ABSTRACT
From the outset of independence, Singapore has had to deal with the problem of placating the Malay minority and accommodating their interests within the Chinese-majority1 state.2 The Malays are not the only large minority group in Singapore; the Indian minority group (7.9 per cent of the population) is only slightly smaller than the Malay minority (13.9 per cent).3 However, the Malay minority receive the most attention because they are constitutionally recognised as the indigenous people of Singapore. The efforts directed at securing the interests of the Malay community also stem from pragmatic reasons; the Malays were in the majority until Singapore seceded peacefully from the Federation of Malaysia in 1965. This change in status naturally gave rise to anxieties that they would be marginalised in a Chinese-dominant Singapore, especially since a major reason for Singapore’s departure from the Federation was to prevent an escalation of antagonism between the Chinese and Malay groups. Matters are further complicated by Malaysia’s kin-state interests in their co-nationals
* Extract from speech by Wan Hussin bin Hj Zoohri: Singapore Parliamentary Debates Official Reports [hereafter ‘SPR’] (Parliamentary Elections (Amendment) Bill), Vol. 50, 11 Jan 1988, at col 247.
