Follow us on Telegram for the latest updates: https://t.me/mothershipsg

If the government releases data on the racial composition of the prison inmate population and criminal offenders on a regular basis, it runs the risk of hardening stereotypes, Home Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam said in Parliament on Jul. 4.

Over time, this might undermine efforts to build "harmonious relations" amongst the different races and make it harder for Singapore to achieve racial harmony, Shanmugam added.

He said, "The fact is that minorities are disproportionately represented in the prison inmate population and in crime statistics."

Shanmugam was responding to a question by Member of Parliament Chris De Souza on why such figures are not publicly disclosed.

Community organisations hold "unanimous view" that such information will be harmful

The minister highlighted that he had consulted many community organisations about releasing such information, and the "unanimous view" was that such information will not benefit Singapore’s society, but encourage stereotypes and harm community relations.

In addition, community leaders said that people should not just look at the racial breakdown, as it would not take into account other contributing factors which could have led to a person committing a crime.

The information would also detract from the improvements made by the respective communities, Shanmugam said.

"Overall, they agreed that the race-based inmate and crime statistics should continue to be shared in closed-door settings with community leaders and groups, so that we can address the issues as a community," he added.

Where does the government release race-based statistics?

As for areas where the government releases race-based statistics, Shanmugam said this has been done in the population census, which includes key indicators broken down by ethnicity, like resident population, marriage and fertility, education, home ownership, and religion.

The minister further explained that any decision by the government, including the assessment of what information should be made public, is guided by public interest.

"And really, we don’t take an ideological position on these matters," he said.

Shanmugam also pointed to the M3 network, an initiative by Minister of Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli, through which the government has released specific statistics on the Malay community.

This includes the number of Malay graduates from institutes of higher learning, the number of Malay professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) and the recidivism rate of the Malay inmate population.

What about race-based statistics on drug and inhalant abuse?

The government also releases race-based statistics on drug and inhalant abuse through the Central Narcotics Bureau's (CNB) annual reports, Shanmugam said.

"Why do we for example release those statistics? We do so to effectively mobilise the communities into action. By working with the community, we are then able to come up with interventions that are better suited for different communities," he elaborated.

Shanmugam noted that releasing data on drug and inhalant abuse could lead to stereotyping.

However, this is where "judgement" comes in, the minister pointed out.

"Our assessment is that in these cases, the upside of spurring the communities to take action outweighs the negative of potentially deepening the stereotypes," he said.

Shanmugam cited the examples of the Dadah Itu Haram campaign and the Malay-Muslim Organisations Rehabilitation Network as instances of the government partnering with the Malay community, along with CNB and the Singapore Prison Service (SPS) to combat drug abuse and prevent reoffending.

Such efforts have yielded positive results, he noted.

The government will also continue with its current approach to how it releases information.

He said:

"We will continue our current approach of disclosing such information on a selective basis, where doing so would be useful and positive for the community and society."

Top screenshot via MCI YouTube