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    Is Singapore really diverse? Exchange student’s post divides netizens

    AnyFans Posted on

    By Ethel Tseng

    Copyright tnp

    Is Singapore really diverse? Exchange student's post divides netizens

    An exchange student’s TikTok post about Singapore has sparked a debate among netizens about how diverse the country really is.

    On Sept 15, TikTok user yuhskinsdry posted a video titled “diversity in Singapore”.

    She shared that her experience of Singapore did not quite match her expectations of the country as a diverse place, noting that 75 per cent of the population is Chinese, 14 per cent Malay, and nine per cent Indian.

    “The people who I met outside of this range were typically just exchange students who don’t live in Singapore,” she said.

    Comparing this to her hometown of Toronto which is “a lot more diverse”, she cited statistics indicating that the white population takes up 44 per cent, with “the largest racialised groups being South Asian, Chinese, and black, each taking up 14 per cent, 10 per cent, and 11 per cent of the total population”.

    “I would definitely say that Singapore is more diverse compared to Asian countries, but if you were to compare to other cities in North America which were shaped a lot by immigration, it’s definitely not the same,” she concluded.

    The post garnered over 63,600 views and 244 comments as of press time, with netizens expressing mixed reactions.

    Netizens say Singapore is multicultural, but not diverse

    Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower reports a foreign workforce of 1.58 million people, many of whom come from Filipino, Cambodian, Burmese, Thai, Japanese, and Korean communities.

    But some netizens agreed with her perspective.

    “We are multicultural, but you’re right, we are not diverse,” one commented.

    Another echoed this sentiment: “What it gets praised for is how it manages the different communities, to ensure harmony. But I don’t think it ever sold itself as having a wide range of different ethnicities.”

    Others suggested that the perceived lack of diversity could be intentional, pointing to the difficulty non-Asian races face in obtaining citizenship in Singapore.

    One netizen agreed, sharing that in Toronto, “people of different races really mixed around a lot more”.

    Diversity can come in various forms

    Others felt that the post did not accurately represent the population, as one netizen called her views “debatable” and “superficial”.

    “The Chinese here aren’t all Han Chinese, but host groups like Teochew, Cantonese and others. This also includes Chinese Malay syncretism such as the Peranakan. We also host large communities of people from all around the world,” the netizen said.

    Another netizen said that diversity in Singapore is about “coexistence and visibility of multiple groups”, rather than achieving equal representation of each ethnic group.

    Several commenters also pointed out that diversity can exist in various forms.

    One user said, “I don’t think any religious group has more than 25 to 30 per cent”, while others noted the large population of expatriates living in the city.

    Another user questioned if diversity was a desirable goal to work towards: “They’ve got diversity, we’ve got harmony. One looks nice on paper, the other actually works.”

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