By Kor Kian Beng

ASIAN father, European mother? European father, Asian mother?

It does not matter - children of these marriages can all be classified as Eurasian.

The only conditions are that both parents agree on the classification, and that they have the necessary supporting documents.

Senior Minister of State for Education S. Iswaran clarified the rule concerning the classification of children in schools yesterday.

He was replying to a question from Mr Christopher de Souza (Holland-Bukit Timah GRC), a Eurasian, who asked if the Ministry of Education (MOE) would consider allowing children of European-Asian marriages to be classified as Eurasians, instead of 'Others', when they register for Primary 1.

Mr Iswaran said the default practice is that a child's race follows that of the father. However, parents can ask for their child's race to be recorded differently from that of the father, so long as both parents agree and they can support their request.

Schools will facilitate such requests and convey them to the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA), which is the authority for the registration of citizens.

Mr Iswaran also clarified that 'Others' is not a race classification but a term used by the Department of Statistics and other agencies to denote races other than Chinese, Malay and Indian, when presenting statistical data by race.

Mr Michael Palmer (Pasir-Ris Punggol GRC), also a Eurasian, asked if those who have been classified as Eurasian at Primary 1 registration will have to do so again when they register for an identity card when they are 15 years old.

Mr Iswaran said the MOE would liaise with the Home Affairs Ministry, which oversees the ICA.

But parents and students need to play

their part too, he added. 'There's an equal obligation on the part of the parents and

the student to ensure that their preferences are accurately reflected.'

Mr de Souza, whose father Timothy was a former president of the Eurasian Association in the 1990s, said he was glad to learn about the option available to parents in European-Asian marriages to register their children as Eurasian.

The Eurasian community could become more vibrant as the first-generation Eurasians would bring with them new cultures passed down from their parents, he said.

Making them one of four key races here could even instil a stronger sense of rootedness in them, he added.

The Eurasian community in Singapore now numbers about 18,000 citizens. About 3,500 are members of the Eurasian Association.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.