To TNP: Singapore is more tolerant to racial differences than you think

This is a letter I wrote to The New Paper in response to the article "Is S'pore ready for a non-Chinese PM?" published on 6 Nov 2008.

Dear May Ping,

I've just read your commentary article on The New Paper, entitled "Can we see beyond colour? Is Singapore ready for a minority PM? Not Yet but young are more colour-blind"

In your story, you made a statement that sticks out from the rest of the article. You say that "Singaporeans are still lumbering along like Third World tribes, dragging our baggage of racial hang-ups." For such a compelling statement, you are lacking factual evidence to back it up. It is a derogatory insult to us Singaporeans.

I would like to remind you that Singapore, in the very first place, unlike the US, does not call for its people to vote for a prime minister. Thus, it is not entirely up to us whether we want to have a non-Chinese PM installed.

Second, a look at our government will reveal the facts. Out of 91 MPs, 12 are Malays and 11 are Indians. I don't see any signs of a "Third World tribe" here. Our Speaker of Parliament, Abdullah Tarmugi, happens to be a Malay too. There are also non-Chinese ministers in our Cabinet. They are Prof S. Jayakumar (DPM), Dr Yaacob Ibrahim (Minister for Environment and Water Resources), Dr Vivian Balakrishnan (Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports), Tharman Shanmugaratnam (Minister for Finance), and K Shanmugam (Minister for Law and 2nd Minister for Home Affairs). With the number of non-Chinese in our government, can you still say that we are "dragging our baggage of racial hang-ups"?

Do I have to go on to mention that our current President is Indian? And out of 6 Presidents past and present, we only had two whom were Chinese?

Singapore, as compared to even the US, has been one of the best examples of a nation that practices meritocracy. All of us receive equal healthcare coverage and equal opportunities to education and a better life. These are not even available in the US.

You have not even gotten quotes from anybody off the streets on whether they are ready to accept a non-Chinese PM, not to mention a straw poll.

So please, get your facts right and don't just write with your heart.