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Singapore's ambassador-at-large, Professor Tommy Koh, has expressed his unhappiness with the lack of Malay interns amongst Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs's undergraduate interns.

A microcosm of Singapore

Koh met with the undergraduate intern group on the morning of July 20, where he spoke with them for two hours, answering questions and discussing about issues regarding Singapore's diplomacy and its foreign policy.

Koh noted his unhappiness that there were no Malays amongst the intern group, saying that "the Singaporean foreign service should be a microcosm of Singapore and we need more Malays in our service".

However, he added that he had several Malay colleagues in the MFA, as well as "at a senior level". He also said that six of Singapore's Non-Resident Ambassadors are Malay.

Koh, however, was "happy to see so many women in the group". Just under half of the intern group appeared to be women. Half of the group were from three local universities, and the other half were currently studying abroad.

Flagging a concern

Many commentators thanked Koh for flagging a concern that they themselves had, often not just about the MFA, but also in the civil service at large.

President of human rights non-governmental group MARUAH, Braema Mathi, said that the situation was "unacceptable". Her view was shared by many other commenters who agreed that it was an undesirable situation, and that it needed to be addressed.

She shared Koh's opinion that the MFA needed to draw from across Singapore's ethnicities, language capabilities, cultural sensitivity, and astuteness. She said that internships were "the best and widest net that can be cast to find the most suitable MFA officers" and that as they were interns, "not all have to be scholars."

Some others pushed further, such as a commenter who noted that all of the civil service's most senior members, the permanent secretaries, were from a Chinese background.

She also said that only a pair of deputy secretaries were from a minority background. She said that for the future it would be "crucial for the elite Admin Service to be non-partisan, diverse and focused on the long term interests of all Singaporeans".

Some also pointed out that Singapore was surrounded by Bahasa speakers, and called the lack of Malay interns "shocking". It should be noted that Malay individuals are not necessarily only called upon to represent Singapore in regional environments. Hawazi Daipi, for example, is the non-resident ambassador to Ghana, an African and mainly Christian nation.

One Facebook user, saying that he was a former MFA scholar, recounted the Malay MFA officers he had met. While noting that there did appear to be a disparity between Singapore demographics and the number of Malay officers; he also said that there were "quite a few Malay officers doing good work in the administration and consular field".

Within the comments, there were also some individuals who appeared to be aiming for internships in the future. While expressing concern about whether a future application would bear fruit, he said that any rejection would not be "for a lack of trying."

Top image via Tommy Koh/Facebook