VZCZCXRO5077
RR RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH
DE RUEHGP #1468/01 1250937
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 050937Z MAY 06
FM AMEMBASSY SINGAPORE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9795
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SINGAPORE 001468 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KISL SN
SUBJECT: MALAY/MUSLIM ISSUES IN SINGAPORE'S GENERAL ELECTION 
 
REF: 04 SINGAPORE 1816 
 
¶1. (U) Summary: Opposition candidates in Singapore's general 
election campaign have questioned the ruling People's Action 
Party (PAP) handling of Malay/Muslim concerns such as 
unemployment.  The PAP has responded that Malay concerns are 
national issues, but, at the same time, asserted that the 
PAP's Muslim members of Parliament were successfully 
addressing Malay problems.  The political debate highlights 
the government's limited success in raising the economic 
status of Malays.  End summary. 
 
National issues or Malay concerns? 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) During Singapore's brief election campaign, opposition 
parties have questioned the People's Action Party's handling 
of Malay concerns such as unemployment.  Singapore's loss of 
manufacturing jobs has particularly hurt Malays, who account 
for 40 percent of retrenched workers (but only 14 percent of 
the population).  The Minister in Charge of Muslim Affairs, 
Dr. Yaacob Ibrahim, told Malay reporters, "issues that Malays 
are concerned about, like jobs and education, are faced by 
all Singaporeans."  Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong then 
questioned the ability of the opposition Workers' Party 
Malay/Muslim candidate to "raise the education and social 
levels of the Malay community."  The Workers' Party chairman, 
Sylvia Lim, rebutted, "I thought we are a multi-racial 
society which is supposed to solve problems together." 
 
A "Community of Excellence"? 
---------------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) PAP Muslim parliamentary candidates have asserted 
that they are successfully addressing the community's 
problems through the Community Leaders' Forum (CLF) (reftel). 
 Dr. Yaacob established the CLF in 2003 to coordinate the 
self-help efforts of Muslim groups in four strategic areas -- 
education, youth, family development, and employability -- 
under the leadership of PAP's Muslim members of Parliament 
(MPs).  The government-orchestrated effort to become a "model 
Muslim minority" initially faltered when many Muslim NGOs 
resisted Dr. Yaacob's top-down approach, forcing him to shift 
tactics and treat NGO leaders as equal partners, according to 
Muslim community leaders and reporters. 
 
Moving Forward or Losing Ground? 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) PM Lee argued that the Malay community is 
progressing, citing the increasing numbers of Malay students 
seeking tertiary education, in an extensive April 26 
interview with Singapore's Malay-language newspaper, Berita 
Harian.  Malay community leaders concede Malays have 
progressed in absolute terms over the past decades, but note 
the gap with Singapore's ethnic Chinese has widened.  While 
the average Malay household income from work almost doubled 
between 1990 and 2000, it fell from 69 percent to 63 percent 
of the ethnic Chinese average.  Furthermore, the percentage 
of Malays who are professionals remains stagnant at a paltry 
4 percent of the community, say community leaders citing 
internal government statistics. 
 
¶5. (SBU) PM Lee also expressed his two main concerns about 
Singapore's Malay/Muslim minority: its need to integrate more 
with other communities and the large number of dysfunctional, 
low-income families.  The PAP Muslim MPs, who publicly claim 
that Malays are becoming a "community of excellence," have 
privately told us that they worry about the breakdown of 
Malay families and the potential growth of a permanent 
underclass. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Ironically, the Government of Singapore's (GOS) 
approach to social problems may be undermining national 
integration, according to officials in the GOS unit 
responsible for fostering racial harmony.  Wary of creating a 
welfare state, the GOS has expected ethnic self-help groups 
to assist members of their own race, and provided grants to 
those groups to administer social welfare programs.  Despite 
internal GOS debates about whether aid to needy Singaporeans 
should be channeled through race-based NGOs, the recently 
enacted budget continues this practice. 
 
Issues not raised 
----------------- 
 
¶7. (U) Comment:  The debate on Malay voters' concerns has 
been largely superficial and has not touched on more 
sensitive issues that Muslim leaders have discussed with us, 
such as perceived job discrimination in both the public and 
private sectors.  Malays complain they never reach the top 
ranks of the military or security services because of doubts 
 
SINGAPORE 00001468  002 OF 002 
 
 
about their loyalty.  Although Malay newspaper columnists 
have raised the issue, Malay candidates have not questioned 
why the PAP government has only one Muslim minister in the 
Cabinet at any time, and why Malays are assigned "soft" 
ministries, such as Education or Environment.  The large, 
multi-member electoral districts force all the parties to run 
ethnically diverse tickets and avoid ethnic politics. 
Opposition politicians may be reluctant to delve into race 
issues for fear of violating one of the GOS' "out-of-bounds" 
markers and getting hammered.  The GOS has successfully muted 
racial politics, even if it has only partially succeeded in 
uplifting Singapore's Malay/Muslim minority.  End comment. 
HERBOLD