Singapore — Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam commented on a particular message that had been circulating on WhatsApp recently, calling it not only “nasty,” and “poisonous,” but downright “dangerous” to Singaporean society.
He called for Singaporeans to pull together for the betterment of Singapore.
The Minister made these comments at the REACH-ZB Forum on Jul 24 and posted a ten-minute video of his remarks on his Facebook page on Tuesday night (Aug 3).
The message had alleged that there are “too many Indians in key positions of our Cabinet and institutions,” Mr Shanmugam wrote in the caption to his post, adding that the person who wrote it said “there are many Indians in key positions – Ministers, Judges, and heads of organisations,” and that “Chinese, as majority race, will lose control.”
At the forum, the Minister said that the recent discussions on race have led to attacks and counterattacks “on both sides,” and some of the attacks have been “nasty.”
He called the WhatsApp message “nasty” and “dangerous” and even “poisonous,” and even “far worse” than what a lecturer had said, presumably in reference to a racist incident some months ago.
The Minister called the lecturer’s words “crude and unacceptable,” but the WhatsApp message was “dripping poison.”
He said that these were the kind of “communal instincts” that the first generation, “Mr Lee Kuan Yew and his generation” fought against.
“Whether it was a Chinese chauvinist, a Malay chauvinist or an Indian chauvinist. You spoke this kind of thing, you were arrested,” he added.
The statements in the WhatsApp message were meant to stir “racial emotions” and play along racial lines.
“But it’s very dangerous,” he said, adding that the government will make sure that Singapore does not “go down this route.”
He added, “I just hope that it is deep enough in the spirit of Singaporeans to avoid this kind of poison.”
Mr Shanmugam went on to say that Singaporeans, together with the government, built Singapore “on very high ideals” including equality for all, along with meritocracy.
While there are issues with meritocracy that need to be “fixed,” to replace it with this kind of race-based arguments and politics “would destroy Singapore.”
He called upon the public to build on “something unique and very precious that we have—Indians, Malays, Chinese, Eurasians, everyone comes together and works together for a better Singapore.”
The Minister also said that he cannot think of any society that has achieved as much as Singapore has, “from 1965 till today.”
“Let’s not put that at risk. Everyone has their place under the sun,” he added. “This is poison. Let’s be careful.”
Mr Shanmugam’s remarks may be viewed here.
/TISG
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