ABSTRACT
Singapore is a small and thriving cosmopolitan city-state that often boasts of its multicultural and multi-ethnic demography. Neatly categorising its citizens and permanent residents into ethnic origins of Chinese, Malay, Indian and Others (CMIO), the state tends to homogenise the otherwise heterogeneous composition found within each ethnic group. Printed as “Race” on the National Registration Identity Card (NRIC), this ethnicity aims to label and reinforce one’s identity. Moreover, in line with the state’s bilingual policy, the Chinese, Malay and Indian (CMI) racial categorisation is then tagged to a specific language. Mandarin, Malay and Tamil represent the “official” ethnic languages of the Chinese, Malays and Indians respectively. Alongside english, these languages are celebrated as the official languages of Singapore.
