Interracial relationships not unusual in S'pore

More mixed-race couples have chosen to register their children’s birth with a double-barrelled race, such as Chinese-Malay or Malay-Indian.

A total of 2,326 babies of mixed parentage had a double-barrelled race in 2023, more than double the 1,067 such babies in 2014.

Of babies whose parents are of different races, 28.4 per cent of them had a double-barrelled race in 2023, up from 12.9 per cent in 2014.

Since January 2011, inter-ethnic couples can register a double-barrelled race for their Singaporean children during the children’s birth registration. This is on top of the option of choosing to reflect only either the father’s or mother’s race.

The move came amid the growing share of inter-ethnic marriages over the years.

In 2023, 18.1 per cent of all marriages were inter-ethnic unions, up from 17.8 per cent in 2013, and 11.5 per cent in 2003. The data is found in the Statistics on Marriages and Divorces 2023 published by the Department of Statistics on July 15.

Institute of Policy Studies senior research fellow Kalpana Vignehsa noted that in the past, people tended to prize ethnic and racial purity.

So people who embodied cultural mixing were sometimes met with derisive comments, such as ‘half-caste’, and many people of mixed ethnicity may have felt like they didn’t fully belong anywhere. Education, exposure and a growing understanding of the science behind ancestry have changed the cultural context of having a mixed background. As these changes have become more mainstream, there’s been a growing appreciation for the positive side effects of cultural mixing, creating cultural capital for someone who openly declares mixed ancestry.

For the purposes of government policy, such as the assignment of mother tongue classes in schools and the ethnic quota in the Housing Board’s Ethnic Integration Policy, the first component of a double-barrelled race, which is the race that comes before the hyphen, will be used.

The child’s race is not reflected on his birth certificate, but it will be on the child’s identity card that is issued to him when he turns 15.

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/it-s-only-fair-why-more-mixed-race-couples-in-s-pore-register-double-barrelled-race-for-children