“Employment discrimination is not uncommon”: Suara Musyawarah

Quick Summary

The Suara Musyawarah committee's report highlighted “perception of unequal opportunities” among Singaporean Malays.

The committee also heard several personal accounts suggesting that “employment discrimination is not uncommon”.

Concerns that the Malay community is not fully accepted as an equal and integral part of society, and that certain stereotypes, generalisations and negative perceptions of the community exists, were raised.

Duringthe Hari Raya Aidilfitri festivities last year, minister forcommunications and information, Yaacob Ibrahim, who is also theminister-in-charge of Muslim affairs, announced the setting up of anindependent, non-partisan committee to engage the Malay/Muslimcommunity and gatherfeedbackon the community's thoughts, concerns and aspirations.

WithSallim Abdul Kadir as the chairman, and Alwi Abdul Hafiz and SaleemahIsmail as vice-chairpersons, the committee met over 500 individualsas wellasrepresentatives of groups and organisations from the Malay/Muslimcommunityandconducted 35 focus groupdiscussions.Recently, the committee submitted its report to the minister titled,‘SuaraMusyawarah:Conversations with the Community’.

Thereport highlighted that while the Malay/Muslim community in Singapore“identifies itself as part of and belonging tothebroader Singapore community”, there also exists a “perception ofunequal opportunities” among the community.

Employment discrimination

Basedon numerous personal accounts when employers expressed a preferencefor non-Malay employees , the Suara Musyawarah committee noted “thereappears to be enough examples to indicate that discriminatoryemploymentpractices are a concern for the community” and that “employmentdiscriminationis not uncommon”.

“Interestingly,some participants shared that nurses in governmenthospitalsare not allowed to wear the tudung while most private hospitalsappeared toallowthe practice. In addition, concerns were raised that competition fromforeignersinrecent years has aggravated the issue of discrimination and made itmore difficultforSingaporean Malay/Muslims to secure jobs,” the committee said.

Thecommittee also noted that while there is a recognition of initiativessuch as the Tripartite Alliance for FairEmploymentPractices (TAFEP) in mitigating discrimination, the community feelsthat “such measures are not veryeffectiveas they are voluntary with no penalty for non-compliance”.

Hence,the Suara Musyawarah “committee recommends that in-depth studies onthe discriminatorypracticesin Singapore and its impact be done at the national level”.

Thecommittee also called upon the state and larger companies in theprivatesectorto reaffirm that their employmentpracticesare non-discriminatory.

Armed forces

There are concerns that “communityis not fully accepted as an equal and integral part of society andthat certain stereotypes, generalisations and negative perceptions ofthe community lead to what is perceived as discrimination”, thecommittee further said.

Duringits various focus group discussions, the issue of Malay/Muslims beingleftout of certain parts of the armed forces was also raised, where thecommittee noted “there is common agreement thatsuchpolicies or practices call intoquestionthe loyalty of the Malays to thecountry.This perception is unhealthy andmayhave spill-over effects, including adeeperdivide among ethnic communities”.

Thus,“while the committee acknowledges that more Malay/Muslim recruitsare deployedacrossa wider section of our uniformed services today, we hope thatpolicies inrelationto security and the Singapore Armed Forces could be continuallyreviewed,so that the Malay/Muslim community is viewed in the same light as anyothercommunity and would have no reason to feel that their loyalty isquestioned,” it added.

TheSuara Musyawarah committee also welcomed remarks made by TanChuan-Jin, acting minister for manpower, while addressing theSingapore Tripartism Forum (STF) conference on fair employmentpractices on May 20, 2013. “The minister acknowledged the issue andrecognised that anti-discrimination legislation is one possible wayahead to tackle discriminatoryworkplacepractices, besides the current approach of moral suasion”, thecommittee said.

Theminister had saidthen, “There are also calls for the Government to put in placeanti-discrimination laws. I understand theargumentsmade in favour of such legislation and I fully appreciate theconcerns that underlie thesethoughts.Anti-discrimination legislation is one possible way to address theseissues and we do notrejectthe idea entirely.”

Repeatedattempts by Newzzit to get the government's response on concerns andrecommendations mentioned in the Suara Musyawarah report wereunsuccessful.  Whileminister-in-charge of Muslim affairs Yaacob Ibrahim was not availablefor comments, the ministry of manpower too declineda response.

Note:We will publish the ministries' replies as and when we receive them.

Courtesy: Suara Musyawarah   Whilethe Malay household income rose by 1.9% (real average annual growth)between 2000 and 2010 (from $2,709 to $3,844), about one-thirdhouseholds earn under $3,000. This is just enough “to meet a socialinclusion level of income” as indicated in a studytitled, Bottom Fifth inSingapore,by Jacqueline Loh of Lien Centre for Social Innovation, in 2011. Loh,in her study, had highlighted that a family of four in Singaporewould need around S$1,700 per month to cover basic householdexpenditure and $2,500 to $3,000 to meet a “social inclusion”level of income.
WorldnewzzitComment