S'pore's Malay Muslims call for more integration in society

S'pore's Malay Muslims call for more integration in society

SINGAPORE (AP): Singapore's Malay Muslim minority called for
greater diversity in the mainly ethnic Chinese country,
especially in its armed forces, Malay Muslim community leaders
were quoted as telling Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew in a news
report on Sunday.

Jaafar Sidin, secretary-general of Singapore Muslim
organization Majlis Pusat, was quoted in The Straits Times
newspaper as telling Lee that young Malay men "became more
conscious of their ethnicity as a result of experiencing
discrimination" during military service, which is compulsory for
all Singaporean males.

The meeting took place March 2.

Singapore Malays have complained that there are relatively few
top-ranking Malay military officers, and that Malays are
sometimes denied sensitive positions in the armed forces.

Lee prompted alarm among Malays nearly two years ago when he
said that total integration in the Singaporean military must be
carried out slowly and cautiously.

"If, for instance, you put in a Malay officer who's very
religious and who has family ties in Malaysia in charge of a
machine-gun unit, that's a very tricky business," Lee said in a
1999 talk at a Singapore university.

Muslim Malays make up about 14 percent of Singapore's
population of 3.2 million. They are the majority in neighboring
Malaysia, whose relations with Singapore are sometimes strained.
Muslims are also the vast majority in nearby Indonesia, where
minority Chinese have in recent years been brutalized in racial
and religious riots.

"I can only say 'don't intern us in your mind, like the
Americans did physically with the citizens of Japanese descent
during World War II,"' The Straits Times quoted Jaafar as saying
at the meeting with Lee.

Though Singapore currently enjoys a high degree of ethnic
harmony, the country was wracked by Malay-Chinese riots some four
decades ago. Lee has often said that racial and religious "fault
lines" still remain in the country.

"We are all prisoners of circumstances. I sympathize with you.
I know it's unfair," the newspaper quoted Lee as saying at the
recent talks with Malay leaders. "You're held hostage to events
to which you have not contributed."

"We have to face the real world and the real world is unfair
and unkind," he added. "It cannot be helped."

The report also quoted Lee as saying that Malays were welcome
to integrate further into Singapore society, and encouraging them
to educate themselves for the high-tech "new economy" of the 21st
century.

Lee served as Singapore's prime minister since the former
British colony's 1965 independence until he stepped down in 1990.
He still holds strong political clout under the title of senior
minister.

Lee's strict policies have often been criticized at home and
abroad as authoritarian, but they are also credited with making
Singapore one of Asia's richest, safest and most corruption-free
societies.