The number of Malaysian immigrants in Singapore – an island city-state of 5.7 million inhabitants – rose from 195,072 in 1990 to 952,261 in 2019. A power of attraction that is exerted strongly on white collar workers.
And the many testimonials from readers collected by Malaysiakini don’t go with the back of the spoon. “I observe the country that I left as an anachronism, an oddity that we observe like when we go to the zoo. Will I go home? No, because the trajectory taken by the country is irreversible”, says one of them. Further on we read again:
“This country has not ratified the Icerd (International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination), an agreement supposed to eliminate all forms of racism, while minorities took to the streets… And then, often , I am told that if I am not happy I had better leave, since I am a immigrants [immigré]. So why would I want to stay?”
Institutionalized racial discrimination
In Malaysia, racial discrimination is institutionalized. The ethnic group appears on civil status and determines access to employment and studies. Specifically, Malaysians of Chinese or Indian origin, two ancient minorities that appeared from the 19e and