ST : Separate ethnic quota for PRs

Jan 28, 2010

Separate ethnic quota for PRs

Move to prevent them from forming enclaves in public housing estates

By Kor Kian Beng

THE Housing Board is considering introducing a separate ethnic quota for permanent residents to prevent them from forming enclaves in public housing estates.

Its spokesman disclosed yesterday that the HDB was considering tweaking the Ethnic Integration Policy (EIP) but did not elaborate on the details.

PRs and Singaporeans are now subject to the same quota under the EIP, which aims to maintain a healthy racial mix in housing estates by stipulating maximum proportions for the key ethnic groups.

The HDB's statement followed comments made by Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew during a dialogue at an event marking the HDB's 50th anniversary.

Asked by the moderator, Professor Tommy Koh, if the EIP would be expanded to include new Singaporeans, Mr Lee said the Government was doing so.

Said Mr Lee: 'We're not allowing new Singaporeans, whether from China, India or Malaysia or whatever, to congregate in the same tower blocks, which they are already beginning to do. They buy second-hand flats and they congregate.

'So we say 'no, no'. We have a record of how many new citizens living where, and we keep their numbers dispersed.

'It (EIP) is a very valuable instrument of communal harmony.'

The HDB spokesman clarified later that it was still considering the proposed change for PRs, whose numbers have risen in recent years.

The swell has triggered concerns of PRs forming enclaves in housing estates.

Last November, National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan said, in response to a query in Parliament, that the Government was monitoring the situation and would consider measures to prevent the congregation of PRs and foreigners in the housing estates.

Mr Mah also said PRs are already subject to the EIP, which was introduced in 1989. Latest official statistics show there are 533,200 PRs.

They own around 5 per cent of the nearly 900,000 HDB flats islandwide. PRs can buy only resale flats.

Under the EIP, proportions for the main ethnic groups - Chinese, Malays and Indian/Others - in each block and each precinct of around 10 to 12 blocks are subject to quotas. Sale of an HDB flat to a buyer from an ethnic group that has reached the block or the precinct limit is not allowed.

Over the years, disgruntled buyers and sellers have called for the HDB to tweak the quota or to abolish it completely.

Mr Lee said yesterday the situation was no different in the EIP's early years, when residents preferred neighbours of their own ethnic group.

The audience got a clear sense of how seriously he viewed the EIP, in his reply to Prof Koh's question if he considered the scheme a 'successful experiment'.

Said Mr Lee: 'No, it was not an experiment... It was force majeure. We inflicted it on the people, we knew it would work, we knew it would be uncomfortable.

'I got the Malay MPs and the ministers together, explained it and I said this was the only way. If we didn't do this, we would remain separate communities and never integrate.'