We are uniquely Singapore

The Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs (Assoc. Prof. Ho Peng Kee) (for the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs): Sir, the Government does not assign race to a person but follows the general rule that a child's race would follow that of his or her father. Nevertheless, recognising that the diversity of Singapore's racial demographics has increased in recent years due to the inflow of immigrants and the rise in the number of locals marrying foreigners, with effect from 2nd January this year, our birth registration forms were revised to provide for declaration by the parents on their child's race during birth registration.

Previously, such a child would be registered following the general rule as having the race of the father. The recent change gives parents who are of different races the flexibility and choice to decide how their child's race should be recorded. The Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) is not the authority or expert on "race". It will accept a race declaration so long as it falls within generally accepted notions of ethnicity by lineage. For example, a Caucasian-Chinese couple may decide to have their child's race recorded as Caucasian, Chinese or Eurasian.


In fact, the Singapore birth certificate gazetted under the Registration of Births and Death Rules does not require a child's race to be recorded. The child's race is recorded provisionally at birth registration in ICA's system until the child turns 15 and is required to register for an identity card. At this point in time, registration of the identity card will entail a registration of race declared and this will then be used to update the existing record of the individual in the ICA system. Changes of race declaration can also be made at any time by the parents or by the child himself when he is no longer a minor.

In short, the system, especially with the recent changes, already provides for an appropriate level of flexibility and choice to parents who are of different races. Ultimately, however, parents who are of different races should come to a decision as to which of their races they would like their child to be recorded as belonging to. -Extract from Parliament publications