enclaves) would bring about racial harmony as a whole.
Moreover, this essay also focuses on the relative importance of creating such a policy and explores whether more was sacrificed in achieving racial harmony or vice-versa. It looks at the feasibility of the policy, evaluates the government’s decision in implementing such a policy and investigates whether a better alternative could have been implemented to address the situation.
Additionally, this essay relates to the section of Geography IB syllabus under its option topic urban environments. It focuses on residential land use and addresses the IB question:
“Explain the location of residential areas in relation to wealth, ethnicity and family status (stage in life-cycle)”.
Trends of racial regrouping in public housing estates,
Beginning this investigation would be to first explore the trends of racial regrouping in Singapore over the last quarter century. As such, below isa table showing the proportion of races in various estates if the ethnic integration policy was not introduced
Table 1: Trends resulting in the absence of the Ethnic integration Policy[1]
Estates where there is racial regrouping / Proportion of owner occupied flats (%)Year: / 1988 / 2000
Bukit merah:
Chinese / 88.4 / 93.1
Indians/ Others / 6.1 / 5.6
Malays / 5.5 / 1.3
Bedok:
Malays / 24.5 / 43.0
Chinese / 69.8 / 52.0
Indians/others / 5.7 / 5.0
Kampong java:
Indians/others / 15.2 / 29.8
Chinese / 78.8 / 65.0
Malays / 6.0 / 5.2
*HDB forecasts for the year 2000 have been computed on the basis that no policy would have intervened in maintaining the ethnic mix
From the table, it can be concluded that without the implementation of the ethnic integration policy, the trends of ethnic regrouping among public housing residents would lead to the re-emergence of ethnic enclaves.
We will now look at table 2 which shows some of the locational preferences (new towns) the different races prefer in the mid-1970s. It covers 2 aspects which are namely distribution by ethnicity and distribution of applications for resale flats.
Distribution by ethnicity refers to the proportion of the various ethnic groups within the different estates when it was first bought.
Distribution of applications for resale flats refers to the applicants who are buying government flats that are Re-sold to the public. They are also grouped according to ethnicity in the table below.
Table 2[2]
Distribution by ethnicity: / Proportion of ethnic groups (%)Estate: Ang Mo Kio/ Hougang Zone
Malays / 5%
Chinese / 90%
Indians / 5%
Estate: Bedok/ Tampies
Malays / 20%
Chinese / 76%
Indians/others / 24%
Distribution of applicants for resale flats: / Proportion of ethnic groups (%)
Estate: Ang Mo Kio/ Hougang Zone
Malays / 37%
Chinese / 51%
Indians / 12%
Estate: Bedok/ Tampies
Malays / 55%
Chinese / 40%
Indians/others / 5%
The table above shows a positive relationship between distribution by ethnicity and distribution of applicants for resale flats. In the already predominantly Chinese Ang Mo Kio/ Hougang zone , Chinese applicants holds the majority of the applications of resale flats at 51% while the Estate of Bedok/Tampines which already has a sizeable Malay population, has 55% of its applications for resale flats coming from the Malay ethnic group. Thus, it can be concluded that the preference for the various estates is seen not only in the existing proportion of the particular ethnic group in the estate but also replicated in the proportions of various ethnic groups buying resale flats in the estates concerned.
It is important to note however that the above trends took place in the year 1988, before the introduction of the ethnic integration policy .Prior to the implementation of the policy, the Housing development board (HDB), had the means to regulate the racial mix in new estates at the time of allocation but there was no policy to intervene in the resale of flats between buyer and seller once they were both eligible to do so. Furthermore, the “open” market system applied to the resale of public housing flats and from the trends above, it was apparent that the formation of racial enclaves was starting to appear. Thus Singapore needed a policy to successfully set racial limits in each of the estates and on March 1989, the Ethnic integration policy was introduced.
Ethnic composition of Singapore’s population:
In Singapore, the largest ethnic group is the Chinese. It accounts for 77.0% of the 2.07 million resident populations in 1970 to 74.1% of the 5.07 million residents in 2010. Hence, given the overwhelming majority of Chinese in the population, the proportion of Chinese will always be predominant in any public housing estate. Therefore, the distribution of the population by ethnicity has been used as a basis in setting the quotas for the various ethnic groups since the implementation of the EIP. It is also fortunate the ethnic composition of residents in public housing estate have successfully reflected the proportions at the national level closely. This is shown below
Table 3:Ethnic composition (%) of resident population[3]
Ethnic group / 1970(%) / 1980
(%) / 1990
(%) / 2000
(%) / 2010
(%)
Malays / 14.8 / 14.4 / 14.1 / 13.9 / 13.4
Chinese / 77.0 / 78.3 / 77.7 / 76.8 / 74.1
Indians / 7.0 / 6.3 / 7.1 / 7.9 / 9.2
Others / 1.2 / 1.0 / 1.1 / 1.4 / 3.3
Table 4: ethnic composition of residents in public housing estates (1995)[4]
Ethnic Group / Proportion of Residents (%)Malays / 14.7%
Chinese / 77.7%
Indians / 6.3%
Others / 1.3%
Total / 100%
Since the ethnic composition of residents in public housing estates is similar to that of its population, it can be concluded that the ethnic integration policy does not discriminate or favour any one ethnic group over the other. As a matter of fact, it is to ensure a good racial mix in public housing estates. Below is a table showing racial quotas implemented in March 1st, 1989. These limits maintain the racial mix within each block and neighbourhood in public housing estates at proportions shown below.
Table 5[5]:(permissible proportions of flats in each)
Ethnic Group / Population* / Neighborhood (%) / Block(%)
Malays / 14.1 / 22 / 25
Chinese / 77.7 / 84 / 87
Indians/ / 8.2 / 10 / 13
Others
These racial limits have according to former Minister of National Development, Mr S. Dhanabalan, taken into account the population’s racial mix and projected demand for public housing by each racial group[6]. This projected demand referred to is based on the rate at which new households are being formed. Additionally, assurance was given at the same time that quotas would be reviewed whenever significant changes took place in the racial composition of the population. However, the limits were not exactly the rosy picture the government portrayed it to be. These racial limits,have added restrictions to the resale of public housing flats to various ethnic groups. Furthermore, although the HDB has assured residents that it would be prepared to buy the flats back should the flat owners find difficulties selling the flats due to the racial limits, the prices the HDB are offering are “posted prices” which are considerably lower than the prices in the open market. At the same time, the arrangement where HDB buys flats from residents who cannot find buyers has always existed even prior to the introduction of the ethnic integration policy.
Extent of the ethnic integration policy:
The extent of the ethnic integration policy is that it applies to all other housing priorities and regulations including schemes aimed at encouraging older married children to stay with their parents. The policy will affect both rental flats as well as arrangements to mutually exchanged flats. The racial limits will be considered however when there are applications for flats by those being resettled or benefitting from priority schemes such as the multi-tier family housing scheme. Nevertheless, the limits would still apply in cases where residents arrange for transfers of flats in order to live closer to their relatives and vice-versa.
Spatial impact of the policy:
It is also important to note that the policy’s aim is to maintain the racial mix in public housing estates as it was found at the date of implementation of the policy. The policy by no means intends to reduce the proportion of any particular ethnic group in any neighbourhood or block. As a result, no resident would be made to move because of the policy.