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Building a Multicultural Singapore

Where every citizen is equal, regardless of race, language or religion

Last updated 6 October 2025
This is not a Malay nation; this is not a Chinese nation; this is not an Indian nation. Everyone will have his place, equal: language, culture, religion.
Founding Prime Minister Mr Lee Kuan Yew at Broadcasting House on 9 August 1965
Portrait of Founding Prime Minister Mr Lee Kuan Yew
An image of racial riots in Singapore, 1964

Image: National Archives of Singapore

An image of racial riots in Singapore, 1964

Image: National Archives of Singapore

Newspaper clipping - Five dead, 100 hurt in riots
A group of multiracial students

Image: Ministry of Education, Singapore

A group of multiracial students

Image: National Archives of Singapore

They maintained the supremacy of the Malay race. We said all right fine, give us a deadline, after how many years can we become equal. 20 years? Why don't you stipulate it? They said no, never. That was the root of the problem.
SIngapore's first Foreign Minister S Rajaratnam in the Channel NewsAsia documentary Days of Rage
Then-Foreign Minister S. Rajaratnam at the United Nations General Assembly on 21 September 1965

Image: National Archives of Singapore

Alt text for image on Isomer site

Maintaining Racial and Religious Harmony

PETS series textbook

Image: Ministry of Education

A group of students

Image: National Archives of Singapore

Image of HDB

Image: National Archives of Singapore

Image of old HDB estate

Image: National Archives of Singapore

Building and Maintaining Religious Harmony

Quote from Goh Chok Tong on Singapore's racial and religious diversity
Singapore's efforts to strengthen religious harmony

Places of worship as part of social and cultural capital

Please add an alternate text for this image

The Ci En Ge shrine at 177 Toa Payoh Central. Image: Roots.SG

Building strong inter-religious communities

A group tour by hash.peace

Image: hash.peace

Legislation to safeguard religious harmony

Through these, we stand proud, a beacon of religious tolerance and social harmony. We need to ask ourselves why. Why have we been spared?
Law and Home Affairs Minister Mr K Shanmugam at the Second Reading of the Maintenance of Religious Harmony Amendment Bill 2019 on 7 October 2019
Portrait of Law and Home Affairs Minister Mr K Shanmugam

Online space for peaceful religious discourse

Tiktok screengrabs of members from a church and a mosque in Geylang Serai

Image: Screengrabs from Tiktok

New areas of racial and religious diversity

Religious harmony a continuous work in progress

The Way Forward

Building Common Ground Amid Diversity

Our unofficial visualisation of the overlapping circles model

Our unofficial visualisation of the overlapping circles model

The Continued Need for Racial Harmony

Online Filter Bubbles

Image courtesy of Eli Pariser's TED Talk, Beware Online Filter Bubbles

Image of students from Teck Whye Primary School

Image: Ministry of Education, Singapore

It is about having the honesty to recognise that our multiracialism is not yet perfect, but having the courage and determination to take pragmatic steps to get there, step by step.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the PA Kopi Talk at Ci Yuan CC on 23 September 2017
Portrait of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong