Commentary for Rubrix Social Mobility in Singapore: Racing to the Start Line

By Suffyan Othman

Based on the Census of Population 2010, the proportion of Malays who attended postsecondary education grew from 18% in 2000 to 36% in 2010. The percentage of university graduates also increased by nearly threefold, from 5.1% of those aged 20-44 in 2000 to 14.3%. However, there still remains a large gap between Malays and the rest of the national community. While the numbers show a vast improvement in the academic achievement of Malays, is this reflected in the income mobility and ensuing social mobility for Malays? To understand the linkage between educational attainment and social mobility, there must be an understanding of the concept of social mobility. According to the prominent economist and statistician Milton Friedman, the concept of social mobility can be understood as the chance of a person changing his or her social or economic status compared with his or her origin statusi and that income mobility contributes to social mobilityii. While income mobility is an integral aspect of social mobility it should not be used interchangeably and that there are other factors involved. In the earlier years of post-independence, substantial investments were made in the education system and this benefited those from poorer families more than those from richer families.iii It is also seen as a powerful vehicle of social mobility; that is families can improve their earning power through the education systemiv according to Goh Keng Swee, former Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister. The states dedication towards education continues even now; it ranks second only to defence in terms of government expenditurev. However, as Singapore becomes economically developed in an increasingly interconnected world, the value of education as an integral element for social mobility is becoming more questionable. Furthermore, while social mobility and education are closely linked, how much has the improving educational attainment helped in improving the socio-economic status of the Malay Muslim community? Social mobility within the Malay community has been traditionally closely tied in with the idea of kinship which do(es) not necessarily correspond with actual genealogical tiesvi. While the concept of social mobility was more fluid and works in relative terms from one party to another, urbanization and modernization has changed it to one that is more clearly defined. Whereas traditionally, a generalized reciprocity of goods and services should operate within the neighborhood or local community, and this is known as tolong menolongvii occurs within the Malay community, urbanization has made this less apparent and difficult to practice due to housing policies where Malays are rarely in close proximity with one another. Therefore this becomes an additional challenge for them as they respond to the changing socio-economic climate. Recent studies by Singaporean academics, Irene Ng and Ho Kong Weng, have shown that inter-generational social mobility in Singapore is more directly related to parents income and

that educational attainment plays a less significant role. This is a result of the maturation of Singapores economy to a lower steady-state growth rate, with average years of schooling reaching that of advanced countries, upward mobility in education is likely to be diminishing.viii The effects of the maturing economy especially affect those who are from the lower income bracket. Findings by Ng and Ho also show the existence of challenges which depress the wages of the bottom earners, which in turn have ramifications on intergenerational mobilityix and thus creating a society with low intergenerational mobility. An example of this is the ever increasing competition for access to better quality education. The role of parents income become more significant and we observe an educational- and skill-biased parental influence on the educational attainment of their children.x This is most evident in cases to ensure entry into the more popular primary schools with perceived better teachers, facilities and enrichment courses, and where some parents would even volunteer with the schools for two years before their child would be eligible to enter Primary onexi. There are also some parents who would move to be within the two kilometer radius of the school to increase the chances of their child entering the schoolxii. Children of parents who are not able to do so are therefore disadvantaged as they only have access to basic education. Even entry to the more popular kindergartens is highly sought after, and this creates a greater educational disparity from a young age. As mentioned earlier, economically disadvantaged parents will face greater challenges in the pursuit of higher educational attainment and social mobility for their children. The adherence to the principles of meritocracy also adds to the pressures faced by those in the lower income bracket. This adherence is due to Singapores socio-economic achievements (which) have persuaded a majority of the citizenry the virtue of meritocracyxiii. Meritocracy is a utilitarian formula that asserts those who purposefully contribute to a systems well-being will receive the greater rewardsxiv and while in Singapore, there is equality of opportunity, at least where starting points are concernedxv, access to basic education, those who are from a privileged situation will have more opportunities to a brighter future as discussed earlier and this will further widen the gap between the haves and have nots in Singapore. This widening gap is reinforced by a relatively high Gini coefficient of 0.472 in 2010xvi which reflects a high income disparity. Singapore also has the second highest income gap between the rich and the poor, as indicated by the Gini coefficient, among the 38 countries with very high human development, according to the 2009 United Nations Development Report.xvii Hence, the prospects of social mobility for Singaporeans seem to be very limited save for exceptional cases. This will especially affect the Malay Muslim community as they are hampered by a lower starting point in terms of educational attainment. While there is an improvement in that aspect, the established income disparity will make it increasingly difficult for the community as a whole to experience upward mobility especially in terms of intergenerational social mobility. Tied in with the traditional notion of social mobility that is more fluid to one that is currently more concrete, this further reinforces the challenges that the community will face. Therefore, unless steps are taken in addressing this issue, the disparity between those who are from privileged backgrounds to those who are not will worsen. To address the very real

advantages that only some of Singapores society enjoy, some kind of positive discrimination may be necessaryxviii for those who are not similarly advantaged, including those from the Malay Muslim community, to prevent them from getting left behind.
i

Ho Kong Weng, Social Mobility in Singapore, in A Management of Success edited by Terence Chong (Singapore, Institute of South East Asian Studies, 2010), p. 217 ii Rolf Aaberge, Anders Bjorklund, Markus Jantti, Marten Palme, Peder J. Pedersen, Nina Smith and Tom Wennemo, Income Inequality and Income Mobility in the Scandinavian Countries Compared to the United States, Review of Income and Wealth, Vol. 48, (2002) p. 444 iii Ho, Social Mobility in Singapore, p. 220 iv Ibid. v Singapore Budget 2011 Revenue and Expenditure Estimates, http://www.singaporebudget.gov.sg/budget_2011/revenue_expenditure/attachment/5%20GOS%20Expen diture%20EE2011.pdf vi Judith A. Nagata, Kinship and Social Mobility Among the Malays, Man, New Series, Vol. 11, No. 3 (Sep 1976) p. 408 vii Ibid, p. 403 viii Ho Kong Weng, Wage Inequality, Intergenerational Mobility and Education in Singapore, Ethos, Issue 3 (Oct 2007) p. 1 ix Irene Ng, Shen Xiaoyi and Ho Kong Weng, Intergenerational Earnings Mobility in Singapore and the United States, Working Paper 2008/03, Division of Economics, Nanyang Technological University pp. 15 x Ho, Social Mobility in Singapore, p. 223 xi Olivia Ho, Parents volunteer work 40 hours for nothing, The New Paper (Singapore) July 23, 2011 (http://www.edvantage.com.sg/edvantage/news/news/703136/Demand_for_places_just_too_high.html) xii Joyce Lim, Parents buy $3.5m condo for a better shot at ACS Junior, The New Paper (Singapore) August 16, 2011 (http://edvantage.com.sg/edvantage/news/news/729046/We_got_in_.html) xiii Thomas J. Bellows, Meritocracy and the Singapore Political System, Asian Journal of Political Science, 17:1 (2009) p. 26 xiv Ibid. xv Kenneth Paul Tan, The Transformation of Meritocracy, in A Management of Success edited by Terence Chong (Singapore, Institute of South East Asian Studies, 2010) p. 274 xvi Statistics Singapore, Paper of Key Household Incomes, http://www.singstat.gov.sg/pubn/papers/people/pp-s17.pdf xvii United Nations Development Report, http://www.undp.org/hdr2009.shtml xviii Tan, The Transformation of Meritocracy, p. 274