Commentary: The CMIO model should be a tool for harmony, not another method for stereotyping

Singapore’s Chinese-Malay-Indian-Other framework is necessary for government administration, but we must ensure it doesn’t become a method for propagating harmful stereotypes, say the Institute of Policy Studies’ Mathew Mathews and Izzul Haziq Murad.

SINGAPORE: Questions surrounding the removal of Singapore’s Chinese-Malay-Indian-Other (CMIO) framework appear from time to time. On Feb 5, Non-Constituency Member of Parliament Leong Mun Wai raised a question in the House about the government's plans to review this administrative tool which it uses to manage policies concerning race. 

This was partly in response to a comment made by Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong at the Singapore Perspectives Conference in January. Asked whether the CMIO framework needed a rethink, Mr Tong had said that the model needed to be constantly reviewed in light of Singapore's increasingly complex multicultural landscape. 

This categorisation has attracted the criticism that it stifles the movement of Singaporeans towards a truly multicultural society. 

CAN THE CMIO FRAMEWORK STAND THE TEST OF TIME?

The CMIO system is rooted in British colonial rule. Guided by European racial theory that emphasised boundaries between ethnic groups and hierarchies within these groups, colonial administrators divided the population according to erroneous notions of cultural traits. 

This article was originally published on The Straits Times. Its inclusion on this website is solely for education purposes.