The State of Ethnic Congregation in Singapore Today

Social harmony has been the bedrock of Singapore’s prosperity and success since the city-state gained independence in 1965. Being a multi-racial and multi-religious society, there is a political impetus to ensure that Singaporeans have opportunities to interact with people from other racial or socio-economic background. This is crucial in order to promote cultural empathy and understanding, and consequently greater social resilience. For the policymakers, a key platform to achieving this objective is via its residential policy, with the aim to avert the formation of ethnic enclaves, which are known to be common fault lines of social tensions. The Ethnic Integration Policy (EIP) was implemented in 1989 to ensure each block of public housing has a mixture of households from all races. While the EIP has served its intended purpose, the analyses in this paper reveal that some neighbourhoods continue to show a higher concentration of selected ethnic communities, which may, in the long-run, impact social cohesion. The paper offers a few suggestions on urban planning and intercultural engagement.