MALAY/MUSLIM ISSUES IN SINGAPORE'S GENERAL ELECTION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SINGAPORE 001468 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV KISL SN SUBJECT: MALAY/MUSLIM ISSUES IN SINGAPORE'S GENERAL ELECTION REF: 04 SINGAPORE 1816 ¶1. (U) Summary: Opposition candidates in Singapore's general election campaign have questioned the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) handling of Malay/Muslim concerns such as unemployment. The PAP has responded that Malay concerns are national issues, but, at the same time, asserted that the PAP's Muslim members of Parliament were successfully addressing Malay problems. The political debate highlights the government's limited success in raising the economic status of Malays. End summary. National issues or Malay concerns? -------------- ¶2. (U) During Singapore's brief election campaign, opposition parties have questioned the People's Action Party's handling of Malay concerns such as unemployment. Singapore's loss of manufacturing jobs has particularly hurt Malays, who account for 40 percent of retrenched workers (but only 14 percent of the population). The Minister in Charge of Muslim Affairs, Dr. Yaacob Ibrahim, told Malay reporters, "issues that Malays are concerned about, like jobs and education, are faced by all Singaporeans." Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong then questioned the ability of the opposition Workers' Party Malay/Muslim candidate to "raise the education and social levels of the Malay community." The Workers' Party chairman, Sylvia Lim, rebutted, "I thought we are a multi-racial society which is supposed to solve problems together." A "Community of Excellence"? -------------- ¶3. (SBU) PAP Muslim parliamentary candidates have asserted that they are successfully addressing the community's problems through the Community Leaders' Forum (CLF) (reftel). Dr. Yaacob established the CLF in 2003 to coordinate the self-help efforts of Muslim groups in four strategic areas -- education, youth, family development, and employability -- under the leadership of PAP's Muslim members of Parliament (MPs). The government-orchestrated effort to become a "model Muslim minority" initially faltered when many Muslim NGOs resisted Dr. Yaacob's top-down approach, forcing him to shift tactics and treat NGO leaders as equal partners, according to Muslim community leaders and reporters. Moving Forward or Losing Ground? -------------- ¶4. (SBU) PM Lee argued that the Malay community is progressing, citing the increasing numbers of Malay students seeking tertiary education, in an extensive April 26 interview with Singapore's Malay-language newspaper, Berita Harian. Malay community leaders concede Malays have progressed in absolute terms over the past decades, but note the gap with Singapore's ethnic Chinese has widened. While the average Malay household income from work almost doubled between 1990 and 2000, it fell from 69 percent to 63 percent of the ethnic Chinese average. Furthermore, the percentage of Malays who are professionals remains stagnant at a paltry 4 percent of the community, say community leaders citing internal government statistics. ¶5. (SBU) PM Lee also expressed his two main concerns about Singapore's Malay/Muslim minority: its need to integrate more with other communities and the large number of dysfunctional, low-income families. The PAP Muslim MPs, who publicly claim that Malays are becoming a "community of excellence," have privately told us that they worry about the breakdown of Malay families and the potential growth of a permanent underclass. ¶6. (SBU) Ironically, the Government of Singapore's (GOS) approach to social problems may be undermining national integration, according to officials in the GOS unit responsible for fostering racial harmony. Wary of creating a welfare state, the GOS has expected ethnic self-help groups to assist members of their own race, and provided grants to those groups to administer social welfare programs. Despite internal GOS debates about whether aid to needy Singaporeans should be channeled through race-based NGOs, the recently enacted budget continues this practice. Issues not raised -------------- ¶7. (U) Comment: The debate on Malay voters' concerns has been largely superficial and has not touched on more sensitive issues that Muslim leaders have discussed with us, such as perceived job discrimination in both the public and private sectors. Malays complain they never reach the top ranks of the military or security services because of doubts SINGAPORE 00001468 002 OF 002 about their loyalty. Although Malay newspaper columnists have raised the issue, Malay candidates have not questioned why the PAP government has only one Muslim minister in the Cabinet at any time, and why Malays are assigned "soft" ministries, such as Education or Environment. The large, multi-member electoral districts force all the parties to run ethnically diverse tickets and avoid ethnic politics. Opposition politicians may be reluctant to delve into race issues for fear of violating one of the GOS' "out-of-bounds" markers and getting hammered. The GOS has successfully muted racial politics, even if it has only partially succeeded in uplifting Singapore's Malay/Muslim minority. End comment. HERBOLD