Saturday, August 9, 2008
9:54 PM
Is there a case for affirmative action in Singapore today?
Affirmative action describes action in the form of policies to ensure that minority groups, such as racial groups, are not at a disadvantage in areas such as education and employment. In America, government contracts employ applicants “without regard to their race, creed, colour, or their national origin.” In Singapore, affirmative action takes place too, to ensue that citizens of various race and religions are treated equally and enjoy equal opportunities.
I believe there is a case for affirmative action in Singapore today, as the country consists of citizens from many different races and religions. Hence discrimination such as racial discrimination against minority groups is bound to exist. Affirmative action can allow minority groups not to be discriminated in terms of admissions to educational institutions and also in terms of employment.
Singapore’s education system at the moment emphasizes on merit instead of race and religion. However, critics argue that affirmative discrimination is a form of reverse discrimination as it promotes prejudice and resentment towards minority groups. This can be explained in the example of s student’s admission to university. A student from a majority group might find herself unable to admit to the course of her choice as the university has policies to ensure that minority groups have opportunities in education, hence reserving a certain percentage of its admissions to students from minority groups. This in turn leads to smaller percentage of students from majority groups able to be admitted. Hence, even if a student from a majority group is academically stronger than another student from a minority group, she might not gain a place in the university. Obviously, such policies do not ensure for “equal opportunities”, as eventually, students from majority groups are being discriminated. Also, some critics would say that affirmative action causes the standard of a educational institute to drop as unprepared students are admitted in order to make up the certain percentage of students from minority groups.
Therefore, affirmative action has a case in Singapore, but only if it is ensued that it will cause minority groups to gain employment and education opportunities, yet will not cause majority groups to beat a disadvantage too. It is essential to attain a balance in the affirmative action in Singapore, so that there are truly equal opportunities for all in multi-race, multi-religion Singapore.
``kiawoon
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