Jayakumar says S'pore still needs GRC system as racial undercurrents persist
Former Senior Minister S Jayakumar told CNA that online vitriol against the Indian community shows race remains a sensitive issue that can be exploited.
According to CNA, former Senior Minister S Jayakumar said that "racial undercurrents" remain in Singapore, so safeguards for the representation of minorities, the Group Representation Constituency (GRC) system among them, are still required.
He pointed to recent online vitriol against the Indian community as a sign that such undercurrents persist despite decades of progress. In his interview with CNA, he said that online reactions to the Nepal-Tibet disaster, and to the move by Singapore Airlines (SIA) to invest in Air India, demonstrate that race is still a touchy subject open to exploitation.
On when the GRC system could end, he said it "will no longer apply when you and I can confidently say that race, language and religion are issues we never have to worry about again."
Progress made, but caution urged
Prof Jayakumar acknowledged that "We have made great strides on the government's part, as well as on society's part, in moving towards greater understanding and harmony between the different groups, different communities." He nonetheless urged realism. He said he is old enough to have seen racial riots, and that during his 10 years as home affairs minister he dealt with issues caused by race, language and religion.
He also recalled the last General Election. Amid the hustings, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong was obliged to issue a forceful statement on the playing of the racial card.
In the wake of the Nepal-Tibet disaster and the SIA investment, Mr Wong, Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Senior Minister K Shanmugam all condemned "very vile and vicious racial slurs made by some Singaporeans against the Indian community" in more recent remarks.
Origins of the GRC system
Founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew floated a "twin constituencies" proposal in 1982, and Prof Jayakumar also described how the GRC system grew out of that idea.
His newly released book, Creating Three Unique Singapore Laws: An Inside Story, traces the way the elected presidency, Group Representation Constituencies and Non-Constituency Members of Parliament came into being via constitutional amendment.
