Archbishop Chong’s statement is contrary to the principles of equality and non‑discrimination - Raj

Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Commission Director Ashwin Raj states that Archbishop Peter Loy Chong’s statement is contrary to the principles of equality and non‑discrimination.

Raj says that the call for faith based schools to be led by principals of that particular faith will only descend into profiling based not only on faith but other prohibited grounds of discrimination.

He says soon, there will be calls to have schools to be led by individuals from a particular ethnic community or teachers of a preferred race or religion.

Ashwin Raj says that the right to religious orientation is not under threat because this is protected by the Constitution.

Raj says, last year, the Commission investigated a complaint by a high school student who was told by the principal and management of the school she was attending to look for a school that “accommodated students of her kind” because she was wearing a headscarf which is consistent with her faith but deemed contrary to the dress code of the school.

He says that the inclusion of “faith” into the Open Merit Recruitment and Selection policy is not only problematic because “faith” is arbitrary and subjective in nature but its inclusion will only give credence to discrimination.

Raj says the system was introduced precisely to ensure that the most meritorious person was selected for the job and not because of their race, religion, ethnicity, gender or other prohibited grounds of discrimination.

He says the call to include “faith’ into the system will set precedence to include other markers of difference.

Raj asks if we are reverting to the old policy of affirmative action.