COMMENT | Didn’t realise we spoke English for the sake of minorities; PM Lee claims it put those who spoke only Mandarin and dialects in a disadvantageous position”

Singapore — Following PM Lee’s National Day Rally on Sunday (Aug 29), netizens of minority races have been up in arms, taking offence at some of the statements he made.

It is “entirely baseless” to claim that there is “Chinese privilege” in Singapore, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, noting that Singapore treats “all races equally, with no special privileges”.

He added that Chinese Singaporeans “made some concessions for the greater good”, for instance by adopting English as Singapore’s lingua franca to put ethnic minorities more at ease.

“The use of English put those who spoke only Mandarin and dialects in a disadvantageous position. Therefore, it is entirely baseless to claim that there is ‘Chinese privilege’ in Singapore,” Mr Lee said.

Responding, one @Gayathrii007 on Twitter wrote: “Aww. Didn’t realise we were all speaking English for the sake of minorities“.

Others agreed with her, with one @with_navya saying in a TikTok video: “You know, a lot of people have denied Chinese privilege in Singapore, but for our own Prime Minister to deny it is just a new low“.

“To say that the only places minorities have difficulties is in renting a home and finding a job when we have repeatedly tried to come out and tell you about where else we have difficulties“, she added.

She said that Chinese privilege has always been there, social media was just helping to shed light on it.

During his National Day Rally, PM Lee said: “We treat all races equally, with no special privileges. Few countries have made this their policy, and even fewer have actually managed to make it a reality.”

What the country has seen after 56 years is “testament” that this fundamental national policy has benefited all races, including the Chinese, added the Prime Minister. /TISG