Parliamentary Replies
Race Classification
Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament
Mr Christopher de Souza, MP for Holland-Bukit Timah GRC
Question
To ask the Minister for Education whether he will consider allowing children of European-Asian marriages to be classified as Eurasians for the purposes of registration into Primary One and, if so, whether he will confirm that the race of such children will be recorded as “Eurasian” and not “Others”.
Response by Minister Ng Eng Hen
The current practice is that a child’s race generally follows that of the father. If the father is a Eurasian, the child’s race will be recorded as Eurasian. Where one parent is European and the other is Asian, the child’s race will by default be recorded following the race of the father. However, in such a case, the race of the child can also be recorded as “Eurasian” if both parents so desire.
While the Ministry of Education is not the authority for the registration of citizens, our schools can facilitate such requests for change of race. This can happen at key points including when such information is being verified for school admission formalities. For example, parents are asked to verify their child’s personal particulars, including race, prior to starting Primary One, or when students enter our school system mid-stream. Both parents need to indicate consent and show the necessary supporting documentation. The schools will then update the records accordingly and also convey the changes to the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA).
To clarify the second point raised by Mr De Souza, “Others” is not a race classification. The term “Others” is used by the Department of Statistics and other agencies in the presentation of statistical data by race, usually to denote all other races apart from Chinese, Malay and Indian.