Integration versus segregation: ethnic minorities and urban politics in Singapore.

Abstract

The population of Singapore is very heterogenous. The main groups distinguished are the Chinese, the Malays, the Indians, and others. Since the end of the 1950s these groups have remained stable: Chinese make up 76%, Malays 15%, Indians 6%, and others 3% of the total population. In the mid-1960s almost 25% of the Chinese were working in commerce as opposed to only 10% of the Malays. More than 50% of Malays held low-paying jobs in services compared to less than 30% of the Chinese. The backward position of the Malays during the 1960s was reinforced by residential location in the peripheries. In the 1950s and 1960s the city center was exclusively inhabited by the Chinese. Malays were living in small clusters across the city and in 1 large cluster in the eastern part of the city. The ruling People's Action Party government during the 1960s adopted the New Economic Policy which granted economic and social privileges to the Malays. In 1969 the decision was made to disperse the Malay community across the city. In the early 1960s the state launched a large-scale public housing program through the newly created Housing and Development Board (H.D.B.). Between 1970 and 1982 Malay households living in H.D.B. apartments increased from 23% to 77%. Between 1970 and 1980 substantial declustering of the malay community and desegregation of the ethnic groups had occurred. In 24 areas out of 51 subdivisions of Singapore the Malay quotient decreased between 1970 and 1980. In 1980 the location quotient for Malay settlement areas was significantly lower (varying between 0.07 and 2.18) than the highest quotient in 1970 (varying between 0.06 and 3.7). During the 1980s the economic participation of the Malays increased steadily, they became gradually incorporated into industry, and increasingly moved upward within the public housing sector. Between 1980 and 1990 the Malay households living in H.D.B. dwellings increased from 72% to 97%. Notwithstanding residential integration, ethnic integration has not occurred, and the minority problems underlying principles of dispersal and integration vs. segregation have not been resolved.