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Singapore remains a largely conservative society in which pre-marital sex and having a child out of wedlock are still frowned upon. That was the finding of a survey on social morality by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), released on Tuesday. The questions were asked as part of a wider survey of more than 4,000 Singaporeans on race, language and religion. Some 80 per cent of respondents said extra-marital affairs are always or almost always wrong, and 72.5 per cent held that view on getting pregnant before marriage. More than half, or 56.4 per cent of respondents, felt that sex should come after marriage. The survey’s principal investigator, Dr Mathew Mathews, an Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) senior research fellow, said: “Overall, as you can see, Singaporeans are fairly conservative in their outlook to such issues.” The survey asked respondents to indicate how they feel on a range of social issues by choosing whether it is “not wrong most of the time or not wrong at all”, “only wrong sometimes” or “always wrong or almost always wrong”. There was wider acceptance for living with a partner before marriage. Some 33.3 per cent said that it was not wrong most of the time, compared to 44.4 per cent who said it was always wrong. While 22.5 per cent of respondents said that divorce is acceptable, compared to 43.1 per cent who said its always wrong. The survey also asked about attitudes towards homosexual relations. When it came to sexual relations between two adults of the same sex, 78.2 per cent of respondents said it was wrong. And 72.9 per cent did not agree with gay marriage. However, fewer disagreed with gay couples adopting a child, with 61 per cent saying it was wrong or almost always wrong. On gambling, 69.2 per cent of respondents said they are against it. Said Dr Mathews: “Those who claimed to have no religion, Buddhists and Taoists were more liberal than those who are Christian and Muslims. Differences were marginal in some areas with high consensus, such as homosexual relations and sexual affairs, but more pronounced for other areas.” Source: http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/singapore/story/singaporeans-still-largely-conservative-ips-survey-finds-20140128

There is a growing discomfort across nationalities, even as comfort levels across race and religion appear to have largely remained the same, a survey has found. Some 32.1 per cent of Singaporeans surveyed felt that prejudice based on nationality has become more widespread now compared to five years ago, and this is more so than the increase in other types of prejudices such as race, age or religion. When it came to racial prejudice, 16 per cent felt that it has grown over the past five years, while 46.8 per cent of those surveyed found that it has not changed. These were the findings of the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) which surveyed over 4,000 Singaporeans in a large-scale study of race, language and religion here. The results, presented at the IPS Singapore Perspectives 2014 conference on Tuesday, shed some light on the differences between various groups in Singapore and how they have changed over the years. IPS director Janadas Devan, in opening remarks, spoke about riots that had occurred in Singapore between Teochews and Hokkiens, the different Chinese dialect groups, as far back as 1854. “There was a time when they considered themselves different countrymen,” he said. But now, while differences between race, religion and language have generally smoothed over, there appears to be a growing divide between those who are born here, and those who are foreign-born. While 94 per cent of respondents said they were comfortable working for a local-born Chinese, for example, that number fell to 74 per cent for a boss who is a new citizen from China. Those born here were also less comfortable with new citizens in personal and social settings, even if they were of the same race, the survey found. A local-born Chinese had a greater affinity with local-born Malays and Indians, for example, compared to Chinese from China, said Mr Janadas. IPS research fellow Mathew Mathews, who headed the survey, said younger and more educated respondents felt these differences more acutely as they were “more sensitive” and exposed to these differences through the online sphere, for example. Mr Janadas said there was a need to better integrate foreigners into society while retaining the country’s Singaporean identity. The survey also found some other gaps. For example, there were minorities who felt they had been discriminated against in everyday situations. Among Malay respondents, 26.4 per cent said they had been discriminated against at work or for job promotions, because of their race. Among the Indians, 24.2 per cent felt this way. There was also 5.7 per cent of Chinese who said they had been discriminated against in the same situations. Some felt that the Government could do more to address these issues of discrimination. Among the Malay and the Indian respondents, about 40.8 per cent and 33.6 per cent respectively, think the Government should give preferential treatment to minority races. They made up a larger number than those who disagreed with this. But more than half of the Chinese respondents said they disagreed with preferential treatment for minorities. The more educated were also more likely to disagree with preferential treatment. Across university-educated respondents of each race, there were more who did not want preferential treatment given to minorities, than those who did. On the whole, Singaporeans feel there is little racial and religious prejudice here. More than 85 per cent of the 4,000 respondents did not think they were treated differently in public services, for example. The common space is “remarkably free of racial and religious prejudice,” said Mr Janadas. “This not happen overnight...we can't take it for granted." Source: http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/singapore/story/more-nationality-based-prejudice-ips-survey-finds-20140128