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Nearly 1 in 3 HDB blocks has reached ethnic quota limits: Minister

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Limits persistently reached in certain neighbourhoods, says Desmond Lee, underscoring importance of EIP

Nearly one in three Housing Board (HDB) blocks and 14 per cent of neighbourhoods have reached ethnic quota limits, underscoring the importance of having the Ethnic Integration Policy (EIP) in place to ensure social mixing, said National Development Minister Desmond Lee.

The maxing out of racial quotas for flat ownership happens across all ethnic groups and in both mature and non-mature estates, he told the House yesterday, adding that the limits have persistently been reached in areas such as Bukit Merah, Pasir Ris and Woodlands.

"So just imagine how much more different ethnic groups would concentrate in different neighbourhoods if we did away with the EIP, and how much harder it would then become to promote mixing and understanding across ethnic groups in the home environment," he said.

Introduced in 1989, the EIP sets racial quotas on flat ownership within each HDB block and neighbourhood.

The policy remains relevant and necessary today amid changing household profiles, Mr Lee said in response to Ms Cheryl Chan (East Coast GRC) and Mr Chong Kee Hiong (Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC).

Left entirely to social and market forces, ethnic concentrations will start forming in different areas again, he said.

This could be due to instinctive preferences to live near others from the same ethnic community, or wanting to live near family members or specific amenities in some neighbourhoods, Mr Lee noted.

UNDERSTANDABLE

"Individually, these are completely understandable and reasonable preferences. But collectively, if we are not careful, these tendencies could inadvertently lead to segregation among the races," he said.

In resolving to build a cohesive, multiracial society, the country's founding leaders did not blindly paper over differences among ethnic groups or take a melting pot approach, he noted.

Instead, the Government decided to enlarge the common spaces through a range of policies, like allocating new flats to reflect an ethnic mix of the general population.

But ethnic concentrations started to emerge in particular areas after resale transactions were allowed in 1971, Mr Lee said.

By the late 1980s, Chinese buyers were increasingly concentrated in Ang Mo Kio, and Malay buyers in Bedok and Tampines.

"We could see that without intervention there would, once again, be increasing concentrations along ethnic lines which would have separated us."

Mr Lee pointed to how racial segregation is common and well-advanced in some major European and American cities, with wealthier ethnicities congregating in expensive, gentrified precincts.

Drawing from these lessons, he said Singapore cannot leave social mixing to chance.

"It is better to intervene upstream to pre-empt the problem and to foster mutual understanding and encourage integration from the start," he said.

"If we wait until after racial tensions have developed and become entrenched, it will become so much harder to heal those fractures and rebuild trust among different communities."

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