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Sharp 14% drop in US trade deficit in July
WASHINGTON
The Commerce Department said yesterday the July deficit fell 14 per cent to US$42.8 billion ($57.4 billion), much lower than economists’ consensus forecast of US$47.3 billion. The lower trade deficit should give a boost to overall economic growth, analysts said.
Exports rose 1.8 per cent to US$153.3 billion, the best showing since August 2008, as sales of jetliners, industrial machinery, computers and telecommunication equipment posted large gains.
Imports, which had been surging, dropped 2.1 per cent to US$196.1 billion.
Shipments abroad will probably remain a source of strength for US manufacturers as the world’s largest economy tries to sustain a recovery from the worst recession since the 1930s. Demand for overseas products may cool further as American consumers and businesses curb spending in coming months.
“The US still has a decent export market and that’s providing a cushion for the US manufacturing industry,” said Mr David Sloan, an economist at 4Cast in New York.
The trade figures are “good for the third-quarter GDP outlook”, he added. — The United States trade deficit narrowed significantly last month as exports climbed to the highest level in nearly two years, reflecting big gains in sales of American-made aircraft and other manufactured goods as imports declined.Agencies
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AUSTRALIA Mining wIll cOntInue tO boom Over neXt 20 YEARS [2 DECADES]
AUSGROUP management nEEds tO strategIse Its grOwth path
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Mining drives Aussie job boom
SYDNEY
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said the jobless rate fell 0.2 percentage point after a surprise rise in July, bettering analyst forecasts of 5.2 per cent.
The buoyant statistics sent share prices 1 per cent higher, with the ASX 200 ending up 45 points at 4,582.24.
The Australian dollar hit a four-month high of 92.34 US cents on expectations the central bank will hike interest rates.
“The Australian economy is clearly on fire. They are creating jobs at break-neck speed,” said HSBC economist Frederic Neumann.
Booming coal and iron ore exports to Asian countries such as China helped Australia skirt the financial crisis without entering recession, earning it the tag “the wonder from Down Under”.
Official figures this month showed surging annual growth of 3.3 per cent after a 1.2-per-cent rise in the second quarter, which was the biggest leap in three years.
However, the Reserve Bank of Australia this week left rates on hold at 4.50 per cent for the fourth consecutive month, saying that inflation was close to its target and that the global outlook was uncertain. — Australia’s mining-led economy created another 30,900 jobs last month, pushing unemployment down to 5.1 per cent and boosting the likelihood of higher interest rates, figures showed yesterday.
Agencies
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Office investment transactions
Property Buyer NLA (sf ) Cap Value Est Initial
($psf ) NLA Yields
2009
Anson House Group of high-networth 77,273 1,100 6.8%
individuals
VTM Building Private investor 66,667 900 6.9%
Parakou Building Cathay Organisation, 63,578 1,280 5.6%
Choo Meilin
One Philip Street New Star Int’l 36,194 1,500 7.0%
Property Fund
Prudential Tower KREIT 67,089 1,580 5.7%
2010
The Office Chamber ERC 22,000 940 5.1%
Robinson Point AEW 133,133 1,527 5.3%
1 Finlayson Green Foreign Fund owned 89,000 1,629 4.3%
by Norman Winata
Marina House Consortium 152,577 970 NA
StarHub Centre Frasers Centrepoint 280,069 1,357 4.0%
Samsung Hub Sun Venture Invesco 52,341 2,125 3.8%
Chow House YY Wong 101,749 983 NA
DBS Towers 1 & 2 OUE 883,000 986 NA
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The market of the places we work in ...
COMMENTARY
Lee Peiying
property@mediacorp.com.sg
About two years ago, following the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the deepening global financial crisis, property analysts were pessimistic about the Singapore office market amid concerns over weak demand and a supply overhang.
CONTINUED IMPROVEMENT IN OFFICE DEMAND EXPECTED
The Singapore economy is tipped to expand at a blistering rate of between 13 and 15 per cent this year.
Owing to the vigorous economic expansion, net absorption for office space rose from a negative take-up of about 237,000 sq ft last year to a positive 635,000 sq ft over the first six months of this year. As of June this year, overall island-wide demand for office space has returned to pre-financial crisis levels.
With the resumption of strong hiring within the financial, insurance, real estate and professional services sectors and the influx of new occupiers into the market, we foresee total net office demand to hit 2 million sq ft this year.
MANAGING OFFICE SUPPLY
Having achieved a turnaround in office rents, the next stage for office rental recovery is sustainability. To ensure sustainable growth in office rents, demand and supply imbalances have to be kept in check.
Over the past year, about 2.15 million sq ft of office space was taken out of the pipeline, greatly alleviating the supply overhang.
In addition, with a potential conversion of 0.84 million sq ft of existing office space to residential and hotel uses, the 7 million sq ft of new office stock, to be completed between this year and 2012, looks increasingly manageable.
On top of that, 41 per cent of the stock in major new office buildings has been precommitted and another 15 to 20 per cent are under earnest negotiations to let.
We are confident that these projects will continue to be well received and absorbed in the coming quarters while older prime grade buildings will remain attractive to replacement and existing tenants at competitive rates.
RENEWED INTEREST IN GOVERNMENT LAND SALES SITES
In fact, the limited supply pipeline in 2013 and beyond has raised concerns of a potential supply gap. Coupled with the growing confidence within the office market, interest in the Government sales of sites has been renewed since early this year.
The transitional office site in Mohamed Sultan Road drew three aggressive bids, with the top bid coming from Link (THM) Holdings at $17.19 million, which far exceeded the sole bid of $4.65 million received in 2008. The bid price was 84 per cent higher than the trigger price of the site.
Subsequently, the Government land sale of the white site in Jurong Gateway Road attracted six bidders. With a winning bid of $748.89 million or $649.60 per sq ft per plot ratio, Lend Lease plans to develop a commercial mixed development with about 30 per cent of the gross floor area (108,000 square metres) allocated to office use.
In order to cater to the future growth of the business community, the Government has also set aside three land parcels with office components under the 2H2010 GLS Programme in Tanjong Pagar, the Jurong Lake District and Paya Lebar Central.
The keen interest to develop office projects also shows that the participants of Singapore’s office market are maturing in their development decisions.
Traditionally, office projects are embarked upon only when there is a supply crunch, such as during the economic upswing in 2007.
But due to the cyclical nature of the economy and office rents, these faced the possibility of meeting with an economic downturn upon completion.
Likewise, there were hardly any developers that adopted a contrarian strategy by starting office projects during the Sars-stricken watershed year 2003, even as prices were attractive. This led to a supply crunch in 2007 when the economy finally picked up.
The developers’ interest this year, which is the early stage of a confirmed economy recovery, shows that they are striving to minimise potential mismatch in demand and supply.
They are keen in developing office space before an economic boom, with an eye to completion at an opportune time to meet future demand.
PROMISING PERFORMANCE OF THE OFFICE CAPITAL MARKET
Since the onset of the global crisis in 2008, we have not seen many transactions involving distressed owners offloading their assets.
SIngapore office market
$ /sq ft/month Peak TROUGH Q2 2010 Peak-To-Trough
(Q1 2010) Change %
Raffles Place Grade A 19.47 7.52 7.99
Overall Prime 15.56 6.72 7.02 -
Raffles Place Prime 17.79 7.25 7.63 -
Shenton Prime 12.34 5.76 5.95 -
City Hall Prime 15.18 6.67 7.03 -
Orchard Prime 14.24 6.76 7.09 - - 61.4% 56.8% 59.2% 53.3% 56.1% 52.5%
* * * * * * * *
Building Name Nett Lettable Area Location Pre-Commitment
2010
MB FC Tower 2 1.03 Marina Boulevard 100%
Tokio Marine Centre 0.14 McCallum Street 90%
2011
Ocean Financial Centre 0.85 Collyer Quay 63%
50 Collyer Quay 0.41 Collyer Quay 22%
One Raffles Place 0.35 Raffles Place —
2012
MB FC Tower 3 1.30 Raffles Place 55%
Asia Square Tower 1 1.26 Marina View —
2013
Asia Square Tower 2 0.78 Raffles Place —
Instead, sellers are holding on to their improved financial positions as buyers seek in vain for investment grade properties at rock-bottom prices.
However, we observe that more transactions are taking place now and buyers are more willing to raise their offers to match the anticipated future performance of the office sector.
In recent months, several major office buildings like StarHub Centre, Chow House and DBS Towers 1 and 2 have changed hands.
Total investment sales ($5 million and above) amounted to $2.7 billion in the first eight months of the year, which is three-fold the investment volume concluded last year.
MARKET OUTLOOK
Despite the euro zone sovereign debt crisis and fears that the American economy may slip into a double-dip recession, the robust economic performance in Singapore bodes well for the office market.
We believe that the office market is staging a vigorous comeback with rental growth of about 10 per cent for the second half of this year and 15 to 20 per cent next year as landlords push asking rents upwards on the back of positive sentiment and healthy precommitment levels gained in new buildings.
The increase in leasing interest will be underpinned by companies undergoing corporate expansion beyond reinstating the business functions that were trimmed during the recession.
The expansion is also likely to be broad based — from corporate giants to small and medium sized businesses. The increase in rentals will also stir investment sales, uncovering opportunities for investors.
The writer is a research analyst for the Asia-Pacific region at Cushman and Wakefield.
Companies began slashing jobs while corporate real estate decisions were put on hold, resulting in an immense slowdown in leasing activity. Since then, prime rents across all sub-locations within the Central Business District have corrected more than 50 per cent from the peak. Last year alone, prime rents tumbled by a staggering 44 per cent.
Nevertheless, rents of office space saw a sturdy turnaround in Q2 this year, supported by consecutive quarters of positive demand since Q4 last year. The improvement in demand was largely driven by the economic recovery in Singapore and the Asian economies since end last year, with companies actively looking for space to cater for expansions.
Prime rents grew 4.5 per cent in Q2 this year from the previous quarter, putting a halt to the downward trajectory after seven quarters of declines.
Looking ahead, the office sector is likely to outshine the other property sectors as business confidence continues to improve and companies re-initiate their expansion plans.
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InclIned tO
Hulumas ( Date: 10-Sep-2010 11:39) Posted:
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Will they under perform the STI ?
pharoah88 ( Date: 09-Sep-2010 14:24) Posted:
[] [] [] PROPERTY [] [] []
City Development
Capital Land
Keppel Land |
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The market of the places we work in ...
More office transactions are taking place and buyers are also willing to raise their offers to match promising performance of the office sector
Lee Peiying
property@mediacorp.com.sg
Having achieved a turnaround in office rents, the next stage for office rental recovery is sustainability. To ensure sustainable growth in office rents, demand and supply imbalances have to be kept in check.
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Bears and the state of US housing
Housing as a luxury item or a staple — it may boil down to what numbers you believe
David Leonhardt
property@mediacorp.com.sg
Of all the uncertainties in the halting American economic recovery, the housing market may be the most confusing of all.
END OF THE MULTI-DECADE BUBBLE?
The difference between these two views ends up being huge and it is become the subject of an intriguing debate.
After digging into it, I come down closer to the luxury good side, which is to say the less bearish one. To me, housing does not rank with unemployment, the trade deficit, the budget deficit or consumer debt as one of the economy’s biggest problems. But you may disagree.
No one doubts that prices rose roughly with incomes from 1970 to 2000. The issue is whether that period was an exception.
Housing bears like Mr Barry Ritholtz, an investment researcher and popular blogger, say it was. The government was adding new tax breaks for homeownership and interest rates were falling. These trends will not repeat themselves, the bears say.
As evidence, they can point to a historical data series collected by Mr Case’s long time collaborator, Mr Robert Shiller.
It suggests that house prices rose no faster than inflation for much of the last century.
The pattern makes some intuitive sense, too. As people become richer, they spend a shrinking share of their income on the basics.
Think of it this way: Someone who gets a big raise does not usually spend it on groceries. You can see how shelter seems as if it might also qualify as a staple and, like food, would account for a shrinking share of consumer spending over time. In that case, house prices should rise at about the same rate as general inflation and well below incomes.
The scary thing, at least for homeowners, is that if this view is correct, house prices may still be overvalued by something like 30 per cent. That is roughly the gap between average household income growth and inflation over the last generation.
It is also the overvaluation suggested by Mr Shiller’s historical index. Today, it is around 130, which is way down from the 2006 bubble peak of 203. But it is still far above the 1890 to 1970 average of 94.
In effect, the bears are arguing that housing was in a multi-decade bubble and has now entered a multi-decade slump.
WHICH NUMBERS TO TRUST
The second, less bearish group of economists does not buy this. This group includes Mr Case, Mr Mark Zandi of Moody’s Analytics and Mr Tom Lawler, a Virginia economist who forecast the end of the housing boom before many others did. They believe that housing prices rise nearly as fast, if not quite as fast, as incomes, and that real estate is no longer in a bubble.
This side can also make a case based on history. Mr Case points out that all pre-1970 housing statistics are suspect. By necessity, Mr Shiller’s oft-cited historical index is a patchwork that relies on several sources, like Labour Department surveys.
These sources happen to paint a more negative picture of past house prices than some other data.
For example, the Census Bureau has been asking people since 1940 how much they think their houses are worth, as Mr Lawler noted in one of his newsletters.
The answers suggest that house values rose faster than general inflation — and about as fast as incomes — not just from 1970 to 2000, but from 1940 to 1970, as well.
Perhaps most persuasive is a statistic that Mr Shiller sent me when I asked him about this debate. It shows that the share of consumer spending — and, by extension, of income — devoted to housing has not fallen over time. It has hovered around 14 or 15 per cent for the last 60 years. The share of spending devoted to food, by contrast, has dropped to 13 per cent, from 25 per cent.
These numbers make a pretty strong argument that the post-1970 period is not one long aberration. As societies get richer, they do spend more and more on housing.
Some of this spending, Mr Shiller notes, comes in the form of bigger, more expensive houses. These houses do not do anything to lift the value of a smaller, older house — which is what matters to individual homeowners. But McMansions are not the only factor.
To see this, you can look at the share of consumer spending devoted to things inside houses, like furniture. As with houses, they have become fancier. But they have not become so much fancier that they make up anywhere near as large a share of consumer spending today as in the past. That is a strong clue that the upgrading of houses themselves is not enough to explain the increased spending on housing.
What is? The value of the underlying land. Those Boston-area houses that Mr Case studied did not change much over time. Yet their value did.
For a house whose location has any value — in a major city or a nearby suburb, where a builder cannot simply put up a similar house down the street — the land is a big part of the equation. Over time, Mr Zandi says, the value of that land should grow almost as fast as the local area’s economic output or, in other words, with incomes.
WHEN A HOUSE IS A HOME
The best advice for homeowners and would-be buyers may be to think of a house not as an investment, first and foremost, but as a place to live. If there is a good chance you will move in the next three years or so, you should probably rent. The hassles of buying and the onetime costs are just too big. Plus, house prices are not low in most places today.
The ratio of median house price to income is about 3.4, compared with a pre-bubble average of about 3.2. Given the economy’s weak condition and the still high number of foreclosures, prices may well fall more in the next year or two.
They look especially high in places where rents are comparatively cheap, like San Diego and San Francisco. And maybe income growth will remain weak for years, holding down home-price growth.
But if you can imagine staying much longer than a few years, you should take some comfort in the fact that the bubble seems mostly deflated. Sometime soon, prices should begin rising again. They may not quite keep up with incomes, but they will probably outpace the price of food and clothing.
Now, if only it were possible to be as sanguine about the economy’s other problems. The New York Times
At times, real estate seems to be in the early stages of a severe double dip.
Home sales plunged in July and some analysts are now predicting that the market will struggle for years, if not decades.
Others argue that the worst is over.
As Mr Karl Case, the eminent real estate economist (and the “Case” in the Case-Shiller price index), recently wrote: “Buying a house now can make a lot of sense.”
I cannot claim to clear up all the uncertainty. But I do want to suggest a framework for figuring out whether you lean bearish or less bearish: Do you believe that housing is a luxury good and that societies spend more on it as they get richer? Or do you think it is more like food, clothing and other staples that account for an ever smaller share of consumer spending over time?
If you believe the former, then you will end up thinking home prices will rise nearly as fast as incomes in the long run and that houses today are not terribly overvalued. If you view housing is a staple, though, prices will rise more slowly — with general inflation, as food tends to.
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Malaysian properties are good for residence
KL is good location for investment
pharoah88 ( Date: 10-Sep-2010 11:06) Posted:
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JAPAN properties are in DEPRESSED STATE
cannOt recOver
as lOng as
YEN is hIgh
and Interest Is near ZERO
pharoah88 ( Date: 09-Sep-2010 14:35) Posted:
Thursday: 9 SEPTEMBER 2010 HARI RAYA EVE
CNA mOrnIng eVent
GLOBAL PROPERTY OUTLOOK
WORLD properties are still under water eXcept for bOth Singapore and Hong Kong
American dIstressed propertIes are getting mOre dIstressed
European properties still see no light
UK properties are in deep trouble
China property cOOlIng measures wIll cOntInue
Singapore properties has nO mOre Upside in the near term |
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JAPAN properties are in DEPRESSED STATE
cannOt recOver
as lOng as
YEN is hIgh
and Interest Is near ZERO
pharoah88 ( Date: 09-Sep-2010 14:35) Posted:
Thursday: 9 SEPTEMBER 2010 HARI RAYA EVE
CNA mOrnIng eVent
GLOBAL PROPERTY OUTLOOK
WORLD properties are still under water eXcept for bOth Singapore and Hong Kong
American dIstressed propertIes are getting mOre dIstressed
European properties still see no light
UK properties are in deep trouble
China property cOOlIng measures wIll cOntInue
Singapore properties has nO mOre Upside in the near term |
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F A F
PHILANTHROPY
as lOng as
S$100 Levy exIts
pharoah88 ( Date: 10-Sep-2010 10:38) Posted:
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By Channel NewsAsia, Updated: 10/09/2010
MCYS to take action with Casino Regulatory Authority on shuttle services
MCYS to take action with Casino Regulatory Authority on shuttle services
Free shuttle bus service between the heartlands & RWS
SINGAPORE : The Ministry of Community development, Youth and Sports has announced late Thursday night that it would be taking action with the Casino Regulatory Authority to stop shuttle services provided by operators of the two integrated resorts.
MCYS said the formal directive would be issued Friday.
The announcement came amid Resorts World Sentosa’s (RWS) decision late Thursday to stop free shuttle buses plying through the housing estates.
In a statement released late on Thursday night, RWS said it was "voluntarily withdrawing its shuttle services in the spirit of collaboration with the Singapore Government".
However, the buses running through the Central Business District, Orchard and Marina areas will continue.
As of Thursday afternoon, demand for the shuttle service was still strong.
Some passengers even had to wait for the next bus.
Passengers at the Bishan and Bedok pick—up points told Channel NewsAsia the shuttle service made it convenient for them to get to Sentosa.
Of the 10 people our news team approached, two were headed for the casino.
The Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports had said the integrated resorts operators "will not be allowed to target the local market or provide incentives in any form for Singaporeans to patronise the casinos". — CNA /ls/wk
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Free And Free
F A F
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Free And Free
F A F
pharoah88 ( Date: 10-Sep-2010 10:35) Posted:
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By Channel NewsAsia, Updated: 10/09/2010
MCYS to take action with Casino Regulatory Authority on shuttle services
MCYS to take action with Casino Regulatory Authority on shuttle services
Free shuttle bus service between the heartlands & RWS
SINGAPORE : The Ministry of Community development, Youth and Sports has announced late Thursday night that it would be taking action with the Casino Regulatory Authority to stop shuttle services provided by operators of the two integrated resorts.
MCYS said the formal directive would be issued Friday.
The announcement came amid Resorts World Sentosa’s (RWS) decision late Thursday to stop free shuttle buses plying through the housing estates.
In a statement released late on Thursday night, RWS said it was "voluntarily withdrawing its shuttle services in the spirit of collaboration with the Singapore Government".
However, the buses running through the Central Business District, Orchard and Marina areas will continue.
As of Thursday afternoon, demand for the shuttle service was still strong.
Some passengers even had to wait for the next bus.
Passengers at the Bishan and Bedok pick—up points told Channel NewsAsia the shuttle service made it convenient for them to get to Sentosa.
Of the 10 people our news team approached, two were headed for the casino.
The Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports had said the integrated resorts operators "will not be allowed to target the local market or provide incentives in any form for Singaporeans to patronise the casinos". — CNA /ls/wk
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Passengers peeved about peanuts on planes
Concern over allergies prompts flood of public comments to DOT
About 3 million Americans have peanut allergies, according to the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network.
By Harriet Baskas Travel writer
msnbc.com contributor
updated 9/9/2010 12:43:48 PM ET
The No. 1 suggestion from travelers on ways to enhance airline passenger protections? Ban peanuts on planes.
Of the nearly 1,300 public comments submitted to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), the majority are focused on peanut allergies. The agency is seeking public comment on issues affecting airline passengers — from peanuts on planes to involuntary bumping policies to surprise baggage fees — through Sept. 23.
Hidden fees have airline passengers in a frenzy
Technically, DOT doesn’t have the authority to change in-flight peanut policies. An appropriations law from 2000 prohibits the agency from passing peanut rules until a scientific study proves a rule change will benefit airline passengers with allergies. No such study has been completed or commissioned.
“We haven’t said we won’t do anything,” said DOT spokesperson Bill Mosely. “We haven’t ruled anything in or out. So we still do want to hear public comments about peanuts. We plan to read and review them all.” In June, DOT issued a notice saying it is simply gauging public opinion on ways to handle in-flight peanuts.
The problem with flying peanuts
Peanut allergies among children have tripled between 1997 and 2008, and peanut allergies, tree-nut allergies, or both, are reported by 1 percent of the U.S. population, or about 3 million people, according to the The Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN), a group that supports discontinuing serving peanuts on planes.
The fear of having a severe reaction from exposure to peanuts while locked inside an airplane keeps some allergy sufferers grounded. Under DOT’s rules, passengers with severe peanut allergies have a qualifying disability covered by the Air Carrier Access Act, which prohibits discrimination by U.S. and foreign carriers against individuals with disabilities.
As far back as 1988, DOT advised airlines to make reasonable accommodations for passengers disabled by their peanut allergies. Most airlines voluntarily comply, but no formal rules have been put in place.
DOT is posing three alternatives to accommodate peanut-allergy sufferers on airplanes:
- Ban the serving of peanuts and all peanut products on all flights;
- Ban the serving of peanuts and all peanut products on all flights where a passenger with a peanut allergy requests it in advance, or;
- Require airlines to establish a peanut-free buffer zone for passengers with severe peanut allergies.
DOT is also asking the public to comment on how peanuts and peanut products carried on board by passengers should be handled.
Peanut protections for airline passengers
Two domestic airlines continue to ladle out legumes. In 2009, both Southwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines served about 92 million bags of peanuts. “That does sound like a lot of nuts,” said Patrick Archer, president of the American Peanut Council, “But the airline portion of the overall U.S. peanut business is really very small.”
“Many of our customers ask for peanuts. But if someone alerts us about a peanut allergy, we can create a peanut-free buffer zone for them of three rows in front of and three rows behind their seat,” said Delta spokesperson Susan Elliott. The airline’s website also notes that when advised that a passenger with peanut allergies is flying, “Gate agents will be notified in case you'd like to pre-board and cleanse the immediate seating area.”
AirTran, Alaska/Horizon, American, Continental, JetBlue and United are among the major domestic airlines that do not serve peanuts. However, most of these airlines also post notices saying they can’t promise that some items served on board won’t contain nut products or that other passengers won’t bring their own nut products on board.
While Southwest can’t guarantee a nut-free airplane, it will suspend peanut service on an entire flight if a passenger with an allergy requests it.
Are these peanut-precautions enough? For now, voluntary compliance by airlines, and the cooperation of other passengers, is all there is.
But Chris Weiss, FAAN's vice president of advocacy and government relations, is encouraged DOT is seeking public feedback on the issue. “One would assume that after the deadline, all the comments will be read and categorized somehow. So maybe the DOT will rule on this issue someday after all.”
Want to share your comments on peanuts-on-planes or other passenger rights issues with the DOT? You can file comments on DOT-OST-2010-0140 here.
Harriet Baskas is a frequent contributor to msnbc.com, authors the “Stuck at the Airport” blog and is a columnist for USATODAY.com. You can follow her on Twitter .
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today Wednesday July 21, 2010 14
Celebrate, don’t fear, diversity
Eugene K B Tan
Go beyond the rituals of remembering riots and conflict this Racial Harmony Day
Racial Harmony Day is celebrated in our national schools today. Launched in 1997, the day is part of the National Education programme and marks the anniversary of one of Singapore’s worst communal riots that occurred on July 21, 1964. This year also marks the 60th anniversary of the Maria Hertogh riots that took place in December 1950.
AVOID CLASHING MESSAGES
We also need to ensure that there is no cognitive dissonance between what young Singaporeans are taught in school and what they observe outside of school. Otherwise, the message of diversity and community rings hollow. In short, Government policies must be congruent with efforts at social cohesion.
Given our diversity, the occasional disagreements between different groups is only to be expected.
Harmony does not mean the absence of differences or disagreements.
Neither is it about the enforcement of uniformity in the interest of harmony.
However, should we continue to assert our sectarian identities and values at the expense of our overarching civic and primary identity as Singaporeans, then we would be sleepwalking to a dangerous future.
For instance, can we transcend our apparent inclination to vote along racial lines? (If so, we can do away with the Group Representation Constituency electoral mechanism.) What about our preference to reside in apartment blocks and precincts where our individual race is in the majority? (This has required the imposition of quotas in public housing to avoid racial enclaves.)
Or the preference of disadvantaged Singaporeans to seek help primarily through their ethnic self-help groups?
The significance of ethnic markers such as race, language and religion in our society is unlikely to disappear. Erasing our primordial identities is more a utopian hope than a realistic goal. Even then, can we make their significance less prominent than what it is today, and instead emphasise our commonality?
As our society becomes more complex through immigration, intermarriages, international marriages and changing demographics, we must be accustomed to the reality that we all have multiple identities.
As it is, a person can be a Singaporean and a Malay or Chinese or Indian. These identities are complementary and not mutually exclusive. “Us” and “them” are artificial boundaries that are, in truth, indistinguishable.
Greater effort should be devoted to strengthening the Singaporean- Singapore identity. The maturing of this civic identity can help reduce the countervailing pulls of race, language and religion.
The existential threat to Singapore is not disharmony per se, but the mindless knee-jerk reactions to isolated incidents of disharmony.
Racial Harmony Day has a role to play in building up confidence and our stock of social capital to withstand threats to our social fabric.
But it must go beyond a superficial treatment of diversity, and instead, intelligently engage students such that they imbibe the values that sustain our multiracialism.
This reinforced commitment to go beyond a prism of fear would represent a more nuanced understanding and deeper appreciation of our society.
The writer is assistant professor of law at the School of Law, Singapore Management University.
Today, students will attend school dressed in their traditional costumes and be treated to a buffet of local foods and cultural performances. This rendition of diversity through food, fashion and festivals offers them a sensory exposure to our rich heritage and inherent diversity.
Yet, amid the celebration of our diversity, there will also be reminders — through the reenactments of conflict and riots — of race and religion as abiding fault-lines in our society.
The official discourse of the July 21, 1964 riots will be repeated:
How the celebrations of the Prophet Mohammad’s birthday turned riotous, incited by communal leaders in and out of Singapore, and made worse by the inflammatory reporting of the vernacular press.
Such a portrayal of the faultlines of race and religion, while realistic, runs the risk of diversity becoming misconceived as immutable differences that can only divide.
The refrain and ritual remembering of ethno-violence may leave the subtle impression of conflict as an inevitability of our diversity and differences. It also portrays ethnic harmony, rather than ethnic discord and violence, as an oddity that requires explanation and justification.
Without our young people having a sufficient appreciation and deeper understanding of our society’s heterogeneity, diversity may be unwittingly perceived as something to be feared. This is not to deny that race, language and religion are real fault-lines — but too often, we do not embrace enough our diversity. Instead, we resort to convenient stereotypes and lazy assumptions to make sense of matters concerning race and religion.
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