The Ties that Bind & Blind: A Report on Inter-racial and Inter-religious Relations in Singapore

Executive Summary

Through 2007 and 2011, owing to the occurrence of several high-profile events involving race and religion coupled with greater discussions in the public sphere of these issues, it may be tempting to wonder if Singapore’s multicultural harmony has possibly been destabilised. In an attempt to more systematically discern if such unease is justified, this study addresses two questions pertaining to the social fabric of Singapore:

1. Have Singapore’s multicultural ties been resilient between 2007 and 2011?
2. Were Malays, Christians and the Chinese consistently less inclusive than non-Malays, non-Christians and non-Chinese respectively between 2007 and 2011?