equality for all
ISSUE
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Being a multi-racial country, we are bound to interact with people from different racial and ethnic backgrounds in our daily lives. On top of celebrating racial harmony related festivals, Singapore is also named as one of the few nations in the world who has a unified and diverse culture. However, is that the underlying truth? Recent studies have revealed that while racial harmony does exist to a certain extent in Singapore, there is still an issue about racism in our society. Ethnic slurs are rampant on both online and offline platforms – signalling that racism still exists.
Moreover, the rise of gender equality is seen as a paramount issue on a global scale and Singapore is not an exception of it. Research has shown that 25% of local firms have no female employees that are taking up leadership positions. If we delve deeper into the structure of the current ruling government, 20 parliamentarians out of 88 elected members are female – out of the 20 women in parliament, only 2 of them hold full minister position in the recent year 2017. All these data clearly signal a serious lack of female representation in a fast-growing modern society.
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LGBTQ Community
The LGBTQ community in Singapore can also be a classic case of social oppression that is perpetuated by the ruling government. An exemplification of such oppression can be seen in the refusal of the ruling government to remove Section 377A of the Penal Code, which criminalizes sex between mutually consenting adult men. Upon the repeal of Section 377A, Prime Minister remarked that Singapore does not consider homosexuals as a minority and that activists will not have the right to champion gay rights as they do in Western civilizations. Furthermore, events involving homosexual rights like Pink Dot has also seen its challenges through restriction of funding by foreign organizations and foreign participation in the event. Despite marriage equality grants in other Western civilizations, the current ruling government has chosen to turn a blind eye towards such advancements, potentially shutting doors to opportunities for an equal society.
Even the groups supporting such causes are not welcomed in public spaces. As mentioned in Mobilizing Gay Singapore by Lynette Chua (2014), it shows that the Singapore government restricts such groups from being a legalized movement or organisation, dragging their membership registration approval for months with an end state of it being rejected.
CAMPAIGN PROMISE
The 21st Century Democrats strives to promote equality through various events. Of which, festival markets have been proven to be a successful avenue in bonding locals. This would be an initiative that we would like to work towards to as this could potentially promote acceptance and understanding towards different races.
We also strive to implement policies that allow a good mix of gender and racial equality in the workplace. This would ensure that there is equality in the workplace and that the suitable candidates are given the rightful position they deserve instead of being discriminated against because of their gender or race.
As for the political sector, the 21st Century Democrats would have more inclusiveness of more females in the sector. We believe that the NMPs should be made up of activists instead of people from a diversified background that represents the voice of the people instead of elitists from academic or upper-class backgrounds.
Finally, policies will be drafted to enhance the inclusiveness of the LGBTQ group and integrating them into our society. We already have seen countries all over the world supporting the freedom to love and Singapore should be proud to join in the movement. We should follow our fellow neighbouring countries footstep like Taiwan, where they recently allowed same sex marriages. We will also encourage events such as Pink Dot to be recognised as an event for all, instead of it being solely for Singaporean and PR citizens. Non-profit organisations with relations to the LGBT group would also be accepted to help the community, educating people about their beliefs and stand.
