According to ChannelNewsAsia, 1 in 5 complaints handled by the national body to promote fair employment practices (Tripartite Alliance of Fair Employment Practice) is due to discrimination related to race, language or religion.
The Tripartite Alliance of Fair Employment Practices (TAFEP) says this is a relatively small number, but it does point to the need to get more employers aware of their obligations.
A study on indicators of racial and religious harmony in Singapore released recently by the Institute of Policy Studies and OnePeople.sg showed that of the more than 3,000 people polled, 20% of Malays and 18% of Indians said they often, very often or always feel discriminated when it came to applying for a job. Only 4% of Chinese feel that way.
And when it is about being considered for a job promotion, 17% of Malays and 18% of Indians say they often, very often or always feel racially discriminated against. That is compared to 4% of Chinese.
Bob Tan, co-chairperson for TAFEP, said: “The important thing is not to let the biases project itself into hiring practices by the company, so companies have to make sure they have a well-articulated value systems and also hiring practices that do not discriminate so the individual bias itself does not project… out. They have to follow certain processes and procedures so they have the best people for the job.”
When asked if tougher laws are needed, TAFEP said it prefers its current approach.
Mr Tan explained: “Even with laws, people will circumvent the laws. If you want to discriminate, you will discriminate despite the laws. But if you look at the number of cases in Singapore, it’s relatively small. So what is important is not… to hunt down the small number of cases where there is discrimination but really to try and create greater awareness among the population at large.
“And through this, we can create a work environment where everybody feels comfortable with each other. Everybody’s looking for the best and those companies which don’t practice it, they’ll find that they won’t have good people coming to them.
“I think that’s a far better way of doing it. It’s not that we have such a serious problem that we have to use laws. It’s far better to use education, which is what TAFEP is doing.”
