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.