Goh calls for more racial integration

Goh calls for more racial integration

SINGAPORE (AP): Singaporeans need to find more time to gather
and socialize with members of different races, the prime minister
of the multiracial city-state said.

Goh Chok Tong's comments came late Sunday at an event
organized by an ethnic Indian organization at which he urged
people from different racial groups to reach out to each other
and organize joint events and training programs.

"I want to reiterate at the outset that our national objective
remains the integration of the different ethnic communities," Goh
said. "It means finding more occasions for Singaporeans of all
races to gather and socialize, as opposed to organizing
activities and events along ethnic lines."

Goh said he was happy to attend the event organized by ethnic
Indians, but that he was "apprehensive" about sending the "wrong
message that the government now favors a segregated, race-based
approach to politics."

Race is a sensitive topic in Singapore and the government
often censors art performances they deem racially touchy. Over
seventy percent of the population is Chinese, with ethnic Malays,
Indians and Eurasians making up the bulk of the remaining
population.

People in the affluent city-state live in racial harmony, but
Singapore was rocked by race riots in the sixties. Government
officials, including Goh, often mention the race riots, asking
Singaporeans not to forget.

"Creating a cohesive multiracial society will take time," Goh
said. "A multiracial Singapore provides us that stability
necessary for progress."

Meanwhile, a Singaporean civil rights group has applied for a
permit to picket outside a local radio station next month to mark
World Press Freedom Day, a member of the group said on Monday.

Any assembly of more than five people requires a permit in
tightly controlled Singapore.

However, police said later on Monday that the planned protest
has been denied a permit.

"The event is a demonstration in a public place that has the
potential to lead to law and order problems," the police said in
a statement.

The group wants to picket the Radio Corporation of Singapore
to call for more press freedom and to protest the radio station's
handling of a December story about human rights, said Jacob
George of the Think Center.

"The main thing is the issue of why they censor," George said
on Monday. "They're not being accountable to the public at all."
George said they want to know why the radio station "censored"
coverage of a December human right's rally. He said a local radio
presenter had been told to edit her coverage of the event to
delete comments from a leading opposition politician.

The management also edited a part where the journalist read a
letter on air from UN Secretary General Kofi Annan about human
rights, George said. The journalist said on air that her editors
were unhappy with the program.

The journalist no longer works for the radio station and
George says he want to know why.