SIX MPs and two ministers on Monday gave upbeat views on the
state of racial cohesion in Singapore and, in particular, the
Malay-Muslim community's efforts to integrate.
Speaking during the parliamentary debate on the budget of the
Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, Mr Seah Kian
Peng (Marine Parade GRC) said he shared Prime Minister Lee Hsien
Loong's view that the Malay-Muslim community has made great efforts
to integrate with others to join the mainstream.
PM Lee spoke in the wake of views expressed by Minister Mentor
Lee Kuan Yew in a new book, that Malay-Muslims here did not
integrate, causing some unease.
Said Mr Seah: 'My Malay friends eat with me, shake hands with me
and we speak in the same mix of Malay, Hokkien and Singlish that we
do with all races.
'We have had four decades of national service, economic ups and
downs, our children have been schooled in the same language and, by
and large, they share the same world view.'
He noted that Malay grassroots groups in his GRC had non-Malay
members, and two key grassroots leaders in his Braddell Heights
ward are Malays even though Malays form less than 6 per cent of
residents there.
-- ST