Singapore enacts new controls on ‘race-based’ groups to promote cohesion
“You cannot, by law, force people of different races to get along with one another,” the minister told parliament on Tuesday. “The law can set out a framework as to what you can’t do.”
Singapore’s government has long defended the need for such laws, saying the city state is vulnerable to fake news and hostile information campaigns because it is a financial hub with a multiethnic population and widespread internet access. Ethnic Chinese make up about 75 per cent of the population while ethnic Malays account for 14 per cent and ethnic Indians 9 per cent.
The legislation passed in parliament will result in the designation of more than 300 entities in Singapore as being “race-based”, according to a preliminary government estimate. The government has said it will take at least a year to operationalise all the proposals in it.