‘Chinese privilege’ as shortcut in Singapore: a rejoinder

ABSTRACT

We disagree with Humairah Zainal and Walid Jumblatt Abdullah that Chinese privilege exists in Singapore politics and that it is perpetuated by the political hegemony of the long-ruling People’s Action Party (PAP). Consequentially, we disagree that ‘Chinese privilege’ is thus a useful concept for understanding politics in Singapore. Our rejoinder argues that ‘Chinese privilege’ is under-specified and decontextualized by the authors, used uncritically as a shortcut for the consequences of the long-ruling party’s political hegemony for ethnic relations, and is therefore a polarizing distraction to the critical analysis required to advance anti-racism discourse and understanding in Singapore. We show that the authors have mistook incumbent political privilege for Chinese privilege. We argue that ethnic majority and minority Members of Parliament from both governing and opposition parties have had to simultaneously serve as community leaders and transcend ethnic affiliations to represent national interests.

KEYWORDS:

• Chinese privilege
• politics
• PAP
• race
• Singapore
• parliamentarians

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Humairah and Walid, “Chinese Privilege in Politics,” 3.

2. Ibid., 9.

3. See Debate on Annual Budget Statement.

4. See Motion on Aspirations of Singapore Women.

5. Humairah and Walid, “Chinese Privilege in Politics,” 7.

6. Ibid., 8.

7. See Committee of Supply.

8. Humairah and Walid, “Chinese Privilege in Politics,” 6.

9. Aouragh, “‘White privilege’ and shortcuts.”

10. Lockard, “Unhappy Confessions.”

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Daniel P. S. Goh

Daniel P. S. Goh is an Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology, National University of Singapore. He is a comparative-historical sociologist who studies state formation, postcolonialisms, race and multiculturalism, urbanisms, and religion. He was also elected as a Non-Constituency Member of Parliament from the Workers’ Party in the 13^th Parliament of Singapore, 2016–2020.

Terence Chong

Terence Chong is Deputy Director of the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute. He is a sociologist whose research interests include heritage, arts and cultural policies, and politics in Singapore, new Chinese immigrants in mainland Southeast Asia, and Christianity in Southeast Asia.