Singapore — Former Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) Calvin Cheng has taken to Facebook to speak up on racism and racial intolerance in Singapore.
At the start of his post, Mr Cheng acknowledges that it is good that the media is trying to shed some light on racism in Singapore.
He also says that there is bound to be racism in Singapore, the way it is bound to exist in all other societies.
However, he emphasizes that the problems that are faced here in Singapore are different from those in western societies and should not be compared.
While the topics of critical race theory and “wokeness” are prevalent in the west, Mr Cheng says that such ideologies can be dangerous if brought into Singapore.
Critical race theory (CRT) is an academic framework that examines how systems, policies, and the law perpetuate systemic racism. It teaches people to evaluate systems critically in order to better understand where racial inequities stem from. Subsequently, the knowledge can be used to alleviate inequities after identifying the root cause. This theory is typically taught at the tertiary level in the US.
Mr Cheng says that Singapore must solve its own issues within its own culture. He also advocates for those involved with the media industry to speak up more about this topic.
Some netizens agreed with Mr Cheng, expressing that it is important that for Singapore to deal with problems regarding racial intolerance in its own way.
Many politicians and members of the public have been commenting on the issue of racial intolerance recently due to several incidents that occurred. The owner of the YouTube channel ‘Beow Tan’ had been uploading videos of her speaking down to people of other races. A lecturer at Ngee Ann polytechnic has also been suspended from teaching after he made disparaging comments about an interracial couple he met on the streets.
You Zi Xuan is an intern at The Independent SG. /TISG