<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>Race shouldn't matter, but reality gets in the way
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->MINISTER Mentor Lee Kuan Yew's reminder yesterday ('MM rebuts NMP's notion of race equality') of the attractive but false notion of race equality is timely.
It is not by chance that Singapore is now an inclusive nation remarkable for its openness and opportunities. Race is essentially a hollow concept useful only for classification. It has no active ingredients to determine anything of significance common to the same racial or ethnic grouping.
Nothing about anyone can ever be presumed from his racial affiliation. In a different geographical location, a different social context, and different timelines of history, people with the same overt racial characteristics develop different abilities, tastes and economic achievements. This is true of Caucasians, Chinese, Africans, Malays or Indians.
Racial equality does not exist anywhere and never has. It remains a battle cry and idealistic rallying concept for many people tired of being subjugated by others by virtue of numerical superiority or technological prowess.
Equality is a contingent fact of history. It is neither an ethical principle nor a moral standard. It is also not a universal statement of natural social norms. By definition, it is a false absolute.
Racial equality is really an outcome - the result of social processes - manifested in degrees. The solutions to racial harmony lie in the elimination of intentional discrimination based on race or race- related criteria like religion and language. Racial equality is that quality of racial harmony in a cohesive community where social action ignores race, language or religion to build democratic societies based on the promise of liberty and choice.
With MM Lee's reminder, let us go beyond current achievements in racial harmony and confront and engage the remaining flaws and injustices. We must work harder to ensure that opportunities are never denied on account of race.
My hope for my children and grandchildren is that race should not matter; but the reality is that all too often, those of us who should know better often allow it to.
Michael Heng
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->MINISTER Mentor Lee Kuan Yew's reminder yesterday ('MM rebuts NMP's notion of race equality') of the attractive but false notion of race equality is timely.
It is not by chance that Singapore is now an inclusive nation remarkable for its openness and opportunities. Race is essentially a hollow concept useful only for classification. It has no active ingredients to determine anything of significance common to the same racial or ethnic grouping.
Nothing about anyone can ever be presumed from his racial affiliation. In a different geographical location, a different social context, and different timelines of history, people with the same overt racial characteristics develop different abilities, tastes and economic achievements. This is true of Caucasians, Chinese, Africans, Malays or Indians.
Racial equality does not exist anywhere and never has. It remains a battle cry and idealistic rallying concept for many people tired of being subjugated by others by virtue of numerical superiority or technological prowess.
Equality is a contingent fact of history. It is neither an ethical principle nor a moral standard. It is also not a universal statement of natural social norms. By definition, it is a false absolute.
Racial equality is really an outcome - the result of social processes - manifested in degrees. The solutions to racial harmony lie in the elimination of intentional discrimination based on race or race- related criteria like religion and language. Racial equality is that quality of racial harmony in a cohesive community where social action ignores race, language or religion to build democratic societies based on the promise of liberty and choice.
With MM Lee's reminder, let us go beyond current achievements in racial harmony and confront and engage the remaining flaws and injustices. We must work harder to ensure that opportunities are never denied on account of race.
My hope for my children and grandchildren is that race should not matter; but the reality is that all too often, those of us who should know better often allow it to.
Michael Heng
