The video discusses how lingering racial tensions between the Chinese and Malay communities in Singapore in the 1960s led to significant societal changes. The 1964 race riots, which resulted in violence and significant loss of life, highlighted the deep-seated racial divides and contributed to Singapore's eventual separation from Malaysia. In response, Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew focused on establishing a multicultural society where equality among races was paramount as a foundation for the nation’s evolution.

Singapore managed to build relative harmony through deliberate policies and initiatives aimed at reducing racial discord. The government implemented four official languages with English as the common language, restructured housing policies to prevent racial enclaves, and ensured political representation of minorities through sophisticated electoral frameworks. These practical solutions not only facilitated integration but also strengthened the nation's global standing.

Main takeaways from the video:

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Key Vocabularies and Common Phrases:

1. communal [kəˈmjuːnəl] - (adjective) - Relating to a community or shared by all members of a community. - Synonyms: (shared, collective, common)

communal tensions that led to the 1964 race riots contributed to Singapore's separation from Malaysia.

2. enshrine [ɪnˈʃraɪn] - (verb) - To preserve or cherish something as sacred. - Synonyms: (preserve, protect, safeguard)

The Singaporean government enshrined multiracialism in its constitution.

3. supremacy [səˈprɛməsi] - (noun) - The state or condition of being superior to all others in authority, power, or status. - Synonyms: (dominance, authority, preeminence)

The Malaysians feel that they will be undermined should the Chinese in Singapore continue to gain economic supremacy over the peninsula.

4. ravaging [ˈrævɪdʒɪŋ] - (verb) - To cause severe and extensive damage to something. - Synonyms: (devastating, destroying, ruining)

Violence spread across the island, ravaging Singapore for weeks.

5. pandemonium [ˌpændəˈməʊnɪəm] - (noun) - A wild and noisy disorder or confusion; uproar. - Synonyms: (chaos, mayhem, tumult)

They must have thought that we were there to attack them, and the next second they came out with bicycle chains, iron rods, acid bulbs, and pandemonium broke loose.

6. enclave [ˈɛŋkleɪv] - (noun) - A portion of territory surrounded by a larger territory whose inhabitants are culturally or ethnically distinct. - Synonyms: (territory, district, region)

So in the 1960s and seventies, the singaporean government forcibly removed people from racial enclaves and relocated all races to new public housing estates, where about 80% of singaporean households live

7. forcibly [ˈfɔːsɪbli] - (adverb) - Done by force or using physical power. - Synonyms: (compulsorily, strongly, aggressively)

The Singaporean government forcibly removed people from racial enclaves.

8. ceremonial [ˌsɛrəˈmoʊniəl] - (adjective) - Relating to or used for formal events of a religious or public nature. - Synonyms: (formal, ritual, solemn)

Compared with the prime minister of Singapore, the president plays a largely ceremonial role.

9. disparities [dɪˈspærətiz] - (noun) - A great difference between two or more things. - Synonyms: (inequalities, imbalances, diversities)

The absence of race riots doesn't mean there are no racial tensions and racial disparities.

10. covert [ˈkoʊvərt] - (adjective) - Not openly acknowledged or displayed. - Synonyms: (hidden, concealed, secret)

Overt racism might have been reduced in Singapore, but covert discrimination still exists.

How Singapore Built a Stable Society

In 1964, a series of race riots between Chinese and Malays broke out in Singapore, leaving dozens dead and hundreds injured. When it came to racial riots, it was just madness. I experienced myself firsthand, and that was when I felt so threatened and where I was almost killed. communal tensions that led to the 1964 race riots contributed to Singapores separation from Malaysia. The next year, to avoid the mistakes of the past, Singapores founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and his team aimed to create a society where different races, religions, and cultures could live peacefully.

Heres how Singapore built a fairly harmonious society. Singapore has a population of 5.7 million people. Among the 3.5 million who are citizens, 76% are Chinese and 15% are Malay. Malays are the native people of the island. During british colonialism, immigrants from China, India, and other parts of the world came to Singapore as the island was being developed into a trading port. By the 1870s, Chinese had become the majority population in Singapore. In 1959, Singapore obtained self governance from the British to completely break away from colonial rule. In 1963, Singapore joined the Federation of Malaya, part of Malaysia today. But it was a difficult union, plagued with differences in political approaches, economic conditions, and sharp exchanges between leaders from both sides.

The relationships then were just not getting on between the majority Singapore Chinese, 75% Chinese from Singapore in a merger with Malaysia, which are predominantly Malay. 55 60% Malays. The community in Singapore, the majority Chinese, have been doing very well economically. The Malaysians feel that they will be undermined should the Chinese in Singapore continue to gain economic supremacy over the peninsula. And in Singapore, the idea was that all races should be treated equal. But in Malaysia, there was a different outlook. Because malay leaders and malay politicians felt they were sons of the soil, there was a sense that Malays should always have the political dominant position.

In 1964, increasing racial tensions between Malays and Chinese led to a series of riots. Singaporean Malays are predominantly Muslims. On July 21, a muslim holiday to celebrate the prophet Muhammad's birthday, clashes broke out between malay participants and chinese bystanders during a procession. Violence spread across the island, ravaging Singapore for weeks, leaving 23 dead and 454 injured. In September, another series of riots triggered by the killing of a malay rickshaw rider broke out of Zeinul, and a few friends were on their way back home from Friday prayers. When the curfew was imposed on September 2, buses were full, so they jumped on a lorry for a ride. But the lorry broke down in a chinese area.

A lot of chinese youngsters were standing by the roadside watching, and suddenly, when they saw this group of about 20 Malays rising from the lorry to come down to get alternative transport. They must have thought that we were there to attack them, and the next second they came out with bicycle chains, iron rods, acid bulbs, and pandemonium broke loose. They just randomly were hammering, killing people on the street. But fortunately for me, I was able to grab a moving taxi and fled to safety.

But that was not the end of the story. When I took the taxi ride and reached the other side where I live, which is Geylang area, which is the malay area, it was the reverse. Malays were beating up innocent chinese Trishaw pullers, fruit sellers who used to be friends. At one time, the September riots resulted in 13 deaths and left another 106 injured. About a year later, Singapore separated from Malaysia and became an independent state.

Be firm, be calm. We are going to have a multiracial nation in Singapore. We will set the example. This is not a malay nation, this is not a chinese nation, this is not an indian nation. Everybody will have his place. Equal language, culture, religion. The singaporean government enshrined multiracialism in its constitution and implemented major policies and initiatives based on these principles for education, housing politics and community development.

One of the first things that Singapore's leaders did was to break down the language barrier between ethnic groups. Four official languages, English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil, were established, but English was designated as a common language. People in Singapore are required to take English as a first language as well as a mother tongue language. So that enables them to not just hold on to their heritage, their ethnic culture, but at the same time be able to interact with people of a different race. At first, there was resistance from chinese parents, but enrolment to chinese schools gradually dwindled and those to english schools grew.

English is the language of the civil service of government. Parents saw the writing on the wall. If English is the language of the civil service, you go to an english school so that your child can get a job in the civil service, which is an iron rice bowl. English became, in a way, a unifying language for Singapore, and it was a very important decision because that made Singapore so relevant in the world and gave us our position.

Racial segregation, dating back to british colonial rule, was thought to be one of the reasons for the race riots. So in the 1960s and seventies, the singaporean government forcibly removed people from racial enclaves and relocated all races to new public housing estates, where about 80% of singaporean households live. Today, well over 400,000 people, a quarter of Singapore's population, has been rehoused in the last five years in these bright, modern, airy flats.

Nowhere in the world except in Russia. Despite the government's early efforts, by the 1980s, racial enclaves were forming within public housing estates. In 1989, the ethnic integration policy was introduced to ensure a mix of chinese, indian and Malays in each public housing block.

It's not just having different race groups on the same corridor and they walk down the corridor and say hello to each other, or they meet in the town square and they see different race groups, their children go to the same neighborhood school, and that is the value. But critics see mixing ethnic groups in public housing as a way of social control. On a political level, Singapore has policies to ensure multiracial representation. In 1988, an amendment to the Parliamentary Elections act was passed.

This introduced the group representation constituency, or the GRC, which required political parties to field at least one minority candidate in each GRC team, composed of three to six members. Currently there are 17 GRCs, which mean there are at least 17 minority members among the total 93 members of the parliament. Previously, you could have a party putting up a chinese candidate just hoping to get the majority chinese to vote for them without having to worry about the malay voters. But now, no party, no candidate can behave in that way anymore.

But detractors said the group representation constituency was introduced to make it harder for the opposition to win elections. In 2016, the Constitution of Singapore was revised to include reserved elections. This meant that a presidential election would be reserved for a particular racial group if no one from that community had been president for the past 30 years.

The 2017 election was the first reserved election and it was reserved for the malay community. But compared with the prime minister of Singapore, the president plays a largely ceremonial role and doesnt hold much power. The government also initiated ethnicity based self help groups to uplift the socio economic status of the poor.

Employees in Singapore are expected to contribute a small percentage of their monthly income to one of the four ethnic self help group funds. According to their ethnicity. These funds are mainly used to subsidise tuition and help upgrade skills for lower income groups. But ethnicity based self help groups were criticized for emphasizing the issue of race. In recent years, four different self help group groups started to run joint programs.

So I wouldn't say that Singapore's racial relation is perfect, but definitely we have come a long way since 1960s for multiculturalism, multiracialism to succeed, there has to be a visible hand in society. I think we've done quite well. You know, we've not had interracial riotous since 1969. Singapore is a stable society and it is this stability that has helped us develop economically.

Singapore has strict anti racism and anti rioting laws. The absence of race riots doesn't mean there are no racial tensions and racial disparities. Today, Singapore faces challenges to shrink the income gap between Malays and other ethnic groups among the minorities, that they feel that they are marginalised. They couldn't speak out of it because the whole system is structured in such a way that it should be legitimate.

The reason why you are where you are is because you haven't done well. Whereas if you dive further and look at some of the structural issues, you realise that the reason why they are not doing well, certain racial groups are not doing well, maybe because there are certain structural issues and challenges that we have not been able to address in the last 50 years. Be that in the education sector, be that in the housing market, be that in the employment sector, all these concerns about income, the lack of mobility will intersect with racial identity, and in the long run, this could generate a perpetual cycle of unhappiness, of discontent.

Overt racism might have been reduced in Singapore, but covert discrimination still exists. Researchers found that over half of Malays and Indians in Singapore perceived discriminatory treatment at work. Recently, coronavirus outbreaks in cramped dorms where many south asian migrant workers live, has also highlighted the inequalities that still exist in different parts of Singapore's society. The maintenance of racial harmony is a work in progress. The goal posts change all the time and you've got to keep catching up.

But what hasn't changed is that racial Harmony Day is celebrated on July 21 each year in Singapore to commemorate the 1964 race riots and remind Singaporeans that racial harmony shouldn't be taken for granted.

Singapore, Race Riots, Racial Harmony, Politics, Global, Education, Bloomberg Originals