Daily Lessons from Life 12 September 2013 - 90% accept workmates of another race but...

"90% accept workmates of another race but... - Singapolitics Sep 12, 2013 SINGAPORE - More than 90 per cent of Singaporeans are comfortable with those of other races and religions in relationships in the public sphere, a survey on social harmony has found. Respondents were asked separately about their level of comfort with a colleague, boss, employee and next-door- neighbour, if that person was of a different racial or religious group. But the picture was different when it came to relationships with new citizens. The proportions of the 4,000 respondents who indicated comfort with, say, a new citizen from China or India who was a colleague or next-door-neighbour were lesser. These ranged from 74 per cent to 87.6 per cent. Respondents were also asked for their level of comfort with those of different racial and religious groups in the private sphere - as a spouse, brother or sister-in-law, and a close friend. The proportions who said they were comfortable in these relationships were lower than the figures for those in the public sphere - though the majority still expressed comfort. The survey had sought to create 10 indicators to gauge the state of racial and religious relations in Singapore. These included measures of inter-racial and religious trust, and minority discrimination in the work place. The sample of 3,182 households interviewed were representative of national demographics, with an additional booster sample of 489 Indians and 492 Malays used to ensure cross-ethnic comparisons were reasonable." I don't have the details of the survey questions and sample selection method so just based on this short report, the lessons for me are: 1. is it really about NEW citizen or just foreigners?; 2. when there is no conflict of interest, most people will accept or 'tolerate' another person or group. But when there are conflicts of interest, the picture is naturally very biased and uneven. This is called basic survival instinct?; 3. it will be interesting to learn also WHY the respondents responded in these manner for it to be really useful. New citizens are Singaporeans and as long as they are behaving in the Singapore's way, assuming there is such a standardized behavioural set, there will be less chance of tension and misunderstanding and hence, disharmony. It would have been more beneficial to find out the % of foreigners, including PR but excluding New Citizens, taking the much cherished PMET jobs. No?