Singapore — Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam emphasised in a Sept 6 (Monday) interview that competence should be the reason why people are hired.
He made these remarks in an interview on News Tonight, answering a question about guidelines from TAFEP (Tripartite Alliance for Fair & Progressive Employment Practices), CNA reported.
The minister was asked concerning how TAFEP guidelines would be applicable to firms claiming a racial preference for the people they hire, given Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s National Day Rally speech on Aug 29, when he mentioned that workplace anti-discrimination guidelines would be made into law.
“TAFEP currently has various rules on discrimination in the workplace. And that will be given legislative teeth, put into law. So, your employment should depend on your abilities and competence and suitability for the job, not on colour of your skin,” Mr Shanmugam said.
Once legislated, the government will be able to do more against employers who use unfair hiring practices.
The minister explained that this will be to the advantage of women and other groups experiencing discrimination in the workplace.
“Whether you get employed and whether you are in employment, how you perform should be based on competence. It shouldn’t be based on age, or whether you are a man or woman, and on your race, the colour of your skin,” added Mr Shanmugam.
In a recent speech, the minister underlined that meritocracy is part of Singapore’s core principles.
Speaking at the launch of SG Core pilot programme on Saturday (Sept 4), which “aims to strengthen our Singaporean spirit and strength, through programs that emphasise our multiculturalism and commonalities,” Mr Shanmugam talked about the new proposed laws on racial harmony.
He said that at present, communal relationships are still work-in-progress, and “will always be work-in-progress.”
“You can never say the work is done, there is no racism. There are no racial issues. You can never say that. There continues to be a degree of racism in our community.”
He took a look into Singapore’s history, saying that previous to attaining independence in 1965, different ethnic communities lived in separate areas since the British found this would prevent clashes among the different groups.
“Keep them apart and they won’t fight with each other,” the minister said, “but it also meant that each community kept to itself and that limited inter-racial interaction.”
And after this, as part of the Federation of Malaysia from Sept 1963 to Aug 1965, “we disagreed with this Malaysian government’s approach in granting special rights and privileges to one racial community,” he added, fighting instead for equal treatment for all races.
“This difference in vision and push for a Malaysian Malaysia led to Singapore being kicked out of Malaysia. We then committed to becoming a multi-racial and multi-religious nation.”
“Meritocracy, that we are one united people regardless of race, language or religion as we say in our pledge; These are our core principles,” he added. /TISG
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